arXiv subjects

K. Vad

Publications and source records attributed to K. Vad.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Quantitative depth profiling of Si1-xGex structures by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and secondary neutral mass spectrometry

Quantification of Ge in Si1-xGex structures (0.092 0.9997) of intensity ratios of GeCs2+/SiCs2+ and 74Ge-/30Si- secondary ions and post-ionized 70Ge+/28Si+ sputtered neutrals with Ge concentration was obtained. The calibration data were used for quantitative depth profiling of [10x(12.3 nm Si0.63Ge0.37/34 nm Si)] structures on Si. Satisfactory compliance of the quantified Ge concentration in SiGe layers with the data measured by high-resolution X-ray diffraction was obtained for both techniques. Both SIMS and SNMS experimental profiles were fitted using the Hofmann mixing-roughness-information depth (MRI) model. In case of TOF-SIMS the quality of the reconstruction was higher than for SNMS since not only the progressing roughening, but also crater effect and other processes unaccounted in the MRI simulation could have significant impact on plasma sputter depth profiling.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Nanoscale characterization of thin immersion silver coatings on copper substrates

Microelectronic-grade copper foils were immersion silver plated in a home-made non-cyanide alkaline silver nitrate - thiosulfate solution and in two commercially available industrial baths via contact reductive precipitation. The concentration depth profiles of the freshly deposited silver layers were afterwards analyzed at nanoscale resolution by means of Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) and Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES). The thickness of deposited silver layers obtained with 30-60 s immersion time were in the range of 50-150 nm, depending on the parameters of the immersion procedure. Slight contamination of sulfur from the thiosulfate bath was detectable. Traces of Cr and Na could be observed as well around the interface between the copper substrate and silver deposit. Results also indicate that storage for longer time in air especially at higher than ambient temperatures induces a kind of ageing effect in the deposited layer, changing its composition. In case of samples prepared from home-made solution increasing amounts of copper together with its corrosion products became detectable.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Magnetic particle hyperthermia: Neel relaxation in magnetic nanoparticles under circularly polarized field

The mechanism of magnetization reversal in single-domain ferromagnetic particles is of interest in many applications, in most of which losses must be minimized. In cancer therapy by hyperthermia the opposite requirement prevails: the specific loss power should be maximized. Of the mechanisms of dissipation, here we study the effect of Neel relaxation on magnetic nanoparticles unable to move or rotate and compare the losses in linearly and circularly polarized field. We present exact analytical solutions of the Landau-Lifshitz equation as derived from the Gilbert equation and use the calculated time-dependent magnetizations to find the energy loss per cycle. In frequencies lower than the Larmor frequency linear polarization is found to be the better source of heat power, at high frequencies (beyond the Larmor frequency) circular polarization is preferable.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2009

Investigation of Sb diffusion in amorphous silicon

Amorphous silicon materials and its alloys become extensively used in some technical applications involving large area of the microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the amorphous-crystalline transition, segregation and diffusion processes still have numerous unanswered questions. In this work we study the Sb diffusion into an amorphous Si film by means of Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS). Amorphous Si/Si1-xSbx/Si tri-layer samples with 5 at% antimony concentration were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering onto Si substrate at room temperature. Annealing of the samples were performed at different temperature in vacuum (p<10-7 mbar) and 100 bar high purity (99.999%) Ar pressure. During annealing a rather slow mixing between the Sb-alloyed and the amorphous Si layers was observed. Supposing concentration independent diffusion, the evaluated diffusion coefficients are in the range of ~10-21 m2s-1 at 823 K.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Application of Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry in the investigation of doped perovskites

Electromagnetic properties of doped perovskites depend sensitively on the doping level. Both the superconducting transition temperature of Bi2Sr2Ca(Pr)Cu2O8+d compounds and the magnetic and electronic transport properties of La(Sr)Co(Fe)O3 perovskites change dramatically with the doping level. Apart from doping, oxygen deficiency is influenced by the details of preparation processes such as calcination and sintering. Simultaneous determination of constituents is of crucial importance from sample characterization point of view. Quantitative analysis of perovskite oxides can be performed by Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) which is a suitable technique to measure the chemical composition of almost any sample because the flux of atoms sputtered from the sample is representative of the stoichiometry of the top-most layers. The composition and oxygen content of Bi2Sr2Ca0.86Pr0.14Cu2O8.4 and La1-xSrxCo0.975Fe0.025O3-d, where 0<x<0.5, were determined by SNMS. The results show that the method is equally applicable for insulating and conducting compounds. The observed electromagnetic properties reflect well the compositions obtained experimentally.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Reverse depth profiling of electrodeposited Co/Cu multilayers by SNMS

The overall quality of multilayer thin films prepared by electrodeposition is strongly influenced by the surface and interface roughness which increases with the layer number. For that very reason the reliable analysis of the first few layers can be necessary. However, in depth profiling methods based on sputtering techniques the first layer is always found at the bottom of the sputtered crater. Since the depth resolution decreases during sputtering, the analysis of the first few layers are difficult. In order to circumvent this problem, we used reverse Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) depth profiling method for electrodeposited multilayered films. We prepared thin film samples in two ways. First, Co/Cu multilayer stacks were electrodeposited on Si/Cr/Cu substrates and SNMS depth profiling was carried out from the direction of the topmost layer. Secondly, elecrodeposited Co/Cu multilayer stacks were coated with a few microns thick Ni layer and detached from the Si substrate in order to study the film structure from the side of the substrate. Using this latter method, we were able to analyze the first and, probably, the most even layers of the thin film structure with high resolution.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Study of proximity effects in superconductor/ferromagnet interface using waveguide enhancement of neutron standing waves

This work is devoted to experimental study of influence of superconductivity (S) on ferromagnetism (FM) (inverse proximity effects) with the help of Polarized Neutron Reflectivity. Combining meausurements of specular and diffuse intensities it is possible to obtain full picture of magnetization change in S/FM layered systems like magnetization rotation, domain state formation, inducing of magnetization in S layer, etc. To increase weak magnetic signal we propose to use enhanced neutron standing wave regime (e.g. waveguides). In previous work we have made calculation to increase enhcanced factor. Here we present results of preparation sets of S/FM samples and attestation of their structural, magnetic, superconducting and neutron waveguide properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Bardeen-Stephen flux flow law disobeyed in the high-$T_c$ superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+δ}$

Pulsed high current experiments in single crystals of the high-$T_{c}$ superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+δ}$ in c-axis directed magnetic field $H$ reveal that the $ab$-face resistance in the free flux flow regime is a solely logarithmic function of H, devoid of any power law component. Re-analysis of published data confirms this result and leads to empirical analytic forms for the $ab$-plane and c-axis resistivities: $ρ_{ab}\propto$ $H^{3/4}$, which does not obey the expected Bardeen-Stephen result for free flux flow, and $ρ_{c} \propto H^{-3/4} \log^{2}H$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Applicability of layered sine-Gordon models to layered superconductors: II. The case of magnetic coupling

In this paper, we propose a quantum field theoretical renormalization group approach to the vortex dynamics of magnetically coupled layered superconductors, to supplement our earlier investigations on the Josephson-coupled case. We construct a two-dimensional multi-layer sine-Gordon type model which we map onto a gas of topological excitations. With a special choice of the mass matrix for our field theoretical model, vortex dominated properties of magnetically coupled layered superconductors can be described. The well known interaction potentials of fractional flux vortices are consistently obtained from our field-theoretical analysis, and the physical parameters (vortex fugacity and temperature parameter) are also identified. We analyse the phase structure of the multi-layer sine--Gordon model by a differential renormalization group method for the magnetically coupled case from first principles. The dependence of the transition temperature on the number of layers is found to be in agreement with known results based on other methods.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Free flux flow magneto-resistance of single crystal BSCCO

Measurement of the free flux flow resistance in monocrystalline highly anisotropic BSCCO reveals a low field magneto-resistive effect nearly 100 times that expected from a naive application of the Bardeen-Stephen rule R/Rn = B/Bc2. Furthermore in the vortex solid phase it saturates to a constant value at about Hc2/100 as if the vortices were moving 100 times faster than expected. An attempt to account for this behavior by a combination of sheared planar vortex flow obeying the BS rule and the quasi-particle c axis conductivity between the Josephson coupled superconducting planes is only partially successful. In particular it is unable to account for the saturation feature which occurs in both optimally and underdoped samples in the low temperature vortex solid phase.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

On the applicability of the layered sine-Gordon model for Josephson-coupled high-T_c layered superconductors

We find a mapping of the layered sine-Gordon model to an equivalent gas of topological excitations and determine the long-range interaction potentials of the topological defects. This enables us to make a detailed comparison to the so-called layered vortex gas, which can be obtained from the layered Ginzburg-Landau model. The layered sine-Gordon model has been proposed in the literature as a candidate field-theoretical model for Josephson-coupled high-T_c superconductors, and the implications of our analysis for the applicability of the layered sine-Gordon model to high-T_c superconductors are discussed. We are led to the conjecture that the layered sine--Gordon and the layered vortex gas models belong to different universality classes. The determination of the critical temperature of the layered sine-Gordon model is based on a renormalization-group analysis.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Transverse and secondary voltages in BSCCO single crystals

Multicontact configuration is one of the most powerful arrangements for electrical transport measurements applied to study vortex phase transition and vortex phase dimensionality in strongly anisotropic high-Tc superconducting materials. In this paper we present electrical transport measurements using a multiterminal configuration, which prove both the existence of guided vortex motion in BSCCO single crystals near the transition temperature and that secondary voltage in zero external magnetic field is induced by thermally activated vortex loop unbinding. The phase transition between the bound and unbound states of the vortex loops was found to be below the temperature where the phase coherence of the superconducting order parameter extends over the whole volume of the sample. We show experimentally that 3D/2D phase transition in vortex dimensionality is a length-scale-dependent layer decoupling process and takes place simultaneously with the 3D/2D phase transition in superconductivity at the same temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Length-scale-dependent phase transition in BSCCO single crystals

Electrical transport measurements using a multiterminal configuration are presented, which prove that in BSCCO single crystals near the transition temperature in zero external magnetic field the secondary voltage is induced by thermally activated vortex loop unbinding. The phase transition between the bound and unbound states of the vortex loops was found to be below the temperature where the phase coherence of the superconducting order parameter extends over the whole volume of the sample. We show experimentally that 3D/2D phase transition in vortex dimensionality is a length-scale-dependent layer decoupling process and takes place simultaneously with the 3D/2D phase transition in superconductivity at the same temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Potential and current distribution in strongly anisotropic Bi(2)Sr(2) CaCu(2)O(8) single crystals at current breakdown

Experiments on potential differences in the low-temperature vortex solid phase of monocrystalline platelets of superconducting Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8) (BSCCO) subjected to currents driven either through an "ab" surface or from one such surface to another show evidence of a resistive/nonresistive front moving progressively out from the current contacts as the current increases. The depth of the resistive region has been measured by a novel in-depth voltage probe contact. The position of the front associated with an injection point appears to depend only on the current magnitude and not on its withdrawal point. It is argued that enhanced nonresistive superconducting anisotropy limits current penetration to less than the London length and results in a flat rectangular resistive region with simultaneous "ab" and "c" current breakdown which moves progressively out from the injection point with increasing current. Measurements in "ab" or "c" configurations are seen to give the same information, involving both ab-plane and c-axis conduction properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Slow relaxation of low temperature vortex phases in Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8}

Nonlinear transport in the low temperature vortex glass state of single crystal Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8} has been investigated over long times (up to two weeks) with fast current pulses driven along the ab plane. It is found that at low temperature and high magnetic field both zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) samples relax towards the same equilibrium state, which is much closer to the original ZFC state than to the FC state. The implication of this FC metastability for the vortex phase diagram is discussed in the context of previous measurements.

cond-mat.supr-con↗