Anisotropic adaptive resolution of boundary layers for heat conduction problems

We deal with the numerical solution of heat conduction problems featuring steep gradients. In order to solve the associated partial differential equation a finite volume technique is used and unstructured grids are employed. A discrete maximum principle for triangulations of a Delaunay type is developed. To capture thin boundary layers incorporating steep gradients an anisotropic mesh adaptation technique is implemented. Computational tests are performed for an academic problem where the exact solution is known as well as for a real world problem of a computer simulation of the thermoregulation of premature infants.

A crack on the interface of piezo-electric bodies

Singularities of elastic and electric fields are investigated at the tip of a crack on the interface of two anisotropic piezo-electric media under various boundary conditions on the crack surfaces. The Griffith formulae are obtained for increments of energy functionals due to growth of the crack and the notion of the energy release matrix is introduced. Normalization conditions for bases of singular solution are proposed to adapt them to the energy, stress, and deformation fracture criteria. Connections between these bases are determined and additional properties of the deformation basis related to the notion of electric surface enthalpy are established.

Lithography-free micro- and nanostructuring based on conventional plasma etching

In now-a-days semiconductor and MEMS technologies the photolithography is the working horse for fabrication of functional devices. The conventional way (so called Top-Down approach) of microstructuring starts with photolithography, followed by patterning the structures using etching, especially dry etching. The requirements for smaller and hence faster devices lead to decrease of the feature size to the range of several nanometers. However, the production of devices in this scale range needs photolithography equipment, which must overcome the diffraction limit. Therefore, new photolithography techniques have been recently developed, but they are rather expensive and restricted to plane surfaces. Recently a new route has been presented - so-called Bottom-Up approach - where from a single atom or a molecule it is possible to obtain functional devices. This creates new field - Nanotechnology - where one speaks about structures with dimensions 1 - 100 nm, and which has the possibility to replace the conventional photolithography concerning its integral part - the self-assembly. However, this technique requires additional and special equipment and therefore is not yet widely applicable. This work presents a general scheme for the fabrication of silicon and silicon dioxide structures with lateral dimensions of less than 100 nm that avoids high-resolution photolithography processes. For the self-aligned formation of extremely small openings in silicon dioxide layers at in depth sharpened surface structures, the angle dependent etching rate distribution of silicon dioxide against plasma etching with a fluorocarbon gas (CHF3) was exploited. Subsequent anisotropic plasma etching of the silicon substrate material through the perforated silicon dioxide masking layer results in high aspect ratio trenches of approximately the same lateral dimensions. The latter can be reduced and precisely adjusted between 0 and 200 nm by thermal oxidation of the silicon structures owing to the volume expansion of silicon during the oxidation. On the basis of this a technology for the fabrication of SNOM calibration standards is presented. Additionally so-formed trenches were used as a template for CVD deposition of diamond resulting in high aspect ratio diamond knife. A lithography-free method for production of periodic and nonperiodic surface structures using the angular dependence of the etching rate is also presented. It combines the self-assembly of masking particles with the conventional plasma etching techniques known from microelectromechanical system technology. The method is generally applicable to bulk as well as layered materials. In this work, layers of glass spheres of different diameters were assembled on the sample surface forming a mask against plasma etching. Silicon surface structures with periodicity of 500 nm and feature dimensions of 20 nm were produced in this way. Thermal oxidation of the so structured silicon substrate offers the capability to vary the fill factor of the periodic structure owing to the volume expansion during oxidation but also to define silicon dioxide surface structures by selective plasma etching. Similar structures can be simply obtained by structuring silicon dioxide layers on silicon. The method offers a simple route for bridging the Nano- and Microtechnology and moreover, an uncomplicated way for photonic crystal fabrication.

Thermische Stabilität und Modifizierung der magnetischen Austauschanisotropie in Schichtsystemen

In dünnen Schichtsystemen, in denen es Grenzflächen zwischen antiferromagnetischen (AF) und ferromagnetischen (FM) Bereichen gibt, kann eine unidirektionale magnetische Anisotropie beobachtet werden: die Austauschanisotropie, auch "Exchange-Bias Effekt" genannt. Die Austauschanisotropie ist die Folge einer magnetischen Kopplung zwischen AF und FM. Makroskopisch äußert sich diese Anisotropie in einer Verschiebung der Magnetisierungskurve entlang der Magnetfeldachse. Anwendung findet die Austauschanisotropie z. B. in Spin-Valve Sensoren, deren Funktionsprinzip auf dem Riesen-Magnetowiderstand (engl. giant magnetoresistance, GMR) beruht. Die (thermische) Stabilität der Austauschanisotropie ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung für technische Anwendungen. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde untersucht, durch welche Materialeigenschaften die Austauschanisotropie in Schichtsystemen mit antiferromagnetischem Nickeloxid (NiO) bestimmt wird. Die Schichten wurden durch (reaktive) Kathodenzerstäubung hergestellt. Durch Variation der Depositionsbedingungen wurden Zusammensetzung und Struktur der NiO-Schichten verändert. Die Ergebnisse systematischer Analysen dieser Größen werden aufgeführt. Der Vergleich dieser Materialanalysen mit magnetischen Messungen an NiO/NiFe Schichtsystemen fšuhrt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die chemische Zusammensetzung und die Struktur der NiO-Schichten die thermische Stabilität der Austauschanisotropie entscheidend beeinflussen. Es wird zusätzlich gezeigt, dass die Stabilität der Austauschanisotropie durch einen Temperprozess im Anschluss an die Herstellung der Schichtsysteme entscheidend verbessert werden kann. Thermisch aktivierte, magnetische Relaxationsprozesse können außerdem zur Erhöhung der Austauschanisotropie führen. Des Weiteren werden zwei neuartige Methoden zur Modifizierung der Austauschanisotropie vorgestellt. Dabei wird gezeigt, dass durch die Bestrahlung der Schichtsysteme mit Helium-Ionen die magnetischen Eigenschaften der Schichtsysteme gezielt verändert und optimiert werden können. Der Einfluss der Ionenbestrahlung auf die Austauschanisotropie in NiO/NiFe Schichtsystemen und auf den Magnetowiderstand in FeMn basierten Spin-Valves steht dabei im Vordergrund der experimentellen Untersuchungen. Eine weitere Möglichkeit zur Modifizierung der Austauschanisotropie ist die Bestrahlung der Schichtsysteme mit kurzen Laserpulsen. Durch einen thermomagnetischen Prozess kann die Austauschanisotropie lokal verändert werden. Experimentelle Ergebnisse von diesem hier erstmals verwendeten Verfahren werden vorgestellt und interpretiert. Mit den beiden genannten Methoden ist es möglich, die Eigenschaften der Austauschanisotropie in Schichtsystemen nachträglich gezielt zu modifizieren.

Recent experimental results from spectroscopy of superheavy quasiatoms

The concept of a "Superheavy Quasiatom" is discussed. Radiative transition times are compared with the lifetime of the intermediate system, cross sections are calculated within a two-collision model and induced transitions and their anisotropic emission are discussed. Recent experimental and theoretical results are presented from collision systems obtained with I-beams bombarding various heavy targets, giving combined Z-values between 120 and 145. Results include the energy dependence of the peak structure interpreted as M X-rays from superheavy quasiatoms and the anisotropy of X-ray emission referred to the beam direction. The data are discussed within the models available. These cannot explain the streng emission of anisotropic radiation in the X-ray energy range of quasiatomic M X-rays at small bombarding energies.