One of the important parameters in understanding the mechanism of the early stage of organic thin-film growth is the critical nucleus size i*. Here, submonolayer films of para-sexiphenyl grown on amorphous silicon dioxide substrates were investigated by means of atomic-force microscopy and have been analyzed using the recently proposed capture-zone scaling. Applying the generalized Wigner surmise we determine from the capture-zone distribution i* at room temperature and 373 K. The results are compared to traditional analysis by island-size scaling and the applicability of the capture-zone scaling is critically discussed with respect to island shape.

A 63nm Twin Flash memory cell with a size of 0.0225μm2 per 2 (or 4) bits is presented. To achieve small cell areas, a buried bit line and an aggressive gate length of 100 nm are the key features of this cell together with a minimum thermal budget processing. A novel epitaxial CoSi2 process allows the salicidation of local buried bitlines with only a few tens of nanometer width.

The formation of the silicide MnSi1.7 by reactive deposition of Mn onto Si(001) has been studied using Sb as a surfactant. The growth was performed under UHV conditions by simultaneous or consecutive exposure of the Si substrates, held at high temperatures (550°C, 600 °C), to a flux of Sb and Mn atoms. The presence of Sb during the growth strongly increases the island density and changes the crystalline orientation of the MnSi1.7 grains. The morphology and the orientation of the resulting silicide are the same both for the deposition of Mn on a Sb terminated Si(001) surface and for the co-deposition of Mn and Sb on Si(001). A residual Sb coverage close to one monolayer (ML) at the sample surface has been determined for both of the preparation modes at Tsub = 550 °C. The transition from the growth mode without Sb to the surfactant-controlled growth has been studied for Tsub = 600 °C. It has been found that the silicide morphology and orientation strongly depend on the thickness of Sb pre-coverage, which was increased from 0 to about 0.7 ML (1 ML = 6.78·1014 atoms cm-2).

The preparation of buried epitaxial layers of a compound ABx in a matrix of the material A can be performed by allotaxy [1]. In the first process step a distribution of ABx precipitates is prepared in the matrix A by codeposition of A and B. This contribution reports on the spatial distribution and the crystallographic orientation of NiSi2precipitates in the Si- matrix. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy was utilized to characterize the samples. The observed depth distribution of Ni in the Si matrix differs remarkably from the calculated distribution given by the deposition rates of Si and Ni. This redistribution of Ni results in two well distinguishable bands of NiSi2precipitates - a narrow one and a broad one - in the Si matrix. The narrow band consists of epitaxial NiSi2 precipitates; and a mixture of epitaxially and twinned grown NiSi2precipitates is formed in the broad band. Under certain deposition conditions self-ordering of the NiSi2precipitates in the narrow band has been observed parallel and perpendicular to the growth direction. In these cases the diameter of the epitaxial NiSi2precipitates varies between 12 and 50 A and the distance between them is in the order of some 10 Å.

The electrical transport properties of β-FeSi2 single crystals have been investigated in dependence on the purity of the source material and on doping with 3d transition metals. The transport properties included are electrical conducticvity, Hall conductivity and thermopower mainly in the temperature range from 4K to 300K. The single crystals have been prepared by chemical transport reaction in a closed system with iodine as transport agent. In undoped single crystals prepared with 5N Fe both electrical conductivity and thermopower depend on the composition within the homogeinity range of β-FeSi2 which is explained by different intrinsic defects at the Sirich and Fe-rich phase boundaries. In both undoped and doped single crystals impurity band conduction is observed at low temperatures but above 100K extrinsic behaviour determined by shallow impurity states. The thermopower shows between 100K and 200K a significant phonon drag contribution which depends on intrinsic defects and additional doping. The Hall resistivity is considered mainly with respect to an anomalous contribution found in p-type and n-type single crystals and thin films. In addition doped single crystals show at temperatures below about 130K an hysteresis of the Hall voltage. These results make former mobility data uncertain. Comparison will be made between the transport properties of single crystals and polycrystalline material.

Epitaxial Mg-Fe-O spinel thin films were prepared by solid state reactions between MgO(lOO) substrates and thin films or vapors of iron oxide. Iron or iron oxide was deposited by electron beam evaporation in an oxygen background pressure onto a heated MgO crystal. The formation of MgFe2O4 at high temperatures proceeds via cation counter-diffusion in the fixed oxygen sublattice. Depending on substrate temperature, oxygen partial pressure and target material, epitaxial spinel films of different composition and magnetic properties were obtained. Crystal structure, composition and sub-micron morphology were investigated by RBS, XRD, TEM/SAED and EDX. Magnetic hysteresis loops were recorded at room temperature using the magneto-optic Kerr effect. Thickness interference fringes observed by XRD confirm the growth of smooth films. The main feature found in TEM plane view samples is a network of cation antiphase boundaries. The film composition measured by RBS varied from Fe2+ɛO3 films deposited at 340 °C substrate temperature to a solid solution of Fe2+E03 and MgFe2O4 at 500 °C to MgFe2O4 above 800 °C. EDX line-scans show a single phase MgFe2O4 spinel for a substrate temperature of 850 °C, without variation of composition with position or depth. At substrate temperatures higher than 800 °C Fe2+ was additionally dissolved in the MgO substrate, forming a FexMg1-xO solid solution.