Correlation between electrical direct current resistivity and plasmonic properties of CMOS compatible titanium nitride thin films.

Damping distances of surface plasmon polariton modes sustained by different thin titanium nitride (TiN) films are measured at the telecom wavelength of 1.55 µm. The damping distances are correlated to the electrical direct current resistivity of the films sustaining the surface plasmon modes. It is found that TiN/Air surface plasmon mode damping distances drop non-linearly from 40 to 16µm as the resistivity of the layers increases from 28 to 130µΩ.cm, respectively. The relevance of the direct current (dc) electrical resistivity for the characterization of TiN plasmonic properties is investigated in the framework of the Drude model, on the basis of parameters extracted from spectroscopic ellipsometry experiments. By probing a parametric space of realistic values for parameters of the Drude model, we obtain a nearly univocal dependence of the surface plasmon damping distance on the dc resistivity demonstrating the relevance of dc resistivity for the evaluation of the plasmonic performances of TiN at telecom frequencies. Finally, we show that better plasmonic performances are obtained for TiN films featuring a low content of oxygen. For low oxygen content and corresponding low resistivity, we attribute the increase of the surface plasmon damping distances to a lower confinement of the plasmon field into the metal and not to a decrease of the absorption of TiN.

Characterization of CMOS metal based dielectric loaded surface plasmon waveguides at telecom wavelengths.

Dielectric loaded surface plasmon waveguides (DLSPPWs) comprised of polymer ridges deposited on top of CMOS compatible metal thin films are investigated at telecom wavelengths. We perform a direct comparison of the properties of copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), titanium nitride (TiN) and gold (Au) based waveguides by implementing the same plasmonic waveguiding configuration for each metal. The DLSPPWs are characterized by leakage radiation microscopy and a fiber-to-fiber configuration mimicking the cut-back method. We introduce the ohmic loss rate (OLR) to analyze quantitatively the properties of the CMOS metal based DLSPPWs relative to the corresponding Au based waveguides. We show that the Cu, Al and TiN based waveguides feature extra ohmic loss compared to Au of 0.027 dB/µm, 0.18 dB/µm and 0.52 dB/µm at 1550nm respectively. The dielectric function of each metal extracted from ellipsometric spectroscopic measurements is used to model the properties of the DLSP-PWs. We find a fairly good agreement between experimental and modeled DLSPPWs properties except for Al featuring a large surface roughness. Finally, we conclude that TiN based waveguides sustaining intermediate effective index (in the range 1.05-1.25) plasmon modes propagate over very short distances restricting the the use of those modes in practical situations.

Impact of optical and structural aging in As2S3 microstructured optical fibers on mid-infrared supercontinuum generation.

We analyze optical and structural aging in As2S3 microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) that may have an impact on mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. A strong alteration of optical transparency at the fundamental OH absorption peak is measured for high-purity As2S3 MOF stored in atmospheric conditions. The surface evolution and inherent deviation of corresponding chemical composition confirm that the optical and chemical properties of MOFs degrade upon exposure to ambient conditions because of counteractive surface process. This phenomenon substantially reduces the optical quality of the MOFs and therefore restrains the spectral expansion of generated supercontinuum. This aging process is well confirmed by the good matching between previous experimental results and the reported numerical simulations based on the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

Elaboration and characterization of barium silicate thin films.

Room temperature depositions of barium on a thermal silicon oxide layer were performed in ultra high vacuum (UHV). In-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were carried out as well after exposure to air as after subsequent annealings. These analyses were ex-situ completed by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) profiles and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cross-sectional images. The results showed that after air exposure, the barium went carbonated. Annealing at sufficient temperature permitted to decompose the carbonate to benefit of a barium silicate. The silicate layer was formed by interdiffusion of barium with the initial SiO2 layer.

Auto-assembly of nanometer thick, water soluble layers of plasmid DNA complexed with diamines and basic amino acids on graphite: Greatest DNA protection is obtained with arginine.

We have investigated the ability of diamines as well as basic amino acids to condense DNA onto highly ordered pyrolytic graphite with minimum damage after re-dissolution in water. Based on a bibliographic survey we briefly summarize DNA binding properties with diamines as compared to basic amino acids. Thus, solutions of DNA complexed with these linkers were drop-cast in order to deposit ultra-thin layers on the surface of HOPG in the absence or presence of Tris buffer. Atomic Force Microscopy analyses showed that, at a fixed ligand-DNA mixing ratio of 16, the mean thickness of the layers can be statistically predicted to lie in the range 0-50nm with a maximum standard deviation ±6nm, using a simple linear law depending on the DNA concentration. The morphology of the layers appears to be ligand-dependent. While the layers containing diamines present holes, those formed in the presence of basic amino acids, except for lysine, are much more compact and dense. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy measurements provide compositional information indicating that, compared to the maximum number of DNA sites to which the ligands may bind, the basic amino acids Arg and His are present in large excess. Conservation of the supercoiled topology of the DNA plasmids was studied after recovery of the complex layers in water. Remarkably, arginine has the best protection capabilities whether Tris was present or not in the initial solution.

Optimization of some instrumental factors in diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy.

The effects of some instrumental factors on infrared spectroscopy analysis were investigated in the case of diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) mode. It is usually said that quantitative analysis is possible only if both particle size distribution and sample density are perfectly controlled. However, even if these conditions are checked, instrumental factors are of great interest for the goodness of a curve fitting procedure, which is often necessary in solid sample studies. A factorial design achieved on anthron made it possible to obtain major trends concerning the required values for one instrumental parameter (resolution) and two mathematical treatments (zero filling and Savitsky-Golay (S-G) smoothing). Resolution was found to have the greatest effect on measured responses. A value of 2 cm(-1) according to the corresponding aperture is sufficient to approach the real width of bands for powdered samples. The use of a zero filling factor (ZFF) improves the apparent resolution by data interpolation. The best values found for instrumental parameters were applied to an anthron-anthracen mixture. The optimization of spectral features made it possible to obtain semi-quantitative results quite easily, in good agreement with the data corresponding to each pure compound.

[Interaction between 4-hydroxynonenane with membrane system. 1H, 31P, 2H NMR study]. / Interaction du 4-hydroxynonénane avec les systèmes membranaires. Etude RMN du 1H, 31P et 2H.

The interactions between membranes and 4-hydroxynonenane (HNE)-a natural product of polyinsatured fatty acids peroxidation-were investigated by NMR spectroscopies. This molecule is located in the intermediate part of the bilayer. The presence of the HNE induces an increase of the fluidity in the deep part of the membrane, while a rigidification of the superficial part is found.