Giant Enhancement of Small Photoluminescent Signals on Glass Surfaces Covered by Self-Assembled Silver Nanorings.

Self-assembled nanostructures with the shape of nanospheres or nanorings were formed after annealing of ultrathin Ag films grown on glass, in a furnace with air at 460 °C. Intense localized surface plasmon resonances were recorded for these nanostructures with maxima at the green-blue light. The surface became functional in terms of enhancing the weak photoluminescence of glass between 2­400 times. This system provides an easy way of enhancing the photoluminescence emission of initially low performance materials.

Natural nanomorphous Ni/NiO magnetic multilayers: structure and magnetism of the high-Ar pressure series.

Natural nanomorphous Ni/NiO multilayers have exhibited interesting magnetic properties, such as an unusual positive surface anisotropy and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Most attention has been paid to multilayers prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under relatively low (3 x 10(-3) mbar) Ar pressure. Here we report on the correlation between structural and magnetic properties for a new series of multilayers, prepared under relatively high (3 x 10(-2) mbar) Ar pressure. The crystalline Ni individual layer thickness ranges between 5-8 nm. The amorphous NiO layer thickness is constant, about 1.1 nm thick. X-ray reflectivity showed that in some of the multilayers the high-order Bragg peaks become broader and diminish quickly. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy reveals that this occurs because the first bilayers are formed in accordance to the growth conditions, while the ones near the top are vanished. Despite the deterioration of the interface quality, all samples show tendency for perpendicular magnetic anisotropy even for large bilayer thickness of about 9 nm. Similar tendency is observed even by a 330 nm thick non-multilayered Ni film grown under the same conditions. This observation reveals the important role of strain and magnetoelastic anisotropy as a source of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the Ni/NiO multilayers.

A cost-effective growth of SiO(x) thin films by reactive sputtering: photoluminescence tuning.

We present a new cost-effective method to produce substoichiometric SiO2 thin films by means of a simple sputter-coater operated at a base pressure of 1 x 10(-3) mbar. During sputtering air is introduced through a fine valve so that the sputtering gas is a mixture of air/Ar. High-resolution electron microscopy shows the formation of amorphous SiO(x) thin films for the as-deposited samples. The index x approaches 1 when the ratio of the partial pressure of air/Ar tends to 0.1. On the other hand, pure silica is formed when the ratio of the partial pressure of air/Ar approaches 0.5. The films in the as-deposited state show intense green-yellow photoluminescence. This fades away with short annealing under air at 950 degrees C. If on the other hand, prolonged annealing is performed under Argon atmosphere at 1000 degrees C, red-infrared photoluminescence is recorded due to the formation of Si nanocrystals embedded in SiO2. This simple method could be suitable for the production of thin SiO(x) films with embedded nanocrystals for optoelectronic or photovoltaic applications.