Faraday rotation spectrum has been measured at room temperature in a magnetic nanocomposite of ␥-Fe 2 O 3 /SiO 2. The material consists of isolated ␥-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles dispersed in a silica matrix, and it was prepared through a sol-gel method. The composite contains 18% of ␥-Fe 2 O 3 in weight with an average particle size of 20 nm. It has a coercitivity of 30 Oe and an M S of 6 emu/g. The specific Faraday rotation spectrum exhibits a narrow peak centered around 765 nm, reaching a value of 110°/cm and an absorption coefficient of 64 cm Ϫ1. Faraday rotation versus applied field has also been measured, and a cycle similar to the one described by the magnetization has been found.

The microstructure and the lateral epitaxy mechanism of formation of homoepitaxially and selectively grown GaN structures within windows in SiO2 masks have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy. The structures were produced by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy for field emission studies. A GaN layer underlying the SiO2 mask provided the crystallographic template for the initial vertical growth of the GaN hexagonal pyramids or striped pattern. The SiO2 film provided an amorphous stage on which lateral growth of the GaN occurred and possibly very limited compliancy in terms of atomic arrangement during the lateral growth and in the accommodation of the mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion during cooling. Observations with TEM show a substantial reduction in the dislocation density in the areas of lateral growth of the GaN deposited on the SiO2 mask. In many of these areas no dislocations were observed.

The electrical performance of SiC-based microelectronic devices is strongly affected by the densities of interfacial traps introduced by the chemical and structural changes at the SiO2∕SiC interface during processing. We analyzed the structure and chemistry of this interface for the thermally grown SiO2∕4H-SiC heterostructure using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Z-contrast scanning TEM, and spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy. The analyses revealed the presence of distinct layers, several nanometers thick, on each side of the interface; additionally, partial amorphization of the top SiC surface was observed. These interfacial layers were attributed to the formation of a ternary Si–C–O phase during thermal oxidation.

We report epitaxial growth of TiN films having low resistivity on (100) silicon substrates using pulsed laser deposition method. The TiN films were characterized using x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering, four-point-probe ac resistivity, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques and epitaxial relationship was found to be 〈100〉 TiN ∥ 〈100〉 Si. TiN films showed 10%–20% channeling yield. In the plane, four unit cells of TiN match with three unit cells of silicon with less than 4.0% misfit. This domain matching epitaxy provides a new mechanism of epitaxial growth in systems with large lattice misfits. Four-point-probe measurements show characteristic metallic behavior of these films as a function of temperature with a typical resistivity of about 15 μΩ cm at room temperature. Implications of low-resistivity epitaxial TiN in silicon device fabrication are discussed.

InGaN films have been grown on GaN and AlGaN epitaxial layers by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The "composition pulling effect" during the initial InGaN growth stages has been studied as a function of the lattice mismatch between the InGaN and the underlying epitaxial layer. The crystalline quality of the InGaN is good near the InGaN/GaN interface and the composition is close to that of GaN. However, with increasing InGaN film thickness, the crystal quality deteriorates and the indium mole fraction increases. The composition pulling effect becomes stronger with increasing lattice mismatch. It is suggested that indium atoms are excluded from the InGaN lattice during the early growth stages to reduce the deformation energy from the lattice mismatch. TEM observations of the InGaN/GaN structure reveal that the degradation of the crystalline quality of InGaN films grown on GaN is caused by pit formation which arises from edge dislocations propagating through the InGaN film from the underlying GaN.