<p> A brief review of the theoretical and experimental aspects of liquid droplet nucleation from vapours and of crystal nucleation from aqueous solution is presented. In order to study the nucleation and crystal growth of several analytically important metal chelates, methods were developed to measure the size distribution of crystals growing in a supersaturated solution. These methods involved rapid mixing techniques followed by measurement of the size distribution of the precipitated particles using a Coulter counter and multichannel analyser. The size distributions were dumped from the analyser onto magnetic tape and recovered using computer methods. The mixing and counting techniques were calibrated and tested using barium sulphate and spheres of known size distribution. </p> <p> From the size distributions obtained for the metal chelates, conclusions were made regarding the nucleation step, and the parameters important in the classical Volmer-Weber-Becker-Doring theory of nucleation were calculated. The validity of the values were evaluated and comparisons made with values obtained by other workers. </p> <p> The laws controlling the crystal growth of the metal chelates and their importance in elucidating the type of nucleation process were also investigated. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Spin-torque transfer (STT) effects have brought spintronics ever closer to practical electronic applications, such as MRAM and active broadband microwave spin-torque oscillator (STO), and have emerged as an increasingly attractive field of research in spin dynamics. Utilizing materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in such applications offers several great advantages such as low-current, low-field operation combined with high thermal stability. The exchange coupling that a PMA thin film exerts on an adjacent in-plane magnetic anisotropy (IMA) layer can tilt the IMA magnetization direction out of plane, thus creating a stack with an effective tilted magnetic anisotropy. The tilt angle can be engineered via both intrinsic material parameters, such as the PMA and the saturation magnetization, and extrinsic parameters, such as the layer thicknesses.       STOs can be fabricated in one of a number of forms—as a nanocontact opening on a mesa from a deposited pseudospin-valve (PSV) structure, or as a nanopillar etching from magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ)—composed of highly reproducible PMA or predetermined tilted magnetic anisotropy layers.       All-perpendicular CoFeB MTJ STOs showed high-frequency microwave generation with extremely high current tunability, all achieved at low applied biases. Spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) measurements and analysis revealed the bias dependence of spin-torque components, thus promise great potential for direct gate-voltage controlled STOs.       In all-perpendicular PSV STOs, magnetic droplets were observed underneath the nanocontact area at a low drive current and low applied field. Furthermore, preliminary results for microwave auto-oscillation and droplet solitons were obtained from tilted-polarizer PSV STOs. These are promising and would be worth investigating in further studies of STT driven spin dynamics. / Effekter av spinnvridmoment (STT) har fört spinntroniken allt närmare praktiska elektroniska tillämpningar, såsom MRAM och den spinntroniska mikrovågsoscillatorn (STO), och har blivit ett allt mer attraktivt forskningsområde inom spinndynamik. Användning av material med vinkelrät magnetisk anisotropi (PMA) i sådana tillämpningar erbjuder flera stora fördelar, såsom låg strömförbrukning och funktion vid låga fält i kombination med hög termisk stabilitet. Den utbyteskoppling (”exchange bias”) en PMA-tunnfilm utövar på ett intilliggande skikt med magnetisk anisotropi i planet (IMA) kan få IMA-magnetiseringsriktningen att vridas ut ur planet, vilket ger en materialstack med en effektivt sett lutande magnetisk anisotropi. Lutningsvinkeln kan manipuleras med både inre materialparametrar, såsom PMA och mättningsmagnetisering, och yttre parametrar, såsom skikttjocklekarna. STO:er kan tillverkas som flera olika typer - som en nanokontaktsöppning på en s.k. mesa av en deponerad pseudospinnventilstruktur (PSV) eller som en nanotråd etsad ur en magnetisk tunnlingsövergång (MTJ) –och bestå av mycket reproducerbar PMA eller av skikt med på förhand bestämt lutning av dess magnetiska anisotropi. MTJ-STO:er av CoFeB med helt vinkelrät anisotropi visar högfrekvent mikrovågsgenerering med extremt stort frekvensomfång hos strömstyrningen, detta vid låg biasering. Mätning och analys av spinnvridmoments-ferromagnetisk resonans (ST-FMR) avslöjade ett biasberoende hos spinnvridmomentskomponenter, vilket indikerar en stor potential för direkt gate-spänningsstyrda STO:er. I helt vinkelräta PSV-STO:er observerades magnetiska droppar under nanokontaktområdet vid låg drivström och lågt pålagt fält. Dessutom erhölls preliminära resultat av mikrovågssjälvsvängning och av s.k. ”droplet solitons” hos PSV-STO:er med lutande polarisator. Dessa är lovande och skulle vara värda att undersökas i ytterligare studier av STT-driven spinndynamik. / <p>QC 20160829</p>