Plasma Source Ion Implantation (PSII) is the process of implanting high energy ions [10-50 keV] into metallic targets, by pulsing them negatively whilst immersed in a background plasma. PSII achieves surface hardening, and increased wear and corrosion resistance. Numerous papers have been published describing numerical simulations and models of the PSII process, most of which have been limited to one dimension. This thesis presents the results of work carried out III the Plasma Processing Laboratory at the University of Natal, Durban, during 1994-1995. In particular, measurements of two-dimensional plasma sheath effects due to spherical and complex shaped targets are compared with a particle-in-cell simulation code. The simulation results are used to define a relationship between the plasma potential of the sheath edge and the saturation currents. Thus allowing for the saturation currents to be used to trace sheath evolution. These results are compared with the experimental measurements from the spherical target. Results from the rectangular and complex saw-tooth targets show a lack of sheath conformality. The ion saturation currents were susceptible to electron swamping, which occured in localised regions associated with target structure. It is thought that secondary electrons ejected from the target are focused and accelerated by the high target potential into these regions, where they swamp the ion current. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

The aim of this study was to assess the problems and needs of families with cochlear implanted children during implantation process. The goals of study was: 1. to traverse function peculiarities of families with cochlear implanted children in teoretical aspect; 2. to assess what problems theese families have during implantation process; 3. to assess wich needs are important for families during implantation process; 4. to assess what is parents opinion about implantation process; 5. to project nurse possibilities of action during cohlear implantation process. Methods: Was send special questionnaires to families with cochlear implanted children, and got 20 families answers (from 20 mothers and 19 fathers). It means, 67%. Additionally was make interview with specialists of cochlear implantation. Results: For all parents was the most important to get all information about their children health, cochlear implantation process and rehabilitation after implantation. The most parents agreed that the implantation process made influence to family material and emotional well-being. The interview with specialists of cochlear implantation results predicable the got results. Conclusions: 1. Cochlear implantation process made influence to the behaviour of families with cochlear implanted children. 2. some families hade problems take care with other members of family during implantation process. 3. the information about implantation process made the most influence to emotional needs of... [to full text]

WNT ligands are secreted proteins that act as signals between cells. WNTs activate several interconnected signaling pathways that are required for embryonic development as well as tissue homeostasis in adults. The X-chromosomal Porcn gene encodes a membrane-bound O-acyl transferase that is required for the acylation of all 19 WNT ligands encoded in the mammalian genome. Non-acylated WNTs fail to be secreted from the producing cell and thus do not activate downstream signaling targets. In my thesis research, I have investigated the function of Porcn in mouse embryonic development. In vitro, I have shown that Porcn is required for canonical WNT signaling in ES cells and further, for their differentiation into endodermal and mesodermal derivatives. Taking advantage of a mouse line carrying a conditional (floxed) Porcn allele that I have generated, I have focused my studies on the early embryonic roles of Porcn using Cre recombinase-mediated and X chromosome inactivation-based ablation of Porcn function in vivo. I have found that the earliest requirement for Porcn in mouse development is the induction of gastrulation. In contrast to findings from in vitro studies, I have provided evidence that Porcn is not required for pre-implantation development in vivo. Dissecting embryonic and extra- embryonic roles of Porcn, I have been able to show that Porcn is required in the extra-embryonic chorion in order to mediate chorio-allantoic fusion, whereas ablation in the extra-embryonic visceral endoderm had no apparent effects. The extra-embryonic requirement for Porcn results in a parent-of-origin effect in Porcn heterozygous females due to X chromosome inactivation. In contrast to the placentation defect causing embryonic lethality of maternal allele mutants, deletion of the paternal allele caused variable fetal defects resulting in perinatal lethality with only rare survivors to adulthood. Both fetuses and adults represent a mouse model for Focal Dermal Hypoplasia (FDH), the syndrome caused by mutations in the human PORCN gene. My studies highlight the importance of PORCN-mediated WNT signaling for gastrulation, placentation, and fetal development, but suggest that endogenous WNT secretion does not play an essential role in either implantation or blastocyst lineage specification.

WNT ligands are secreted proteins that act as signals between cells. WNTs activate several interconnected signaling pathways that are required for embryonic development as well as tissue homeostasis in adults. The X-chromosomal Porcn gene encodes a membrane-bound O-acyl transferase that is required for the acylation of all 19 WNT ligands encoded in the mammalian genome. Non-acylated WNTs fail to be secreted from the producing cell and thus do not activate downstream signaling targets. In my thesis research, I have investigated the function of Porcn in mouse embryonic development. In vitro, I have shown that Porcn is required for canonical WNT signaling in ES cells and further, for their differentiation into endodermal and mesodermal derivatives. Taking advantage of a mouse line carrying a conditional (floxed) Porcn allele that I have generated, I have focused my studies on the early embryonic roles of Porcn using Cre recombinase-mediated and X chromosome inactivation-based ablation of Porcn function in vivo. I have found that the earliest requirement for Porcn in mouse development is the induction of gastrulation. In contrast to findings from in vitro studies, I have provided evidence that Porcn is not required for pre-implantation development in vivo. Dissecting embryonic and extra- embryonic roles of Porcn, I have been able to show that Porcn is required in the extra-embryonic chorion in order to mediate chorio-allantoic fusion, whereas ablation in the extra-embryonic visceral endoderm had no apparent effects. The extra-embryonic requirement for Porcn results in a parent-of-origin effect in Porcn heterozygous females due to X chromosome inactivation. In contrast to the placentation defect causing embryonic lethality of maternal allele mutants, deletion of the paternal allele caused variable fetal defects resulting in perinatal lethality with only rare survivors to adulthood. Both fetuses and adults represent a mouse model for Focal Dermal Hypoplasia (FDH), the syndrome caused by mutations in the human PORCN gene. My studies highlight the importance of PORCN-mediated WNT signaling for gastrulation, placentation, and fetal development, but suggest that endogenous WNT secretion does not play an essential role in either implantation or blastocyst lineage specification.

The primary focus of this thesis is to study the effect of doping on magnetic properties in amorphous Fe100−xZrx alloys. Samples with compositions of x = 7,11.6 and 12 at.% were implanted with different concentrations of H. Moreover, the samples with a composition of x = 7 at.% were also implanted with He, B, C and N. Magnetic measurements were performed, using SQUID magnetometry and MOKE, in order to compare the as-grown and the implanted films. The Curie temperature (Tc) increases and the coercivity (Hc) decreases, with increasing dopant volume. We also found that Hc increases with temperature for B and C doped samples. Magnetization curves at low temperature validate the presence of non-collinear spin configurations in the as-grown films, which is suppressed after doping, resulting in films with tunable soft magnetic properties. We have also studied the effect of interlayer mixing and finite size effects on FeZr in Fe92Zr8/AlZr multilayer films, and found an anomalous increase of Tc with decreasing thickness. Strain induced changes in the magnetization of an amorphous Co95Zr5 film at the orthorhombic phase transition of the BaTiO3 substrate, was also studied. The results show that structural modifications of the substrate increases the stress and hence changes the magnetic anisotropy in the amorphous Co95Zr5 layer. Finally, the magnetization reversal of Co and CoX heterostructures, with X being Cr, Fe, Ni, Pd, Pt and Ru, has been studied. For this purpose a synthetic antiferromagnet structure, FM/NM/FM, was used, where FM is a ferromagnetic Co or CoX layer and NM is a nonmagnetic Ru spacer layer. The FM layers are coupled antiferromagnetically across the NM layer. For a range of FM layer thicknesses, the exchange stiffness parameter Aex and the interlayer coupling (JRKKY ) of the Co or CoX layers were obtained. This is done by fitting M(H) curves, measured by SQUID magnetometry, to a micromagnetic model. The alloying in CoX resulted in a decreasing Aex and also a reduced MS. The experimental results are in a good agreement with DFT calculations.

This thesis investigates the defects, charge states and spin properties of phosphorus doped silicon, and is motivated by a number of proposals for quantum information processing (QIP) that involve using the spin or charge of individual donors in silicon as qubits. The implantation of phosphorus into silicon is investigated; specifically the ability to remove damage and activate the implanted donors. The impact of implantation on the transport properties of silicon MOSFETs at cryogenic temperatures is used to investigate the damage. Implanting phosphorus into the MOSFET channel leads to reduced electron mobility. The defect density increases linearly with implant density (??ndefect = 0.08 ?? 0.01nimplant). Silicon implantation does not show this effect, suggesting that the additional defects are ionised P donors in the channel. Implant activation for low density donors was complete for an implant density of 2 x 1012 cm2. Similar studies were undertaken on devices with a variety of dielectrics. Thermally grown SiO2 was found to have the lowest defect density of those studied, although Al2O3 deposited via atomic layer deposition was found to have properties that may be useful for the fabrication of devices with low thermal processing budgets. The as-grown defect density of the thermal silicon dioxide was found to be 2.1 ?? 0.3 x 1011 cm2. Ion implantation of nanoscale devices allowed the spin properties of a small number of phosphorus donors in silicon to be probed via electrically detected magnetic resonance. This allowed the detection of the spin resonance of as few as 100 spins. This represents an improvement in number detection of 4 orders of magnitude over previous EDMR studies of donors in silicon. EDMR was used to investigate the properties of P donors in isotopically purified 28Si . The material had a background doping level too high to detect small numbers of spins, however, the narrow linewidth of the phosphorus resonance confirm that the isotopic purity is greater than 0.999. A proof-of-principle demonstration of pulsed EDMR of ion-implanted donors in silicon is presented. The spin dependent transient that results from manipulating the donor spins via pulsed ESR is sensitive to as few as 104 donors, and is a required component for observation of spin Rabi oscillations by this technique.

We investigate the newly discovered, superconducting metal-mixed polymers made by embedding a surface layer of metal (a tin-antimony alloy) into a plastic substrate (polyetheretherketone - PEEK). Focusing initially on pre-implanted systems, we show that while the substrate morphology does affect the distribution of metal deposited on the surface, the morphology has no affect on the film's electrical properties. We find that the metal content can be characterised via the film's optical absorption, which along with the conductivity, scales with thickness. By conducting low temperature resistivity measurements we observe that the superconducting critical temperature, $T_c$, remains at that of bulk Sn but the transition broadens with decreasing film thickness. Studying N-implanted metal-mixed polymers, we find that the implant temperature can influence the electrical properties of these systems, as higher implant temperatures result in greater disorder, which in turn causes higher residual resistances and broader superconducting transitions. We observe peaks in the magnetoresistance of superconducting/insulating systems, which we attribute to the competition between superconductivity and weak localisation in a granular network. We determine that the substrate morphology does not influence the electrical properties of implanted systems. We investigate the role sputtering plays by implanting heavier ions (Sn) and show that this technique can be used to overcome the issue of inhomogeneity inherent with using thinner initial films. We study the effect the fabrication parameters of implant dose, beam energy and film thickness have on Sn-implanted metal-mixed polymers and find that with only minor changes in the fabrication conditions, it is possible to tune the conductivities of these materials between a zero-resistance superconducting state, through a metal-insulator transition, to a severely insulating state ($R_s > 10^{10}~\Omega/\Box$). We find that the electrical properties can be further controlled by annealing the samples, and that it is possible to induce optical changes at temperatures approaching the glass transition temperature of PEEK. We demonstrate that metal-mixed polymers are suitable for use in resistance-based temperature sensors by comparing their performance directly against commercially available products and find that the metal-mixed polymers perform at least as well as the commercial models and, indeed, pass the highest industry standards.

We have studied the introduction of defects in silicon wafers with low dose channelling ion implantation. (For complete abstract open document)

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.