Discrete NiSi nanocrystals were synthesized by rapid thermal oxygen annealing of very thin Si/Ni/Si films on a SiO2 tunneling layer. They were used to fabricate metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitor memory. Electrical properties of the memory device such as programming, erasing and retention were characterized and good performance was achieved.

Understanding the correlation between film structure and its ferromagnetic properties is very important for applications. Despite significant lattice mismatch epitaxial (001) fcc Ni films can be grown on MgO substrates using sputtering or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). For both types of films it is observed that the average magnetization switching field is very similar but its azimuthal dependen...

Effects of Process Conditions on Properties of Electroplated Ni Thin Films for Microsystem Applications J. K. Luo, M. Pritschow, A. J. Flewitt, S. M. Spearing,* N. A. Fleck, and W. I. Milne Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, United Kingdom Institute for Microelectronics Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany School of Engineering Science, University of Southampt...

Shape memory alloy (SMA) thin films, especially those based on Ni-Ti, have received considerable attention since it was demonstrated that they can undergo a nearly perfect shape memory effect [1-7]. When SMA films are used as actuators in MEMS devices, biasing springs are generally needed to restore the initial state in order to achieve a twoway shape memory effect. As a result, use of SMA actu...

We address the fundamental issue of growth of perovskite ultra-thin films under the condition of a strong polar mismatch at the heterointerface exemplified by the growth of a correlated metal LaNiO3 on the band insulator SrTiO3 along the pseudo cubic [111] direction. While in general the metallic LaNiO3 film can effectively screen this polarity mismatch, we establish that in the ultra-thin limi...

We report ab initio simulations of the quantum dynamics of electronic charge and spins when subjected to intense laser pulses. By performing these purely electron-dynamics calculations for a thin film and for the bulk of Ni, we conclude that formation of surfaces has a dramatic influence of amplifying the laser induced demagnetization. The reason for this amplification is enhanced spin-currents...