Recently in Our Lab's Activities Category

Workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons

By kenji on July 14, 2009 5:38 AM

The 2009 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at Akihabara campus, Tsukuba University, Japan, on July 13-14, 2009.  The workshop was the latest in a series held since 2001; Tsukuba (December 2001), Niigata (September 2002), Nagoya (July 2003), Tsukuba (July 2004), Saitama (March 2005), Yokohama (July 2006), Kusatsu (August 2006), Tokyo (December 2006), Sendai (July 2007), Sapporo (September 2007), Tokyo (December 2007) and Tsukuba (March 2009).  There are increasing demands for sophisticated metrology in order to observe multilayered materials with nano-structures (dots, wires, etc), which are finding applications in electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices.  X-ray and neutron analysis is known for its ability to observe in a non-destructive manner even 'buried' function interfaces as well as the surface.  In addition to such inherent advantages, recent remarkable advances in micro analysis and quick time-resolved analysis in X-ray reflectometry are extremely important.  The present workshop gathered together those with different research backgrounds, i.e., from semiconductor electronics to chemical bio materials, and even theoretical groups were invited to give insights into unsolved problems on buried interfaces.  The workshop proceedings will be published in Transactions of the Materials Research Society of Japan, no later than the end of 2009.   

The 3rd X-ray reflectivity school in Japan

By kenji on May 22, 2009 4:38 AM

Demand for learning analytical techniques for surfaces and interfaces appears to be on the increase.  At Tsukuba in Japan, the 3rd tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held on May 22.  The first Japanese textbook that serves as an introduction to X-ray reflectivity was published in February, and the 7 authors gave lectures as part of the course.  Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only).

A MOU with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany

By kenji on March 17, 2009 1:39 PM
Our lab signed a Memorandum of Understanding for research collaboration on X-ray spectrometry and advanced metrology using synchrotron radiation with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany. The two institutions agreed to promote exchanges of researchers, information, publication of results of the research, and implementation of cooperative research. PTB has several dedicated beamlines at BESSY, Germany's 3rd generation synchrotron radiation facility, and also owns a compact storage ring for photon metrology. Both sides understand the significance of advanced metrology with X-rays for advanced future sciences.

 

From right to left: Mr. Matthias Muller (PTB, Ph.D. student, X-ray Spectrometry group), Prof. Mathias Richter (PTB, Head of Department, X-ray Metrology using Synchrotron Radiation), Dr. Burkhard Beckhoff (PTB, Head of X-Ray Spectrometry group), Dr. Kenji Sakurai (NIMS, Group Leader, Quantum Beam Center).

A MOU with Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan

By kenji on October 21, 2008 4:08 PM

Our lab signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for research collaboration on the "nanotechnology-driven advanced materials metrology research, X-ray physics and its industrial metrology applications, nanoscale materials characterizations" with Center for Measurement Standards (CMS), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan. The two institutions agreed to promote exchanges of researchers, information, publication of the results of the research and/or the implementation of cooperative research. Both sides are interested in developing and establishing novel advanced metrology as well as the international standardization in Asia-Pacific region.

 

The significance of the collaboration between NIMS and ITRI was first discussed during the 2007 APEC Nanoscale Measurement Technology Forum, held in Taipei, September, 2007. Dr. Kenji Sakurai (NIMS, Group Leader, Quantum Beam Center) gave an invited lecture on X-ray metrology for nanotechnologies there.

A MOU with Chalk River Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited

By kenji on August 13, 2008 11:52 PM

Our lab signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for research collaboration on the X-ray physics and industrial radiography with Chalk River Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Ontario, Canada.  The two institutions agreed to promote exchanges of researchers, information, publication of the results of the research and/or the implementation of cooperative research.  AECL is responsible for the research and development of Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) nuclear reactors.  Both sides understand the significance of novel advanced X-ray technologies for non-destructive examination.

 

From right to left: Dr. Dag Horn (AECL, Section Head, NDE Technologies), Dr. William Kupferschmidt (AECL, Vice-President & General Manager, R&D), Dr. Robert Tapping (AECL, Director, Components and Systems Division), Dr. Nigel Fisher (AECL, Branch Manager, IMD), Dr. Kenji Sakurai (NIMS, Group Leader, Quantum Beam Center), Dr. Krassimir Stoev (AECL, Research Scientist, NDE Section).

X-ray reflectivity schools in Japan and France

By kenji on May 8, 2008 4:37 AM
There appears to be increasing demand for learning analytical techniques for surfaces and interfaces.  In Japan, the 2nd tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held on March 26.  Although a similar school was run only 4 months earlier, an additional 50 young participants came to Tsukuba for the course.  In France, the 3rd school was held at Giens on May 4-8.  The organizers were Professors A. Gibaud (Université du. Maine), R. Lazzari (Institut des NanoSciences de Paris) and J. Daillant (Institut Rayonnement Matière de Saclay).  Of particular note is that SAXS, GI-SAXS and In-plane XRD have been newly included in the program, in addition to ordinary X-ray reflectivity.  Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only) and http://www.univ-lemans.fr/~gibaud/ecoledegiens/ (in French only), respectively

The 2nd Asada Award

By kenji on September 18, 2007 6:36 AM
The recipient of the 2nd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, is: Dr. Hiromi Eba (one of previous members of our lab, present affiliation, Musashi Tech. Institute, "Site occupancy determination and magnetic evaluation of MnZn-ferrites using MnKb X-ray fluorescence spectra").  The ceremony was held in Kyoto, during the international conference on X-ray optics and microscopy (ICXOM 2007) and the 43rd Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan.

Workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons

By kenji on July 24, 2007 6:36 AM
 The 2007 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at the Institute of Materials Research, Tohoku University, in Sendai, Japan, on July 22-24, 2007.  The workshop was the latest in a series held since 2001; Tsukuba (December 2001), Niigata (September 2002), Nagoya (July 2003), Tsukuba (July 2004), Saitama (March 2005), Yokohama (July 2006), Kusatsu (August 2006) and Tokyo (December 2006).  There are increasing demands for sophisticated metrology in order to observe multilayered materials with nano-structures (dots, wires, etc), which are finding applications in electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices.  Unlike many other surface-sensitive methods, X-ray and neutron analysis is known for its ability to see even 'buried' function interfaces as well as the surface.  It is highly reliable in practice, because the information, which ranges from the atomic to mesoscopic scale, is quantitative and reproducible.  However, the method should be upgraded further to cope with more realistic problems in nano sciences and technologies.  Current X-ray methods can give atomic-scale information for quite a large area on a scale of mm2-cm2.  These methods can deliver good statistics for an average, but sometimes it is necessary to analyze a specific part in nano-scale rather than an average structure.  In addition, there is a need to see unstable changing structures and related phenomena in order to understand more about the mechanism of the functioning of nano materials.  Quick measurements are therefore important.  Furthermore, in order to apply the method to a more realistic and complex system, we need some visual understanding to discuss the relationship among the different structures that are present in the same viewing.  Therefore, 2D/3D real-space imaging is important.  Interpretation of roughness is another significant subject, while combination with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS) will become much more widespread than before.  The use of coherent beams and several other new approaches are also significant.  Leading senior academics in this field were invited as commentators, Professors J. Harada (Nagoya University & Rigaku Corporation), S. Kikuta (The University of Tokyo & JASRI) and J. Mizuki (JAEA).  The invited speakers from Tohoku University in Sendai, workshop site, Professors K. Takanashi, M. Kawasaki and M. Yanagihara, talked about the hot topic of spintronics, and/or control of 'buried' magnetic interfaces.  It was stressed that the use of techniques sensitive to specific interfaces is crucial in analyzing many unsolved problems in this field.  The workshop proceedings will be published electronically in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/1742-6596

Crystal structure of the most famous artificial sweetener determined after more than a century

By kenji on November 23, 2006 2:36 AM
Sodium saccharinate, NaC7H4NO3S•xH2O, listed in most catalogues as a dihydrate (x = 2), has been extensively used as a food additive and has constituted the basic component of the diabetics' diet for about 125 years.  However, due to such factors as the instability of the crystal, the large unit cell and a very complex and heavily disordered structure, scientists have been unable to establish its composition with any certainty, until now.  Dr. P. Naumov (Nat'l Inst for Mater. Sci., Japan) and his collaborators recently succeeded in the first determination of the crystal structure, by using special techniques for preserving unstable crystals during X-ray data collection.  This crystal structure, which has as many as 16 formula units in the asymmetric unit (Z' = 16) as well as one of the largest unit cells, represents one of the most difficult cases for a small molecular species such as the saccharinate ion.  It was found that, instead of being a dehydrate, the crystal is in fact a 1.875 hydrate, because of a structural misfit and the lack of two water molecules per asymmetric unit.  The composition can be best described as Na64(C7H4NO3S)64•120H2O.  At a meeting of the Asian Crystallographic Association held in Tsukuba, Japan, Dr. Naumov received the Best Presentation Award.  For more information, see the paper, "Solid-state structure and temperature/evacuation-induced dehydration of sodium saccharinate 1.875 hydrate", P. Naumov et al., Angewandte Chemie, International Edition in English, 44, 1251 (2005).

Workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons

By kenji on July 4, 2006 5:35 AM
A workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held in Yokohama, Japan, on July 3-4.  This was one in a series of workshops that have been organized annually since 2001.  The precise and non-destructive analysis of nano-structures (dots, wires etc), which are most likely to be 'buried' under several capping layers, has become extremely important from the standpoint of fundamental understanding as well as its application to electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices.  Unfortunately, most sophisticated surface-sensitive techniques are not helpful in such cases, but reflectometry and other related methods using X-rays and neutrons are very promising because they are able to explore atomic-scale structures along their depth.  Besides the variety of applications, the workshop also featured intensive discussions of several advanced extensions and/or upgrades of the method.  One of the most interesting directions is the combination of the method with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS).  Professor Alain Gibaud (Université du Maine, France) was invited to give a lecture on this topic.  Another invited speaker from outside Japan was Dr. Burkhard Beckhoff (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany).  The workshop proceedings are available from Science Information and Library Service Division, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Phone: +81-29-864-5137, Fax: +81-29-864-4604, irdpub@mail.kek.jp.  Another workshop contact, particularly with respect to future plans, is Kenji Sakurai, sakurai@yuhgiri.nims.go.jp.
 

New Japanese community for advanced X-ray and neutron reflectometry

By kenji on November 17, 2005 1:35 AM
The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) recently approved the launch of a new professional group for X-ray and neutron analysis on surfaces and 'buried' interfaces.  This is significant in that the new group will bring together those who are currently working with X-ray and neutron reflectometry or those who are simply interested in these subjects. So far in Japan, there have been very few meetings to discuss scientific problems in this area despite growing demand.  There also exists a strong demand to plan and build beamlines dedicated to reflectometry and related methods at synchrotron radiation (Photon Factory and SPring-8) and neutron facilities (J-PARC to be started in 2008).  The group will discuss applications with respect to a variety of materials, i.e., semiconductors, metals, ceramics, polymers, magnetic materials, and multilayers.  It is of key importance to extend the technique in order to devise solutions for difficult problems in realistic specimens --. in particular, analysis of specific small areas and/or unstable systems that need to be measured in a very short time.  The JSAP has an English-language Web page: http://www.jsap.or.jp/english/index.html
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