Toward controlling the Al2O3/ZnO interface properties by in situ ALD preparation.

An Al2O3/ZnO heterojunction was grown on a Si single crystal substrate by subsequent thermal and plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) in situ. The band offsets of the heterointerface were then studied by consecutive removal of the layers by argon sputtering, followed by in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The valence band maximum and conduction band minimum of Al2O3 are found to be 1.1 eV below and 2.3 eV above those of ZnO, resulting in a type-I staggered heterojunction. An apparent reduction of ZnO to elemental Zn in the interface region was detected in the Zn 2p core level and Zn L3MM Auger spectra. This suggests an interface formation different from previous models. The reduction of ZnO to Zn in the interface region accompanied by the creation of oxygen vacancies in ZnO results in an upward band bending at the interface. Therefore, this study suggests that interfacial properties such as the band bending as well as the valence and conduction band offsets should be in situ controllable to a certain extent by careful selection of the process parameters.

Metacognitive Therapy for Adjustment Disorder in a Patient With Newly Diagnosed Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A Case Report.

Adjustment disorders (ADs) belong to the worldwide most diagnosed mental disorders and are particularly frequent in patients with an underlying physical illness. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe and disabling disease, which significantly impacts on quality of life and has high mortality rates. The authors here present the case of a young female who developed a severe adjustment disorder with both anxious and depressive symptoms after a diagnosis of PAH requiring intensive care treatment due to right heart failure. Psychosocial functioning was severely impaired, and physical health reduced. Following hemodynamic stabilization and the establishment of PAH treatment, the patient was admitted to the Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and received metacognitive therapy (MCT). AD with mixed anxiety and depressed mood was diagnosed according to DSM-V criteria. At the start of treatment, she reported significant mental distress, indicated by a total sum score of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) of 20 points. The 6-min walking distance was only 358 m before the patient was exhausted. She then was treated with MCT without further psychopharmacological drugs. After only four MCT sessions, she fully remitted from AD which was accompanied by an 11-point reduction in the HADS (to 9 points). MCT specific scores also improved (MCQ-30 sum score decreased from 77 to 35). Notably, physical capacity improved as well, documented by an improved walking distance (439 m; +22%). This is the first case of a patient with AD in the context of PAH treated with MCT. The case report suggests that MCT is a possible psychotherapeutic treatment option for AD in the context of a potentially life-threatening disease. The study design does not permit an attribution of outcome to MCT but it suggests MCT is a potentially viable and acceptable treatment option.

Ellipsometry and XPS comparative studies of thermal and plasma enhanced atomic layer deposited Al2O3-films.

We report on results on the preparation of thin (<100 nm) aluminum oxide (Al2O3) films on silicon substrates using thermal atomic layer deposition (T-ALD) and plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) in the SENTECH SI ALD LL system. The T-ALD Al2O3 layers were deposited at 200 °C, for the PE-ALD films we varied the substrate temperature range between room temperature (rt) and 200 °C. We show data from spectroscopic ellipsometry (thickness, refractive index, growth rate) over 4" wafers and correlate them to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results. The 200 °C T-ALD and PE-ALD processes yield films with similar refractive indices and with oxygen to aluminum elemental ratios very close to the stoichiometric value of 1.5. However, in both also fragments of the precursor are integrated into the film. The PE-ALD films show an increased growth rate and lower carbon contaminations. Reducing the deposition temperature down to rt leads to a higher content of carbon and CH-species. We also find a decrease of the refractive index and of the oxygen to aluminum elemental ratio as well as an increase of the growth rate whereas the homogeneity of the film growth is not influenced significantly. Initial state energy shifts in all PE-ALD samples are observed which we attribute to a net negative charge within the films.