[en] Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has become a powerful instrument to grow several types of thin film layers. For some high temperature applications it is essential to use metals with high melting points as conducting materials. In this work, we present the actual state of our studies on the PLD of niobium thin films grown on Si. We investigated the influence of different laser energies, substrate temperatures, argon pressures and energy densities to ensure a high film quality. Our ambition includes good conductivity, low surface roughness, film homogeneity and a low droplet density. We analysed our films with atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and scanning electron microscope (SEM)

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[en] A resonator together with a resistive shunting cover over the microbridge was applied to synchronize intrinsic Josephson junctions. We made both numerical and experimental investigations of the electrical properties of such microbridges: the multibranch behaviour above critical currents and switching between branches. The stability analyses revealed that in-phase states are sensitive to noise. Optimal parameters for synchronization of the system of two junctions up to 26-27% spread of critical currents are calculated

[en] Ultrathin carbon nanomembranes (CNM) comprising crosslinked biphenyl precursors have been tested as support films for energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) of biological specimens. Due to their high transparency CNM are ideal substrates for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) of stained and unstained biological samples. Virtually background-free elemental maps of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and ferritin have been obtained from samples supported by ∼1 nm thin CNM. Furthermore, we have tested conductive carbon nanomembranes (cCNM) comprising nanocrystalline graphene, obtained by thermal treatment of CNM, as supports for cryoEM of ice-embedded biological samples. We imaged ice-embedded TMV on cCNM and compared the results with images of ice-embedded TMV on conventional carbon film (CC), thus analyzing the gain in contrast for TMV on cCNM in a quantitative manner. In addition we have developed a method for the preparation of vitrified specimens, suspended over the holes of a conventional holey carbon film, while backed by ultrathin cCNM. -- Research highlights: → We examine ultrathin carbon nanomembranes (CNM) as supports for biological TEM. → CNM comprise crosslinked biphenyl precursors. → CNM supports enable background-free elemental mapping of heavy and light elements. → We perform cryoEM of ice-embedded biological samples on graphene-like conductive CNM.