[en] Some properties of Nb-Nb oxide-PbIn edge junctions and two-junction superconducting interferometers have been measured. From the voltage of the resonance involving the junction capacitance and interferometer inductance, we deduce that the specific capacitance of 2.5 μm² junctions having a current density of 30 kA cm^-2 is 20 +- 4 μF cm^-2. (orig.)

[en] The use of ion-beam sputtered Al₂O₃ to passivate the mirrors of semiconductor injection lasers is described. Dense films, which offer considerable protection against corrosion, can be deposited without damage to the crystal surface. The overall quality of the passivation is demonstrated by long-term stress testing of the lasers

[en] Parallel frequency readout of an array of cantilevers is demonstrated using optical beam deflection with a single laser-diode pair. Multi-frequency addressing makes the individual nanomechanical response of each cantilever distinguishable within the received signal. Addressing is accomplished by exciting the array with the sum of all cantilever resonant frequencies. This technique requires considerably less hardware compared to other parallel optical readout techniques. Readout is demonstrated in beam deflection mode and interference mode. Many cantilevers can be readout in parallel, limited by the oscillators' quality factor and available bandwidth. The proposed technique facilitates parallelism in applications at the nano-scale, including probe-based data storage and biological sensing.

[en] The standard lithographic techniques to fabricate electronic components involve the use of polymers, baking steps and chemicals. This typically restricts their application to flat substrates made up of standard materials. Stencil lithography has been proposed as a stable alternative to the standard lithographic techniques. In this paper, we demonstrate the completely resistless all-through-stencil fabrication of electronic components, by performing all essential fabrication steps—implantation, etching and metallization—using stencil lithography. This is performed on a planar substrate as well as on pre-patterned 3D substrates, thus showing the potential of this technique for applications in the field of accelerometers, pressure, gas and radiation sensors. (paper)

[en] Piezoresistive scanning probe arrays have been developed in view of operation in liquid environments. When the cantilevers are immersed in electrically conductive solutions like for instance physiological buffers, the piezoresistive sensing elements as well as the metal connections have to be passivated. For that purpose, the sensors and the metal wiring were covered with different protective coatings. Long term stability of these passivation layers was demonstrated by imaging in a buffer solution for several hours. Moreover, in view of reducing the damping and thus decreasing the hydrodynamic resistance in liquids, special truss cantilevers have been developed. It was found that this special design conferred no improvement in terms of Q-factor and resonant frequency when operated in water. In order to explain the behaviour of these probes, a theoretical model was established. The model predicted that truss structures could theoretically improve the cantilever performances in liquid, but the probes would need to be operated at high frequency, above 10 MHz

[en] Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques are used with one- or two-dimensional arrays of piezoresistive probes for parallel imaging. We present a newly designed AFM platform to drive these passivated piezoresistive cantilever arrays in air and liquid environments. Large area imaging in liquid as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological cells are demonstrated by the means of piezoresistive cantilever for the first time to our knowledge. Noise limitations in topography and force resolutions of these piezolevers are quantified