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Introducing magnetic order into a topological insulator (TI) system has been attracting much attention with an expectation of realizing exotic phenomena such as quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) or axion insulator states. The magnetic proximity effect (MPE) is one of the promising schemes to induce the magnetic order on the surface of TI without introducing disorder accompanied by doping magnetic impurities in TI. In this study, we investigate the MPE at the interface of a heterostructure consisting of a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) SnTe and Fe by employing polarized neutron reflectometry. The ferromagnetic order penetrates $\sim$ 3 nm deep into the SnTe layer from the interface with Fe, which persists up to room temperature. Our findings demonstrate that the interfacial magnetism is induced by the MPE on the surface of TCI preserving the coherent topological states, which is essential for the bulk-edge correspondence, without introducing disorder arising from a random distribution magnetic impurities. This opens up a way for realizing next generation electronics, spintronics, and quantum computational devices by making use of the characteristics of TCI.

The nucleation, distribution, composition and structure of Pd nanocrystals in SiO$_2$ multilayers containing Ge, Si, and Pd are studied using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), before and after heat treatment. The Pd nanocrystals in the as deposited sample seem to be capped by a layer of PdO$_x$. A 1-2 eV shift in binding energy was found for the Pd-3d XPS peak, due to initial state Pd to O charge transfer in this layer. The heat treatment results in a decomposition of PdO and Pd into pure Pd nanocrystals and SiO$_2$.

The nucleation, distribution and composition of erbium embedded in a SiO$_2$-Si layer were studied with High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). When the SiO$_2$ layer contains small amounts of Si and Er, nanoclusters of Er-oxide are formed throughout the whole layer. Exposure of the oxide to an electron beam with 1.56*10$^6$ electrons/nm$^2$/sec. causes nanocluster growth. Initially this growth matches the Ostwald ripening model, but eventually it stagnates at a constant nanocluster radius of 2.39 nm.

The nucleation and structure of silicon nanocrystals formed by different preparation conditions and silicon concentration (28 - 70 area %) have been studied using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS). The nanocrystals were formed after heat treatment at high temperature of a sputtered 10 nm thick silicon rich oxide on 3 nm SiO$_2$ layer made by Rapid Thermal Oxidation (RTO) of silicon. Nanocrystals precipitate when the excess silicon concentration exceeds 50 area %. Below this percentage amorphous silicon nanoclusters were found. In-situ heat treatment of the samples in the TEM showed that the crystallization requires a temperature above 800$^o$C. The nanocrystals precipitate in a 4 nm band, 5 nm from the Si substrate and 4 nm from the SiO$_2$ sample surface. The silicon nucleates where the excess Si concentration is the highest. The top surface has less excess Si due to reaction with oxygen from the ambient during annealing. The SiO$_2$-RTO layer is more Si rich due to Si diffusion from the SiO$_2$-Si layer into RTO. Twinning and stacking faults were found in nanocrystals with 4-10 nm in diameter. These types of defects may have large effects upon the usability of the material in electronic devices. Both single and double twin boundaries have been found in the nanocrystals by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Image simulations were carried out in order to obtain more information about the defects and nanocrystals. The stacking faults are extrinsic and located in the twin boundaries.

Crystalline and amorphous nanoparticles of silicon in thin silica layers were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We used XPS data in the form of the Auger parameter to separate initial and final state contributions to the Si$_{2p}$ energy shift. The electrostatic charging and electron screening issues as well as initial state effects were also addressed. We show that the chemical shift in the nanocrystals is determined by initial state rather than final state effects, and that the electron screening of silicon core holes in nanocrystals dispersed in SiO$_2$ is inferior to that in pure bulk Si.

The extensive experimental and computational search for multifunctional materials has resulted in the development of semiconductor and oxide systems, such as (Ga,Mn)N, (Zn,Cr)Te, and HfO2, which exhibit surprisingly stable ferromagnetic signatures despite having a small or nominally zero concentration of magnetic elements. Here, we show that the ferromagnetism of (Zn,Cr)Te, and the associated magnetooptical and magnetotransport functionalities, are dominated by the formation of Cr-rich (Zn,Cr)Te metallic nanocrystals embedded in the Cr-poor (Zn,Cr)Te matrix. Importantly, the formation of these nanocrystals can be controlled by manipulating the charge state of Cr ions during the epitaxy. The findings provide insight into the origin of ferromagnetism in a broad range of semiconductors and oxides, and indicate possible functionalities of these composite systems. Furthermore, they demonstrate a bottom-up method for self-organized nanostructure fabrication that is applicable to any system in which the charge state of a constituent depends on the Fermi-level position in the host semiconductor., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures (incl. Supplementary Information)