In 2003, I took part in a newly established student exchange

program between my University in Germany, Universität Regensburg, and UTS.

My Honours project contributed towards the "Diplomarbeit" (approximately equivalent to a Masters thesis) in Germany and was supervised by Dr Walter Kalceff.

The project focused on the design and development of equipment for the preparation of superhard multilayer Ti/TiN films with low deposition particle energy using an ion beam assisted thermal evaporation technique. With this technique it is possible to grow multilayer films of excellent interface quality, which is not possible by other commonly used deposition techniques.  Nano-structured multilayer Ti/TiN films were then analysed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectometry and nano-indentation techniques, showing unexpectedly high purity as well as the expected increase in hardness with decreasing multilayer period.  Although the actual mechanism for the increase in hardness is not yet well understood, the developed technique could already be adaptedfor industrial applications and has the potential to replace currently used TiN layers as protective coatings. 

As an exciting further result, it was found that non-neutralized ion beam assistance can reduce the film thickness to 0.2 nm, which rivals epitaxial growth technique, but at a significantly lower cost.

In September 2004 I completed my degree in Germany and after an unsuccessful attempt to secure an International Scholarship at UTS, I have been offered a PhD Scholarship at the University of Hamburg in (magnetic) thin film studies. If you would like a copy of my thesis or would like to ask me about any aspect of my exchange program, please feel free to email me at Wolfgang.Kreuzpaintner@stud.uni-regensburg.de.