[1] Surface analyses of atmospheric aerosols from different continental sources, such as forest fires and coal and straw burning, show that organic surfactants are found on such aerosols. The predominant organic species detected by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry on the sulfate aerosols are fatty acids of different carbon chain length up to the C 32 acid. These observations are consistent with literature accounts of functional group analysis of bulk samples, but this is the first direct evidence of fatty acid films on the surface of sulfate aerosols. Surface analysis leads to the conclusion that fatty acid films on continental aerosols may be more common than has been previously suggested.

[1] Marine aerosol particles play an important role in atmospheric processes. It has been suggested that as marine aerosol particles form, they acquire a coating of organic surfactants. This theory has been supported only by indirect evidence. Recently, we gave new morphological indication of such organic coating without however providing molecular speciation. Here we have studied the surface of marine aerosol particles by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), which is very suitable for surface research due to its unique combination of surface sensitivity and the detailed molecular information obtained. Spectra from the outermost surface gave high intensity for palmitic acid and lower peaks for other fatty acids. According to TOF-SIMS images, palmitic acid was distributed on small particles, similar with the marine particles. Sputtering stripped palmitic acid and revealed the inner core of the sea-salt particles. Our results show that fatty acids are important ingredients of the outermost surface layer of the studied aerosol particles.

Diffusion barrier materials, TiN and WN, were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The chlorine concentration of the TiN film was as low as 1.2 at.-%, and resistivity was below 200 lX cm. Ultra high aspect ratio (AR = 85) trenches were used to assess step coverage. Tungsten nitride film, deposited from WF 6 and ammonia, was found to have high resistivity, although the residue content was low. The barrier deposition compatibility was studied using the copper surface exposed on the bottom of vias in the copper dual-damascene structure. The deposition on copper of both TiN and WN was found to be very challenging.

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Seven spore-forming, nitrogen-fixing bacterial isolates from spruce forest humus in Finland were studied using the polyphasic approach. PCR amplification of 16S rRNA gene fragment with specific primers showed that the isolates were members of Paenibacillus. Levels of 16S rDNA similarity between the isolates were 97 3-100 0 % and those between the isolates and other Paenibacillus species were 90 3-96 5 %. The highest similarities were observed with Paenibacillus azotofixans and Paenibacillus durus. Ribotyping with EcoRI and PvuII restriction showed a high diversity in the Paenibacillus species and distinguished the isolates from these closely related species. The main whole-cell fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 :0 (33-48 %), straight-chain C 14 :0 (7-21 %) and C 16 :0 (9-20 %), and iso-C 15 :0 (6-15 %). Electron microscopy revealed a unique striped morphology of the spore surfaces. Based on phylogenetic inference and phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, these isolates are proposed as a new species, Paenibacillus borealis sp. nov., the type strain of which is KK19 T (l DSM 13188 T l CCUG 43137 T ).

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