Table of contents

Work on nonequilibrium flicker-noise (1/f^γ noise or NEFN) in conducting films of various materials and in thin-film contacts is reviewed. Experimental methods for studying nonequilibrium flicker fluctuations by separating NEFN from the total noise are suggested. Published results on NEFN in metal and alloy films, Ni/Cr-film and Ta_xN_y-film resistors, and contacts are systematized. It is shown that various kinds of NEFN occur in conducting films. Depending on test conditions, external influences, and the film microstructure, both stationary and non-stationary NEFNs are observed. The use of 1/f^γ noise measurements for nondestructively controlling the quality of thin-film conductors is substantiated. For most of the passive IC components (thin-film conductors, resistive layers, contacts), NEFN makes a much more informative quality indicator than equilibrium flicker-noise.

A theoretical analysis was made of continuous light absorption in the visible, IR, and UV spectral ranges in a quasi-equilibrium hydrogen plasma with an effective temperature between 1500 and 25000 K. The light absorption is caused by the photodissociation of molecular H₂⁺ ions from a large group of excited vibrational–rotational levels of the ground electronic term and by free–free radiative transitions at the collisions of protons (H⁺ ) with hydrogen atoms H(1s). The phototransitions under consideration take place with a change of the electronic state ² → ²∑⁺_u of the molecular (quasi-molecular) H₂⁺ ion. Quantum and quasi-classical descriptions of partial photodissociation cross sections and effective photoabsorption cross sections at particle collisions were accomplished on the basis of the theory of nonadiabatic transitions between the potential energy curves of a diatomic molecule. An analytical approach is set forth to calculate the integral contribution from all possible vibrational–rotational levels to the photodissociation cross section averaged over the Boltzmann distribution function. A detailed study was made of the contribution of bound–free and free–free transitions to the total optical absorption coefficient by the H₂⁺ system as a function of temperature and wavelength. The recently calculated values of effective phototransition cross sections and photoabsorption coefficients are presented and compared with previously available data. Emphasis is placed on considering the relative contribution of positive molecular H₂⁺ ions and negative atomic H⁻ ions to the total photoabsorption coefficient of quasi-equilibrium hydrogen plasmas.

The history and development of the branches of physics which profited significantly from the work of Russian Nobel laureates (P A Cherenkov, I E Tamm, I M Frank, L D Landau, N G Basov, A M Prokhorov, P L Kapitza, and Zh I Alferov) are reviewed in popular form to mark the recent Nobel Foundation centenary. Apart from the Russian prize winners' achievements, the major contributions of their colleagues — Russian and foreign, predecessors and successors — are briefly discussed. The current state of the branches of physics advanced with the participation of Russian laureates is reviewed, and the practical implications of their work for science, technology, and everyday life are discussed.