Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

Tasks

PTB's Department “Semiconductor Physics and Magnetism” carries out research and development work on semiconductor quantum standards, which allow one to base electrical units on fundamental constants. As a consequence, the units become almost independent of environmental effects and can be reproduced with the highest precision. The second focus of the R&D work is the development of temporally and spatially resolved measurement techniques for electrical and magnetic quantities on the nanometer length scale and in the Terahertz frequency range. The R&D topics of the highest priority are listed below:

• Transport in mesoscopic semiconductor structures
  
• Single electron transport in semiconductors and quantum current standards
  
• Quantum resistance standards based on the quantum Hall effect
  
• Molecular beam epitaxy of low-dimensional semiconductor structures
  
  
• Ultrafast optoelectronic measurements of high-frequency electronics
  
• Terahertz phenomena in semiconductors
  
• High-resolution microscopy of nanomagnetic structures
  
• Measurement of ultrafast magnetization processes
  
  

The Department also realizes the unit of magnetic flux density and offers various calibration services to customers world wide to disseminate magnetic quantities that are traceable to primary standards. The calibration services include magnetic field quantities, magnetic material parameters, and till 2008 the dissemination of reference materials for magnetic data storage media.

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