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In the pursuit of closing the gap between nanometrology and nanofabrication, we investigate the use of advanced optical far field methods for sub-wavelength parameter reconstruction. With the goal of establishing a hybrid evaluation scheme connecting different methods and including different information channels, we performed comparison measurements on a silicon line grating sample with buried as well as not buried surface relief lines. To this end, the results of our measurement are in good agreements with each other, and the collected structure data is feasible to be used for hybrid evaluation.

Challenged by increased globalisation and fast technological development, we carried out an experiment in the third semester of a global business engineering programme aimed at identifying conditions for training students in dealing with complex and ill-structured problems of forming a new business. As this includes a fuzzy front end, learning cannot be measured in traditional, quantitative terms; therefore, we have explored the use of reflection to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. The experiment adopted a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach and concluded with developing a plan for new learning initiatives in the subsequent year's semester. The findings conclude that (1) problem-based learning develops more competencies than ordinarily measured at the examination, especially, the social/communication and personal competencies are developed; (2) students are capable of dealing with a complex and ambiguous problem, if properly guided. Four conditions were identified; (3) most students are not conscious of their learning, but are able to reflect if properly encouraged; and (4) improving engineering education should be considered as an organisational learning process.

Light-matter interplay is widely used for analyzing the topology of surfaces on small scales for use in areas such as nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, photonics, and advanced materials. Conventional optical microscope imaging methods are limited in resolution to a value comparable to the wavelength, the so-called Abbe limit, and cannot be used to measure nano-sized structures. Scatterometry is an optical method that can measure structures smaller than the wavelength. However, the relative uncertainties of the structure dimensions measured with scatterometry increase with decreasing structure size, and the industry is therefore looking for replacing simple intensity based scatterometry with a phase-sensitive measurement method such as coherent Mueller ellipsometry. In this work, we present a virtual microscope capable of simulating the coherent Mueller ellipsometry and scatterometry response from one-dimensional and two-dimensional periodic structures. Furthermore, we argue that coherent nonnormalized Mueller ellipsometry gives results with less uncertainties than standard normalized Mueller ellipsometry.

Quantum mechanical calculations are presented that predict that one-bond deuterium isotope effects on the 15N chemical shift of backbone amides of proteins, 1Δ15N(D), are sensitive to backbone conformation and hydrogen bonding. A quantitative empirical model for 1Δ15N(D) including the backbone dihedral angles, Φ and Ψ, and the hydrogen bonding geometry is presented for glycine and amino acid residues with aliphatic side chains. The effect of hydrogen bonding is rationalized in part as an electric-field effect on the first derivative of the nuclear shielding with respect to N–H bond length. Another contributing factor is the effect of increased anharmonicity of the N–H stretching vibrational state upon hydrogen bonding, which results in an altered N–H/N–D equilibrium bond length ratio. The N–H stretching anharmonicity contribution falls off with the cosine of the N–H···O bond angle. For residues with uncharged side chains a very good prediction of isotope effects can be made. Thus, for proteins with known secondary structures, 1Δ15N(D) can provide insights into hydrogen bonding geometries.