A strong crystallographic orientation relationship between the Cu6Sn5 scallop-type grains and their Cu substrate has been found by synchrotron micro-X-ray diffraction study. Even though the crystal structures of Cu6Sn5 (monoclinic) and Cu (face-centered-cubic) are very different, angular distributions of crystallographic directions between Cu6Sn5 and Cu revealed a strong orientation relationship. Both SnPb solder and pure Sn showed the same result, indicating that this is general behavior between Sn-based solders and Cu. The strong orientation relation suggests that Cu6Sn5 forms prior to Cu3Sn in the wetting reactions. A total of six different orientation relationships were found. In all the cases, the [1 01] direction of Cu6Sn5 preferred to be parallel to the [110] direction of Cu with a misfit of 0.24percent. Due to pseudohexagonal structure of the Cu6Sn5 , the six relationships can be categorized into two groups. From the orientation distribution, one group was found to be less rigid then the other group. (18 References).

The excited states of N=44 ^{74}Zn were investigated via γ-ray spectroscopy following ^{74}Cu β decay. By exploiting γ-γ angular correlation analysis, the 2_{2}^{+}, 3_{1}^{+}, 0_{2}^{+}, and 2_{3}^{+} states in ^{74}Zn were firmly established. The γ-ray branching and E2/M1 mixing ratios for transitions deexciting the 2_{2}^{+}, 3_{1}^{+}, and 2_{3}^{+} states were measured, allowing for the extraction of relative B(E2) values. In particular, the 2_{3}^{+}→0_{2}^{+} and 2_{3}^{+}→4_{1}^{+} transitions were observed for the first time. The results show excellent agreement with new microscopic large-scale shell-model calculations, and are discussed in terms of underlying shapes, as well as the role of neutron excitations across the N=40 gap. Enhanced axial shape asymmetry (triaxiality) is suggested to characterize ^{74}Zn in its ground state. Furthermore, an excited K=0 band with a significantly larger softness in its shape is identified. A shore of the N=40 "island of inversion" appears to manifest above Z=26, previously thought as its northern limit in the chart of the nuclides.