The Thickness Dependence of Optical Constants of Ultrathin Iron Films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Shang; Lian Jie; Wang Xiao; Li Ping; Sun Xiao-Fen; Li Qing-Hao

2013-01-01

Ultrathin iron films with different thicknesses from 7.1 to 51.7 nm are deposited by magnetron sputtering and covered by tantalum layers protecting them from being oxidized. These ultrathin iron films are studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmittance measurement. An extra tantalum film is deposited under the same sputtering conditions and its optical constants and film thickness are obtained by a combination of ellipsometry and transmission measurement. After introducing these obtained optical constants and film thickness into the tantalum-iron film, the optical constants and film thicknesses of ultrathin iron films with different thicknesses are obtained. The results show that combining ellipsometry and transmission measurement improves the uniqueness of the obtained film thickness. The optical constants of ultrathin iron films depend strongly on film thicknesses. There is a broad absorption peak at about 370 nm and it shifts to 410 nm with film thickness decreasing

Controlling the Performance of P-type Cu2O/SnO Bilayer Thin-Film Transistors by Adjusting the Thickness of the Copper Oxide Layer

KAUST Repository

Al-Jawhari, Hala A.

2014-11-11

The effect of copper oxide layer thickness on the performance of Cu2O/SnO bilayer thin-film transistors was investigated. By using sputtered Cu2O films produced at an oxygen partial pressure, Opp, of 10% as the upper layer and 3% Opp SnO films as the lower layer we built a matrix of bottom-gate Cu2O/SnO bilayer thin-film transistors of different thickness. We found that the thickness of the Cu2O layer is of major importance in oxidation of the SnO layer underneath. The thicker the Cu2O layer, the more the underlying SnO layer is oxidized, and, hence, the more transistor mobility is enhanced at a specific temperature. Both device performance and the annealing temperature required could be adjusted by controlling the thickness of each layer of Cu2O/SnO bilayer thin-film transistors.

The thickness of native oxides on aluminum alloys and single crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Evertsson, J., E-mail: jonas.evertsson@sljus.lu.se [Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund (Sweden); Bertram, F. [Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund (Sweden); Zhang, F. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Division of Surface and Corrosion Science, Drottning Kristinas Vg 51, 100 44 Stockholm (Sweden); Rullik, L.; Merte, L.R.; Shipilin, M. [Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund (Sweden); Soldemo, M.; Ahmadi, S. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, ICT, Material Physics, 16440 Kista (Sweden); Vinogradov, N.; Carlà, F. [ESRF, B.P. 220, 38043 Grenoble (France); Weissenrieder, J.; Göthelid, M. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, ICT, Material Physics, 16440 Kista (Sweden); Pan, J. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Division of Surface and Corrosion Science, Drottning Kristinas Vg 51, 100 44 Stockholm (Sweden); Mikkelsen, A. [Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund (Sweden); Nilsson, J.-O. [Sapa Technology, Kanalgatan 1, 612 31 Finspång (Sweden); Lundgren, E. [Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund (Sweden)

2015-09-15

Highlights: • We have determined the native oxide film thickness on several Al samples. • The results obtained from XRR and XPS show excellent agreement. • The results obtained from EIS show consistently thinner oxide films. • The oxides on the alloys are thicker than the oxides on the single crystals. - Abstract: We present results from measurements of the native oxide film thickness on four different industrial aluminum alloys and three different aluminum single crystals. The thicknesses were determined using X-ray reflectivity, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In addition, atomic force microscopy was used for micro-structural studies of the oxide surfaces. The reflectivity measurements were performed in ultra-high vacuum, vacuum, ambient, nitrogen and liquid water conditions. The results obtained using X-ray reflectivity and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrate good agreement. However, the oxide thicknesses determined from the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show a larger discrepancy from the above two methods. In the present contribution the reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. We also address the effect of the substrate type and the presence of water on the resultant oxide thickness.

Stabilized chromium oxide film

Science.gov (United States)

Garwin, Edward L.; Nyaiesh, Ali R.

1988-01-01

Stabilized air-oxidized chromium films deposited on high-power klystron ceramic windows and sleeves having a thickness between 20 and 150.ANG. are useful in lowering secondary electron emission yield and in avoiding multipactoring and window failure due to overheating. The ceramic substrate for the film is chosen from alumina, sapphire or beryllium oxide.

Planar Zeolite Film-Based Potentiometric Gas Sensors Manufactured by a Combined Thick-Film and Electroplating Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Marr, Isabella; Reiß, Sebastian; Hagen, Gunter; Moos, Ralf

2011-01-01

Zeolites are promising materials in the field of gas sensors. In this technology-oriented paper, a planar setup for potentiometric hydrocarbon and hydrogen gas sensors using zeolites as ionic sodium conductors is presented, in which the Pt-loaded Na-ZSM-5 zeolite is applied using a thick-film technique between two interdigitated gold electrodes and one of them is selectively covered for the first time by an electroplated chromium oxide film. The influence of the sensor temperature, the type of hydrocarbons, the zeolite film thickness, and the chromium oxide film thickness is investigated. The influence of the zeolite on the sensor response is briefly discussed in the light of studies dealing with zeolites as selectivity-enhancing cover layers. PMID:22164042

Planar Zeolite Film-Based Potentiometric Gas Sensors Manufactured by a Combined Thick-Film and Electroplating Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gunter Hagen

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Zeolites are promising materials in the field of gas sensors. In this technology-oriented paper, a planar setup for potentiometric hydrocarbon and hydrogen gas sensors using zeolites as ionic sodium conductors is presented, in which the Pt-loaded Na-ZSM-5 zeolite is applied using a thick-film technique between two interdigitated gold electrodes and one of them is selectively covered for the first time by an electroplated chromium oxide film. The influence of the sensor temperature, the type of hydrocarbons, the zeolite film thickness, and the chromium oxide film thickness is investigated. The influence of the zeolite on the sensor response is briefly discussed in the light of studies dealing with zeolites as selectivity-enhancing cover layers.

Chemical Vapor Identification by Plasma Treated Thick Film Tin Oxide Gas Sensor Array and Pattern Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. K. Srivastava

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Present study deals the class recognition potential of a four element plasma treated thick film tin oxide gas sensor array exposed with volatile organic compounds (VOCs. Methanol, Ethanol and Acetone are selected as target VOCs and exposed on sensor array at different concentration in range from 100-1000 ppm. Sensor array consist of four tin oxide sensors doped with 1-4 % PbO concentrations were fabricated by thick film technology and then treated with oxygen plasma for 5-10 minute durations. Sensor signal is analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA for visual classification of VOCs. Further output of PCA is used as input for classification of VOCs by four pattern classification techniques as: linear discriminant analysis (LDA, k-nearest neighbor (KNN, back propagation neural network (BPNN and support vector machine (SVM. All the four classifier results 100 % correct classification rate of VOCs by response analysis of sensor array treated with plasma for 5 minute.

Microstructure and thermoelectric properties of screen-printed thick-films of misfit-layered cobalt oxides with Ag addition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Nong, Ngo; Samson, Alfred Junio; Pryds, Nini

2012-01-01

Thermoelectric properties of thick (~60 μm) films prepared by a screen-printing technique using p-type misfit-layered cobalt oxide Ca3Co4O9+δ with Ag addition have been studied. The screen-printed films were sintered in air at various temperatures ranging from 973 K to 1223 K. After each sintering...... process, crystal and microstructure analyses were carried out to determine the optimal sintering condition. The results show that the thermoelectric properties of pure Ca3Co4O9+δ thick film are comparable to those of cold isostatic pressing (CIP) samples. We found that the maximum power factor...... was improved by about 67% (to 0.3 mW/m K2) for film with proper silver (Ag) metallic inclusions as compared with 0.18 mW/m K2 for pure Ca3Co4O9+δ film under the same sintering condition of 1223 K for 2 h in air....

Thickness-dependence of optical constants for Ta2O5 ultrathin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Dong-Xu; Zheng, Yu-Xiang; Cai, Qing-Yuan; Lin, Wei; Wu, Kang-Ning; Mao, Peng-Hui; Zhang, Rong-Jun; Zhao, Hai-bin; Chen, Liang-Yao

2012-01-01

An effective method for determining the optical constants of Ta 2 O 5 thin films deposited on crystal silicon (c-Si) using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurement with a two-film model (ambient-oxide-interlayer-substrate) was presented. Ta 2 O 5 thin films with thickness range of 1-400 nm have been prepared by the electron beam evaporation (EBE) method. We find that the refractive indices of Ta 2 O 5 ultrathin films less than 40 nm drop with the decreasing thickness, while the other ones are close to those of bulk Ta 2 O 5 . This phenomenon was due to the existence of an interfacial oxide region and the surface roughness of the film, which was confirmed by the measurement of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Optical properties of ultrathin film varying with the thickness are useful for the design and manufacture of nano-scaled thin-film devices. (orig.)

Thickness-dependence of optical constants for Ta2O5 ultrathin films

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dong-Xu; Zheng, Yu-Xiang; Cai, Qing-Yuan; Lin, Wei; Wu, Kang-Ning; Mao, Peng-Hui; Zhang, Rong-Jun; Zhao, Hai-bin; Chen, Liang-Yao

2012-09-01

An effective method for determining the optical constants of Ta2O5 thin films deposited on crystal silicon (c-Si) using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurement with a two-film model (ambient-oxide-interlayer-substrate) was presented. Ta2O5 thin films with thickness range of 1-400 nm have been prepared by the electron beam evaporation (EBE) method. We find that the refractive indices of Ta2O5 ultrathin films less than 40 nm drop with the decreasing thickness, while the other ones are close to those of bulk Ta2O5. This phenomenon was due to the existence of an interfacial oxide region and the surface roughness of the film, which was confirmed by the measurement of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Optical properties of ultrathin film varying with the thickness are useful for the design and manufacture of nano-scaled thin-film devices.

Equilibrium helium film in the thick film limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klier, J.; Schletterer, F.; Leiderer, P.; Shikin, V.

2003-01-01

For the thickness of a liquid or solid quantum film, like liquid helium or solid hydrogen, there exist still open questions about how the film thickness develops in certain limits. One of these is the thick film limit, i.e., the crossover from the thick film to bulk. We have performed measurements in this range using the surface plasmon resonance technique and an evaporated Ag film deposited on glass as substrate. The thickness of the adsorbed helium film is varied by changing the distance h of the bulk reservoir to the surface of the substrate. In the limiting case, when h > 0, the film thickness approaches about 100 nm following the van der Waals law in the retarded regime. The film thickness and its dependence on h is precisely determined and theoretically modeled. The equilibrium film thickness behaviour is discussed in detail. The agreement between theory and experiment is very good

Magnetic properties and microstructure investigation of electrodeposited FeNi/ITO films with different thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Derang; Wang, Zhenkun; Feng, Erxi; Wei, Jinwu; Wang, Jianbo; Liu, Qingfang

2013-01-01

Highlights: •FeNi alloy thin films with different thickness deposited on Indium Tin Oxides (ITOs) conductive glass substrates by electrodeposition method. •A columnar crystalline microstructure and domain structure were obtained in FeNi thin films. •Particular FMR spectra of FeNi alloy with different thickness were studied. -- Abstract: FeNi alloy thin films with different thickness deposited on Indium Tin Oxides (ITOs) conductive glass substrates from the electrolytes by electrodeposition method have been studied by magnetic force microscopy (MFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique. For these films possessing an in-plane isotropy, the remanence decreases with the increasing of film thickness and the critical thickness that a stripe domain structure emerges is about 116 nm. Characteristic differences of the FMR spectra of different thickness are also observed. The results show that the resonance field at high measured angle increases firstly then decreases with increasing thickness, which may be related to the striped domain structure

Influence of Thickness on Ethanol Sensing Characteristics of Doctor-bladed Thick Film from Flame-made ZnO Nanoparticles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sukon Phanichphant

2007-02-01

Full Text Available ZnO nanoparticles were produced by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP using zincnaphthenate as a precursor dissolved in toluene/acetonitrile (80/20 vol%. The particleproperties were analyzed by XRD, BET, and HR-TEM. The sensing films were produced bymixing the particles into an organic paste composed of terpineol and ethyl cellulose as avehicle binder and were fabricated by doctor-blade technique with various thicknesses (5,10, 15 μm. The morphology of the sensing films was analyzed by SEM and EDS analyses.The gas sensing characteristics to ethanol (25-250 ppm were evaluated as a function of filmthickness at 400°C in dry air. The relationship between thickness and ethanol sensingcharacteristics of ZnO thick film on Al2O3 substrate interdigitated with Au electrodes wereinvestigated. The effects of film thickness, as well as the cracking phenomenon, though,many cracks were observed for thicker sensing films. Crack widths increased withincreasing film thickness. The film thickness, cracking and ethanol concentration havesignificant effect on the sensing characteristics. The sensing characteristics with variousthicknesses were compared, showing the tendency of the sensitivity to ethanol decreasedwith increasing film thickness and response time. The relationship between gas sensingproperties and film thickness was discussed on the basis of diffusively and reactivity of thegases inside the oxide films. The thinnest sensing film (5 μm showed the highest sensitivityand the fastest response time (within seconds.

Effect of thickness on optoelectrical properties of Nb-doped indium tin oxide thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shi-na; Ma, Rui-xin; Ma, Chun-hong; Li, Dong-ran; Xiao, Yu-qin; He, Liang-wei; Zhu, Hong-min

2013-05-01

Niobium-doped indium tin oxide (ITO:Nb) thin films are prepared on glass substrates with various film thicknesses by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering from one piece of ceramic target material. The effects of thickness (60-360 nm) on the structural, electrical and optical properties of ITO: Nb films are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopy, and electrical measurements. XRD patterns show the highly oriented (400) direction. The lowest resistivity of the films without any heat treatment is 3.1×10-4Ω·cm-1, and the resistivity decreases with the increase of substrate temperature. The highest Hall mobility and carrier concentration are 17.6 N·S and 1.36×1021 cm-3, respectively. Band gap energy of the films depends on substrate temperature, which varies from 3.48 eV to 3.62 eV.

Influence of colorant and film thickness on thermal aging characteristics of oxo-biodegradable plastic bags

Science.gov (United States)

Leuterio, Giselle Lou D.; Pajarito, Bryan B.; Domingo, Carla Marie C.; Lim, Anna Patricia G.

2016-05-01

Functional, lightweight, strong and cheap plastic bags incorporated with pro-oxidants undergo accelerated degradation under exposure to heat and oxygen. This work investigated the effect of colorant and film thickness on thermal aging characteristics of commercial oxo-biodegradable plastic bag films at 70 °C. Degradation is monitored through changes in infrared absorption, weight, and tensile properties of thermally aged films. The presence of carbonyl band in infrared spectrum after 672 h of thermal aging supports the degradation behavior of exposed films. Results show that incorporation of colorant and increasing thickness exhibit low maximum weight uptake. Titanium dioxide as white colorant in films lowers the susceptibility of films to oxygen uptake but enhances physical degradation. Higher amount of pro-oxidant loading also contributes to faster degradation. Opaque films are characterized by low tensile strength and high elastic modulus. Decreasing the thickness contributes to lower tensile strength of films. Thermally aged films with colorant and low thickness promote enhanced degradation.

Film thickness dependence of phase separation and dewetting behaviors in PMMA/SAN blend films.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Jichun; Liao, Yonggui; Men, Yongfeng; Shi, Tongfei; An, Lijia

2010-09-21

Film thickness dependence of complex behaviors coupled by phase separation and dewetting in blend [poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(styrene-ran-acrylonitrile) (SAN)] films on silicon oxide substrate at 175 °C was investigated by grazing incidence ultrasmall-angle X-ray scattering (GIUSAX) and in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that the dewetting pathway was under the control of the parameter U(q0)/E, which described the initial amplitude of the surface undulation and original thickness of film, respectively. Furthermore, our results showed that interplay between phase separation and dewetting depended crucially on film thickness. Three mechanisms including dewetting-phase separation/wetting, dewetting/wetting-phase separation, and phase separation/wetting-pseudodewetting were discussed in detail. In conclusion, it is relative rates of phase separation and dewetting that dominate the interplay between them.

Formation of corrosion-resistant oxide film on uranium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petit, G.S.

1976-01-01

A vacuum heat-treatment method was developed for coating metallic uranium with an adherent protective film of uranium oxide. The film is prepared by vacuum heat-treating the metallic uranium at 625 0 C for 1 h while controlling the amount of oxygen being metered into the furnace. Uranium coupons with the protective film were exposed for several hundred hours in a corrosion test bath at 95 0 C and 100 percent RH without corroding. Film thicknesses ranging from 5 to 25 μm (0.0002 to 0.001 in.) were prepared and corrosion tested; the film thickness can be controlled to less than +-2.5 μm (+-0.0001 in.). The oxide film is hard, nonwetting, and very adherent. The resulting surface finish of the metal is equivalent to that of the original finish. The advantages of the oxide films over other protective coatings are given. 12 fig

Controlling the Performance of P-type Cu2O/SnO Bilayer Thin-Film Transistors by Adjusting the Thickness of the Copper Oxide Layer

KAUST Repository

Al-Jawhari, Hala A.; Caraveo-Frescas, Jesus Alfonso; Hedhili, Mohamed N.

2014-01-01

The effect of copper oxide layer thickness on the performance of Cu2O/SnO bilayer thin-film transistors was investigated. By using sputtered Cu2O films produced at an oxygen partial pressure, Opp, of 10% as the upper layer and 3% Opp SnO films

Solid-state dewetting of single- and bilayer Au-W thin films: Unraveling the role of individual layer thickness, stacking sequence and oxidation on morphology evolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Herz

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Self-assembly of ultrathin Au, W, and Au-W bilayer thin films is investigated using a rapid thermal annealing technique in an inert ambient. The solid-state dewetting of Au films is briefly revisited in order to emphasize the role of initial film thickness. W films deposited onto SiO2 evolve into needle-like nanocrystals rather than forming particle-like agglomerates upon annealing at elevated temperatures. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that such nanocrystals actually consist of tungsten (VI oxide (WO3 which is related to an anisotropic oxide crystal growth out of the thin film. The evolution of W films is highly sensitive to the presence of any residual oxygen. Combination of both the dewetting of Au and the oxide crystal growth of WO3 is realized by using various bilayer film configurations of the immiscible Au and W. At low temperature, Au dewetting is initiated while oxide crystal growth is still suppressed. Depending on the stacking sequence of the Au-W bilayer thin film, W acts either as a substrate or as a passivation layer for the dewetting of Au. Being the ground layer, W changes the wettability of Au which clearly modifies its initial state for the dewetting. Being the top layer, W prevents Au from dewetting regardless of Au film thickness. Moreover, regular pattern formation of Au-WO3 nanoparticles is observed at high temperature demonstrating how bilayer thin film dewetting can create unique nanostructure arrangements.

Solid-state dewetting of single- and bilayer Au-W thin films: Unraveling the role of individual layer thickness, stacking sequence and oxidation on morphology evolution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herz, A., E-mail: andreas.herz@tu-ilmenau.de, E-mail: dong.wang@tu-ilmenau.de; Franz, A.; Theska, F.; Hentschel, M.; Kups, Th.; Wang, D., E-mail: andreas.herz@tu-ilmenau.de, E-mail: dong.wang@tu-ilmenau.de; Schaaf, P. [Department of Materials for Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Institute of Materials Science and Engineering and Institute of Micro- and Nanotechnologies MacroNano, TU Ilmenau, D-98693 Ilmenau (Germany)

2016-03-15

Self-assembly of ultrathin Au, W, and Au-W bilayer thin films is investigated using a rapid thermal annealing technique in an inert ambient. The solid-state dewetting of Au films is briefly revisited in order to emphasize the role of initial film thickness. W films deposited onto SiO{sub 2} evolve into needle-like nanocrystals rather than forming particle-like agglomerates upon annealing at elevated temperatures. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that such nanocrystals actually consist of tungsten (VI) oxide (WO{sub 3}) which is related to an anisotropic oxide crystal growth out of the thin film. The evolution of W films is highly sensitive to the presence of any residual oxygen. Combination of both the dewetting of Au and the oxide crystal growth of WO{sub 3} is realized by using various bilayer film configurations of the immiscible Au and W. At low temperature, Au dewetting is initiated while oxide crystal growth is still suppressed. Depending on the stacking sequence of the Au-W bilayer thin film, W acts either as a substrate or as a passivation layer for the dewetting of Au. Being the ground layer, W changes the wettability of Au which clearly modifies its initial state for the dewetting. Being the top layer, W prevents Au from dewetting regardless of Au film thickness. Moreover, regular pattern formation of Au-WO{sub 3} nanoparticles is observed at high temperature demonstrating how bilayer thin film dewetting can create unique nanostructure arrangements.

Use of buffy coat thick films in detecting malaria parasites in patients with negative conventional thick films.

Science.gov (United States)

Duangdee, Chatnapa; Tangpukdee, Noppadon; Krudsood, Srivicha; Wilairatana, Polrat

2012-04-01

To determine the frequency of malaria parasite detection from the buffy coat blood films by using capillary tube in falciparum malaria patients with negative conventional thick films. Thirty six uncomplicated falciparum malaria patients confirmed by conventional thick and thin films were included in the study. The patients were treated with artemisinin combination therapy at Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bangkok, Thailand for 28 day. Fingerpricks for conventional blood films were conducted every 6 hours until negative parasitemia, then daily fingerpricks for parasite checks were conducted until the patients were discharged from hospital. Blood samples were also concurrently collected in 3 heparinized capillary tubes at the same time of fingerpricks for conventional blood films when the prior parasitemia was negative on thin films and parasitemia was lower than 50 parasites/200 white blood cells by thick film. The first negative conventional thick films were compared with buffy coat thick films for parasite identification. Out of 36 patients with thick films showing negative for asexual forms of parasites, buffy coat films could detect remaining 10 patients (27.8%) with asexual forms of Plasmodium falciparum. The study shows that buffy coat thick films are useful and can detect malarial parasites in 27.8% of patients whose conventional thick films show negative parasitemia.

STRUCTURAL, PHOTO-FUNCTIONAL AND SEMICONDUCTOR PROPERTIES OF COPPER OXIDE THIN FILMS PREPARED BY DC REACTIVE METHOD UNDER VARIOUS THICKNESSES Anmar H. Shukur

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Anmar H. Shukur

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Cuprous oxide (Cu2O has been formed on glass substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering method, whereas pure target of the solid copper was sputtered with a mixture of plasma for argon gas and oxygen gas was used to form these films. Under vacuum chamber pressure of 1.2×10-5 Pa, thin film thickness was changed from 100 nm to 300 nm while other deposition parameters were fixed. The influence of changing the thickness of thin films on the electrical and the optical properties was investigated in this study. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, X-ray Diffractions system XRD, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM, hall effect measurement system, UV–VIS spectrophotometer were employed to determine the characteristic of the deposited thin films. Thin film of 200 nm has observed low resistivity of 60.63 Ω cm and direct band gap of 2.5eV. This study has demonstrated that the thickness has direct influence on electrical and optical properties.

Differential reflectometry of thin film metal oxides on copper, tungsten, molybdenum and chromium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urban, F.K. III; Hummel, R.E.; Verink, E.D. Jr.

1982-01-01

A differential reflectometry study was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of thin oxide films on metal substrates. The oxides were produced by heating pure metals of copper, tungsten, molybdenum and chromium in dry oxygen. A new 'halfpolishing' technique was applied to obtain specimens with a step in oxide thickness in order to make them suitable for differential reflectometry. It was found that oxides formed this way yielded the same differential reflectograms as by electrochemical oxidation. A mathematical model involving the interaction of light with a thin corrosion product on metal substrates was applied to generate computer calculated differential reflectograms utilizing various optical constants and thicknesses of the assumed film. Three different thickness ranges have been identified. (a) For large film thicknesses, the differential reflectograms are distinguished by a sequence of interference peaks. (b) If the product of thickness and refraction index of the films is smaller than about 40 nm, no interference peaks are present. Any experimentally observed peaks in differential reflectograms of these films are caused entirely by electron interband transitions. (c) In an intermediate thickness range, superposition of interference and interband peaks are observed. (author)

Excimer laser sintering of indium tin oxide nanoparticles for fabricating thin films of variable thickness on flexible substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Taesoon; Kim, Dongsik

2015-01-01

Technology to fabricate electrically-conducting, transparent thin-film patterns on flexible substrates has possible applications in flexible electronics. In this work, a pulsed-laser sintering process applicable to indium tin oxide (ITO) thin-film fabrication on a substrate without thermal damage to the substrate was developed. A nanosecond pulsed laser was used to minimize thermal penetration into the substrate and to control the thickness of the sintered layer. ITO nanoparticles (NPs) of ~ 20 nm diameter were used to lower the process temperature by exploiting their low melting point. ITO thin film patterns were fabricated by first spin coating the NPs onto a surface, then sintering them using a KrF excimer laser. The sintered films were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy. The electrical resistivity and transparency of the film were measured by varying the process parameters. A single laser pulse could generate the polycrystalline structure (average grain size ~ 200 nm), reducing the electrical resistivity of the film by a factor of ~ 1000. The sintering process led to a minimum resistivity of 1.1 × 10 −4 Ω·m without losing the transparency of the film. The thickness of the sintered layer could be varied up to 150 nm by adjusting the laser fluence. Because the estimated thermal penetration depth in the ITO film was less than 200 nm, no thermal damage was observed in the substrate. This work suggests that the proposed process, combined with various particle deposition methods, can be an effective tool to form thin-film ITO patterns on flexible substrates. - Highlights: • Excimer laser sintering can fabricate ITO thin films on flexible substrates. • The laser pulse can form a polycrystalline structure without thermal damage. • The laser sintering process can reduce the electrical resistivity substantially. • The thickness of the sintered layer can be varied effectively

Excimer laser sintering of indium tin oxide nanoparticles for fabricating thin films of variable thickness on flexible substrates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Taesoon; Kim, Dongsik, E-mail: dskim87@postech.ac.kr

2015-03-02

Technology to fabricate electrically-conducting, transparent thin-film patterns on flexible substrates has possible applications in flexible electronics. In this work, a pulsed-laser sintering process applicable to indium tin oxide (ITO) thin-film fabrication on a substrate without thermal damage to the substrate was developed. A nanosecond pulsed laser was used to minimize thermal penetration into the substrate and to control the thickness of the sintered layer. ITO nanoparticles (NPs) of ~ 20 nm diameter were used to lower the process temperature by exploiting their low melting point. ITO thin film patterns were fabricated by first spin coating the NPs onto a surface, then sintering them using a KrF excimer laser. The sintered films were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy. The electrical resistivity and transparency of the film were measured by varying the process parameters. A single laser pulse could generate the polycrystalline structure (average grain size ~ 200 nm), reducing the electrical resistivity of the film by a factor of ~ 1000. The sintering process led to a minimum resistivity of 1.1 × 10{sup −4} Ω·m without losing the transparency of the film. The thickness of the sintered layer could be varied up to 150 nm by adjusting the laser fluence. Because the estimated thermal penetration depth in the ITO film was less than 200 nm, no thermal damage was observed in the substrate. This work suggests that the proposed process, combined with various particle deposition methods, can be an effective tool to form thin-film ITO patterns on flexible substrates. - Highlights: • Excimer laser sintering can fabricate ITO thin films on flexible substrates. • The laser pulse can form a polycrystalline structure without thermal damage. • The laser sintering process can reduce the electrical resistivity substantially. • The thickness of the sintered layer can be varied effectively.

Characterization of ultrasonic spray pyrolysed ruthenium oxide thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patil, P.S.; Ennaoui, E.A.; Lokhande, C.D.; Mueller, M.; Giersig, M.; Diesner, K.; Tributsch, H. [Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin GmbH (Germany). Bereich Physikalische Chemie

1997-11-21

The ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) technique was employed to deposit ruthenium oxide thin films. The films were prepared at 190 C substrate temperature and further annealed at 350 C for 30 min in air. The films were 0.22 {mu} thick and black grey in color. The structural, compositional and optical properties of ruthenium oxide thin films are reported. Contactless transient photoconductivity measurement was carried out to calculate the decay time of excess charge carriers in ruthenium oxide thin films. (orig.) 28 refs.

Micro-length anodic porous niobium oxide for lithium-ion thin film battery applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, Jeong Eun; Park, Jiyoung; Cha, Gihoon; Choi, Jinsub

2013-01-01

The anodization of niobium in an aqueous mixture of H 3 PO 4 and HF in the potential range from 2.5 to 30 V for 2 h at 5 °C was performed, demonstrating that anodic porous niobium oxide film with a thickness of up to 2000 nm, including a surface dissolution layer, can be obtained by controlling the applied potential and composition of the electrolytes. Specifically, surface dissolution-free porous niobium oxide film with a thickness of 800 nm can be prepared in a low electrolyte concentration. The surface dissolution is observed when the concentration ratio of HF (wt.%):H 3 PO 4 (M) was more than 2:1. The discontinuous layers in the niobium oxide film were observed when the thickness was higher than 500 nm, which was ascribed to the large volume expansion of the niobium oxide grown from the niobium metal. The anodic porous niobium oxide film was used as the cathode for lithium-ion batteries in the potential range from 1.2 to 3.0 V at a current density of 7.28 × 10 − 6 A cm −2 . The first discharge capacity of ca. 53 μA h cm − 2 was obtained in 800 nm thick niobium oxide without a surface dissolution layer. - Highlights: ► Anodic porous niobium oxide film with a thickness of 2000 nm was obtained. ► Surface dissolution-free porous niobium oxide film was prepared. ► The niobium oxide film was used as the cathode for lithium-ion batteries

Evolution of the thickness of the aluminum oxide film due to the pH of the cooling water and surface temperature of the fuel elements clad of a nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babiche, Ivan

2013-01-01

This paper describes the mechanism of growth of a film of aluminum oxide on an alloy of the same material, which serves as a protective surface being the constituent material of the RP-10 nuclear reactor fuel elements clads. The most influential parameters on the growth of this film are: the pH of the cooling water and the clad surface temperature of the fuel element. For this study, a mathematical model relating the evolution of the aluminum oxide layer thickness over the time, according to the same oxide film using a power law is used. It is concluded that the time of irradiation, the heat flux at the surface of the aluminum material, the speed of the coolant, the thermal conductivity of the oxide, the initial thickness of the oxide layer and the solubility of the protective oxide are parameters affecting in the rate and film formation. (author).

Realistic reflectance spectrum of thin films covering a transparent optically thick substrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cesaria, M., E-mail: maura.cesaria@le.infn.it; Caricato, A. P.; Martino, M. [Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi,” University of Salento, Via Arnesano, I-73100 Lecce (Italy)

2014-07-21

A spectrophotometric strategy is presented and discussed for calculating realistically the reflectance spectrum of an absorbing film deposited over a thick transparent or semi-transparent substrate. The developed route exploits simple mathematics, has wide range of applicability (high-to-weak absorption regions and thick-to-ultrathin films), rules out numerical and curve-fitting procedures as well as model-functions, inherently accounts for the non-measurable contribution of the film-substrate interface as well as substrate backside, and describes the film reflectance spectrum as determined by the experimental situation (deposition approach and parameters). The reliability of the method is tested on films of a well-known material (indium tin oxide) by deliberately changing film thickness and structural quality through doping. Results are found consistent with usual information yielded by reflectance, its inherent relationship with scattering processes and contributions to the measured total reflectance.

Polymer thin film as coating layer to prevent corrosion of metal/metal oxide film

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, Suman; Kundu, Sarathi

2018-04-01

Thin film of polymer is used as coating layer and the corrosion of metal/metal oxide layer is studied with the variation of the thickness of the coating layer. The thin layer of polystyrene is fabricated using spin coating method on copper oxide (CuO) film which is deposited on glass substrate using DC magnetron sputtering technique. Thickness of the polystyrene and the CuO layers are determined using X-ray reflectivity (XRR) technique. CuO thin films coated with the polystyrene layer are exposed to acetic acid (2.5 v/v% aqueous CH3COOH solution) environments and are subsequently analyzed using UV-Vis spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Surface morphology of the film before and after interaction with the acidic environment is determined using AFM. Results obtained from the XRR and UV-Vis spectroscopy confirm that the thin film of polystyrene acts as an anticorrosion coating layer and the strength of the coating depends upon the polymer layer thickness at a constant acid concentration.

Effect of thickness on structural and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcés, F.A., E-mail: felipe.garces@santafe-conicet.gov.ar [Instituto de Física del Litoral (CONICET-UNL), Güemes 3450, Santa Fe S3000GLN (Argentina); Budini, N. [Instituto de Física del Litoral (CONICET-UNL), Güemes 3450, Santa Fe S3000GLN (Argentina); Arce, R.D.; Schmidt, J.A. [Instituto de Física del Litoral (CONICET-UNL), Güemes 3450, Santa Fe S3000GLN (Argentina); Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, Santa Fe S3000AOM (Argentina)

2015-01-01

In this work, we have investigated the influence of thickness on structural and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO films. Transparent conducting oxide films were grown by the spray pyrolysis technique from precursors prepared via the sol–gel method. We determined the structural properties of the films by performing X-ray diffraction and mosaicity measurements, which evidenced an increase of disorder and inhomogeneity between crystalline domains as the films thickened. This behavior was contrasted with results obtained from electrical measurements and was attributed to plastic deformation of the films as their thickness increased. As a result, the carrier mobility, the optical gap and the activation energy are affected due to emerging grain boundaries and a higher degree of disorder. - Highlights: • Al-doped ZnO thin films on glass with different thicknesses • Film thickness affects the morphological and electrical properties. • Increasing time deposition allows modification of resistivity and Hall mobility. • Mosaicity between crystalline domains increases with film thickness.

Effect of thickness on structural and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcés, F.A.; Budini, N.; Arce, R.D.; Schmidt, J.A.

2015-01-01

In this work, we have investigated the influence of thickness on structural and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO films. Transparent conducting oxide films were grown by the spray pyrolysis technique from precursors prepared via the sol–gel method. We determined the structural properties of the films by performing X-ray diffraction and mosaicity measurements, which evidenced an increase of disorder and inhomogeneity between crystalline domains as the films thickened. This behavior was contrasted with results obtained from electrical measurements and was attributed to plastic deformation of the films as their thickness increased. As a result, the carrier mobility, the optical gap and the activation energy are affected due to emerging grain boundaries and a higher degree of disorder. - Highlights: • Al-doped ZnO thin films on glass with different thicknesses • Film thickness affects the morphological and electrical properties. • Increasing time deposition allows modification of resistivity and Hall mobility. • Mosaicity between crystalline domains increases with film thickness

Thickness dependent ferromagnetism in thermally decomposed NiO thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ravikumar, Patta; Kisan, Bhagaban; Perumal, Alagarsamy, E-mail: perumal@iitg.ernet.in

2016-11-15

We report the effects of film thickness, annealing temperature and annealing environments on thermal decomposition behavior and resulting magnetic properties of NiO (t=50–300 nm) thin films. All the NiO films were prepared directly on thermally oxidized Si at ambient temperature using magnetron sputtering technique and post annealed at different temperatures (T{sub A}) under vacuum and oxygen atmospheres. As-deposited films exhibit face centered cubic structure with large lattice constant due to strain induced during sputtering process. With increasing T{sub A}, the lattice constant decreases due to the release of strain and thickness dependent thermal decomposition reaction of NiO into Ni has been observed for the NiO films annealed at 500 °C under vacuum condition. As a result, the antiferromagnetic nature of the as-deposited NiO films transforms into ferromagnetic one with dominant thickness dependent ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. In addition, the existence of both Ni and NiO phases in the annealed NiO films shows noticeable exchange bias under field cooling condition. The behavior of thermal decomposition was not observed for the NiO films annealed under oxygen condition which results in no detectable change in the magnetic properties. The observed results are discussed on the basis of thickness dependent thermal decomposition in NiO films with increasing T{sub A} and changing annealing conditions. - Highlights: • Preparation of highly strained single layer NiO films with different thicknesses. • Study the effects of annealing under different environments on crystal structure. • Understanding the origin of thickness dependent thermal decomposition reaction. • Investigate the role of thermal decomposition reaction on the magnetic properties. • Study the interaction between NiO and Ni phases on the exchange bias mechanism.

Effect of diffusion on percolation threshold in thick-film resistors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdurakhmanov, G.

2009-01-01

Resistivity ρ(C) of thick-film resistors doped by metal oxides is simulated as a function of volume content C of the ligature, firing temperature T f and firing time τ. It is proved that the doping of a glass during firing of the thick film resistor is rather uniform. It is shown also, that conductance takes place in the whole volume of the sample, but not through the sole infinite cluster only, even the content of a conductive phase is below than the theoretical percolation threshold value.

Spark counting technique of alpha tracks on an aluminium oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morishima, Hiroshige; Koga, Taeko; Niwa, Takeo; Kawai, Hiroshi

1984-01-01

We have tried to use aluminium oxide film as a neutron detector film with a spark counter for neutron monitoring in the mixed field of neutron and gamma-rays near a reactor. The merits of this method are that (1) aluminium oxide is good electric insulator, (2) any desired thickness of the film can be prepared, (3) chemical etching of the thin film can be dispensed with. The relation between spark counts and numbers of alpha-particles which entered the aluminium oxide film 1 μm thick was linear in the range of 10 5 -10 7 alpha-particles. The sensitivity(ratio of the spark counts to irradiated numbers of alpha-particles) was approximately 10 -3 . (author)

Effect of the thickness and hydrogen treatment on the properties of Ga-doped ZnO transparent conductive films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Min-Jung; Lim, Jinhyong; Bang, Jungsik; Lee, Woong; Myoung, Jae-Min

2008-01-01

Combined effects of the thickness and hydrogen post-annealing treatment on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) films were investigated as a potential substitute for indium tin oxide transparent conductive oxide. In the as-deposited films, microstructural evolution initially improved the crystallinity up to the thickness of 160 nm accompanying enhanced electrical and optical properties, but further thickness increase resulted in the deterioration of these properties attributable to the development of ZnGa 2 O 4 and Ga 2 O 3 phases originating from the excessive amount of the Ga dopant. Post-annealing treatment of the GZO films in a hydrogen atmosphere improved the electrical and optical properties substantially through possible reduction of the oxide phases and passivation of the surfaces and grain boundaries. In this case, electrical and optical properties remained almost similar for the thickness above 160 nm indicating that there exists a certain optimal film thickness.

Development of a novel gas sensor based on oxide thick films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arshak, K.; Gaidan, I.

2005-01-01

Zinc and iron oxide thick film gas sensors were fabricated using screen-printing technology on glass substrates that had silver interdigitated electrodes. The sensor was used to detect methanol, ethanol and propanol with a concentration range of 0-8000 ppm. Using the formula to calculate a change in resistance, ΔR = R gas - R air, resistance was seen to increase linearly alongside increasing concentrations of the gas vapours. The sensor showed the highest sensitivity to propanol followed by ethanol and methanol when the operating temperature was 25 deg. C. The sensitivities (slope of graphs) of methanol, ethanol and propanol changed from 0.07, 0.5, and 3.54 to 0.075, 0.115, and 0.5 Ω/ppm when the operating temperature was increased from 25 to 50 deg. C. The response/recovery times of the sensor for 4000 ppm at room temperature were, 10/10, 15/20 and 40/70 s for methanol, ethanol and propanol, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to examine the final composition of the film, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the final composition of grain size. The final composition has two phases: ZnO and ZnFe 2 O 4

Bismuth iron oxide thin films using atomic layer deposition of alternating bismuth oxide and iron oxide layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puttaswamy, Manjunath; Vehkamäki, Marko [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Kukli, Kaupo, E-mail: kaupo.kukli@helsinki.fi [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); University of Tartu, Institute of Physics, W. Ostwald 1, EE-50411 Tartu (Estonia); Dimri, Mukesh Chandra [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, EE-12618 Tallinn (Estonia); Kemell, Marianna; Hatanpää, Timo; Heikkilä, Mikko J. [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Mizohata, Kenichiro [University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Stern, Raivo [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, EE-12618 Tallinn (Estonia); Ritala, Mikko; Leskelä, Markku [University of Helsinki, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland)

2016-07-29

Bismuth iron oxide films with varying contributions from Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} or Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} were prepared using atomic layer deposition. Bismuth (III) 2,3-dimethyl-2-butoxide, was used as the bismuth source, iron(III) tert-butoxide as the iron source and water vapor as the oxygen source. The films were deposited as stacks of alternate Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} layers. Films grown at 140 °C to the thickness of 200–220 nm were amorphous, but crystallized upon post-deposition annealing at 500 °C in nitrogen. Annealing of films with intermittent bismuth and iron oxide layers grown to different thicknesses influenced their surface morphology, crystal structure, composition, electrical and magnetic properties. Implications of multiferroic performance were recognized in the films with the remanent charge polarization varying from 1 to 5 μC/cm{sup 2} and magnetic coercivity varying from a few up to 8000 A/m. - Highlights: • Bismuth iron oxide thin films were grown by atomic layer deposition at 140 °C. • The major phase formed in the films upon annealing at 500 °C was BiFeO{sub 3}. • BiFeO{sub 3} films and films containing excess Bi favored electrical charge polarization. • Slight excess of iron oxide enhanced saturative magnetization behavior.

Effect of Thickness on Oxidation Behavior of Cr coated Zircaloy-4 using Arc Ion Plating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Eui Jung; Kim, Sun Jin [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jung Hwan; Kim, Hyun Gil; Jung, Yang Il; Park, Dong Jun [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

Ever since the Fukushima accident, accident tolerant fuel (ATF) has been widely studied. To increase the life time and safety of nuclear claddings, there are increasing demands for protective coatings exhibiting excellent oxidation resistance. Many metal and oxide films are produced by using this method because of the high kinetic energy of the ions, ionization efficiency and deposition rate. Candidate materials for a protective layer have higher thermal neutron absorption cross sections than Zr. However, there is no systematic study of thickness effect on oxidation resistance of protective layer. In this study, Cr films with different thickness (from 1 μm to 50 μm) were deposited on the cladding surfaces by AIP. The high temperature oxidation resistance of Cr films with different thicknesses has been investigated. Uniform oxide layer with nanoporous structures have been fabricated on the surface of Zr-Nb-Sn alloy. Oxidation behavior of the pristine Zr-Nb-Sn alloy and the Zr-Nb-Sn alloy with nanostructured oxide layer evaluated by measuring weight gain (TGA).

Evaluation of the nanomechanical properties of vanadium and native oxide vanadium thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mamun, M.A.; Zhang, K.; Baumgart, H.; Elmustafa, A.A.

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • V films of 50, 75, 100 nm thickness were deposited on Si by RF magnetron sputtering. • We studied structural/mechanical properties by XRD, FE-SEM, AFM, and nanoindentation. • The hardness increased from 9.0 to 14.0 GPa for 100 to 50 nm. • The modulus showed no correlation with thickness or native oxide formation. • Native oxide formation resulted in grain enlargement and roughness reduction. - Abstract: Polycrystalline vanadium thin films of 50, 75, and 100 nm thickness were deposited by magnetron sputtering of a vanadium metal target of 2 inch diameter with 99.9% purity on native oxide covered Si substrates. One set of the fabricated samples were kept in moisture free environment and the other set was exposed to ambient air at room temperature for a long period of time that resulted in formation of native oxide prior to testing. The crystal structure and phase purity of the vanadium and the oxidized vanadium thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD results yield a preferential (1 1 0), and (2 0 0) orientation of the polycrystalline V films and (0 0 4) vanadium oxide (V 3 O 7 ). The vanadium films thickness were verified using field emission scanning electron microscopy and the films surface morphologies were inspected using atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images reveal surface roughness was observed to increase with increasing film thickness and also subsequent to oxidation at room temperature. The nanomechanical properties were measured by nanoindentation to evaluate the modulus and hardness of the vanadium and the oxidized vanadium thin films. The elastic modulus of the vanadium and the oxidized vanadium films was estimated as 150 GPa at 30% film thickness and the elastic modulus of the bulk vanadium target is estimated as 135 GPa. The measured hardness of the vanadium films at 30% film thickness varies between 9 and 14 GPa for the 100 and 50 nm films, respectively, exhibiting size effects

Effects of rework on adhesion of Pb-In soldered gold thick films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehman, R.W.; Becka, G.A.; Losure, J.A.

1982-02-01

The feasibility of repeatedly reworking Pb-In soldered joints on gold thick films was evaluated. Nailhead adhesion tests on soldered thick films typically resulted in failure within the bulk solder (50 In-50 Pb). Average strengths increased with each rework, and the failure mode changed. An increase in metalization lift-off occurred with successive reworks. An investigation was initiated to determine why these changes occurred. Based on this work, the thick film adhesion to the substrate appeared to be lowered by indium reduction of cadmium oxide and by formation of a weak, brittle intermetallic compound, Au 9 In 4 . It was concluded that two solder reworks could be conducted without significant amounts of metallization lift-off during nailhead testing

Thick film hydrogen sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffheins, Barbara S.; Lauf, Robert J.

1995-01-01

A thick film hydrogen sensor element includes an essentially inert, electrically-insulating substrate having deposited thereon a thick film metallization forming at least two resistors. The metallization is a sintered composition of Pd and a sinterable binder such as glass frit. An essentially inert, electrically insulating, hydrogen impermeable passivation layer covers at least one of the resistors.

Structural and interfacial characteristics of thin (2 films grown by electron cyclotron resonance plasma oxidation on [100] Si substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, T.D.; Carl, D.A.; Hess, D.W.; Lieberman, M.A.; Gronsky, R.

1991-04-01

The feasibility of fabricating ultra-thin SiO 2 films on the order of a few nanometer thickness has been demonstrated. SiO 2 thin films of approximately 7 nm thickness have been produced by ion flux-controlled Electron Cyclotron Resonance plasma oxidation at low temperature on [100] Si substrates, in reproducible fashion. Electrical measurements of these films indicate that they have characteristics comparable to those of thermally grown oxides. The thickness of the films was determined by ellipsometry, and further confirmed by cross-sectional High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy. Comparison between the ECR and the thermal oxide films shows that the ECR films are uniform and continuous over at least a few microns in lateral direction, similar to the thermal oxide films grown at comparable thickness. In addition, HRTEM images reveal a thin (1--1.5 nm) crystalline interfacial layer between the ECR film and the [100] substrate. Thinner oxide films of approximately 5 nm thickness have also been attempted, but so far have resulted in nonuniform coverage. Reproducibility at this thickness is difficult to achieve

Fabrication and Characterization of PZT Thick Films for Sensing and Actuation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuo-Ching Kuo

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Lead Zirconate Titanate oxide (PZT thick films with thicknesses of up to 10 μmwere developed using a modified sol-gel technique. Usually, the film thickness is less than1 μm by conventional sol-gel processing, while the electrical charge accumulation whichreveals the direct effect of piezoelectricity is proportional to the film thickness and thereforerestricted. Two approaches were adopted to conventional sol-gel processing – precursorconcentration modulation and rapid thermal annealing. A 10 μm thick film was successfullyfabricated by coating 16 times via this technique. The thickness of each coating layer wasabout 0.6 μm and the morphology of the film was dense with a crack-free area as large as 16mm2. In addition, the structure, surface morphology and physical properties werecharacterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM and atomicforce microscopy (AFM and electrical performance. The dielectric constant and hysteresisloops were measured as electric characteristics. This study investigates the actuation andsensing performance of the vibrating structures with the piezoelectric thick film. Theactuation tests demonstrated that a 4 mm x 4 mm x 6.5 μm PZT film drove a 40 mm x 7 mmx 0.5 mm silicon beam as an actuator. Additionally, it generated an electrical signal of 60mVpp as a sensor, while vibration was input by a shaker. The frequencies of the first twomodes of the beam were compared with the theoretical values obtained by Euler-Bernoullibeam theory. The linearity of the actuation and sensing tests were also examined.

Electrodeposited porous and amorphous copper oxide film for application in supercapacitor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patake, V.D. [Thin Film Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur 416004, (M.S.) (India); Joshi, S.S. [Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Cheongryang, Seoul 130-650 (Korea, Republic of); Lokhande, C.D. [Thin Film Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur 416004, (M.S.) (India); Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Cheongryang, Seoul 130-650 (Korea, Republic of)], E-mail: l_chandrakant@yahoo.com; Joo, Oh-Shim [Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Cheongryang, Seoul 130-650 (Korea, Republic of)], E-mail: joocat@kist.rre.kr

2009-03-15

In present study, the porous amorphous copper oxide thin films have been deposited from alkaline sulphate bath. The cathodic electrodeposition method was employed to deposit copper oxide film at room temperature on stainless steel substrate. Their structural and surface morphological properties were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron micrograph (SEM), respectively. To propose this as a new material for possible application in the supercapacitor, its electrochemical properties have been studied in aqueous 1 M Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry. The structural analysis from XRD pattern showed the formation of amorphous copper oxide film on the substrate. The surface morphological studies from scanning electron micrographs revealed the formation of porous cauliflower-like copper oxide film. The cyclic voltammetric curves showed symmetric nature and increase in capacitance with increase in film thickness. The maximum specific capacitance of 36 F g{sup -1} was exhibited for the 0.6959 mg cm{sup -2} film thickness. This shows that low-cost copper oxide electrode will be a potential application in supercapacitor.

Solvent annealing induced phase separation and dewetting in PMMA∕SAN blend film: film thickness and solvent dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Jichun; Zhang, Shuangshuang; Huang, Gang; Shi, Tongfei; Li, Yongjin

2013-06-28

The competition between "dewetting" and "phase separation" behaviors in polymer blend films attracts significant attention in the last decade. The simultaneous phase separation and dewetting in PMMA∕SAN [poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(styrene-ran-acrylonitrile)] blend ultrathin films upon solvent annealing have been observed for the first time in our previous work. In this work, film thickness and annealing solvent dependence of phase behaviors in this system has been investigated using atomic force microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). On one hand, both vertical phase separation and dewetting take place upon selective solvent vapor annealing, leading to the formation of droplet∕mimic-film structures with various sizes (depending on original film thickness). On the other hand, the whole blend film dewets the substrate and produces dispersed droplets on the silicon oxide upon common solvent annealing. GISAXS results demonstrate the phase separation in the big dewetted droplets resulted from the thicker film (39.8 nm). In contrast, no period structure is detected in small droplets from the thinner film (5.1 nm and 9.7 nm). This investigation indicates that dewetting and phase separation in PMMA∕SAN blend film upon solvent annealing depend crucially on the film thickness and the atmosphere during annealing.

Unidirectional oxide hetero-interface thin-film diode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Youngmin; Lee, Eungkyu; Lee, Jinwon; Lim, Keon-Hee; Kim, Youn Sang

2015-01-01

The unidirectional thin-film diode based on oxide hetero-interface, which is well compatible with conventional thin-film fabrication process, is presented. With the metal anode/electron-transporting oxide (ETO)/electron-injecting oxide (EIO)/metal cathode structure, it exhibits that electrical currents ohmically flow at the ETO/EIO hetero-interfaces for only positive voltages showing current density (J)-rectifying ratio of ∼10 5 at 5 V. The electrical properties (ex, current levels, and working device yields) of the thin-film diode (TFD) are systematically controlled by changing oxide layer thickness. Moreover, we show that the oxide hetero-interface TFD clearly rectifies an AC input within frequency (f) range of 10 2  Hz < f < 10 6  Hz, providing a high feasibility for practical applications

Unidirectional oxide hetero-interface thin-film diode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Youngmin; Lee, Eungkyu; Lee, Jinwon; Lim, Keon-Hee [Program in Nano Science and Technology, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Youn Sang, E-mail: younskim@snu.ac.kr [Program in Nano Science and Technology, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology, Gyeonggi-do 443-270 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-05

The unidirectional thin-film diode based on oxide hetero-interface, which is well compatible with conventional thin-film fabrication process, is presented. With the metal anode/electron-transporting oxide (ETO)/electron-injecting oxide (EIO)/metal cathode structure, it exhibits that electrical currents ohmically flow at the ETO/EIO hetero-interfaces for only positive voltages showing current density (J)-rectifying ratio of ∼10{sup 5} at 5 V. The electrical properties (ex, current levels, and working device yields) of the thin-film diode (TFD) are systematically controlled by changing oxide layer thickness. Moreover, we show that the oxide hetero-interface TFD clearly rectifies an AC input within frequency (f) range of 10{sup 2} Hz < f < 10{sup 6} Hz, providing a high feasibility for practical applications.

Thickness characteristics of YBaCuO system thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuhashi, Hideo; Jinno, Makoto; Takashima, Osamu; Uchida, Yoshiyuki; Maeda, Akinori; Kojima, Kenzo; Ochiai, Shizuyasu; Ohashi, Asao

1994-01-01

The practical use of oxide high temperature superconductors for electronics field has been advanced. The oxide high temperature superconductor thin films is very sensitive to the production conditions, and their making with good reproducibility is difficult. In this study, the method of producing the thin films having good quality with good reproducibility by RF magnetron sputtering, and the relation of the film thickness with the superconductivity characteristics of YBaCuO system thin films in the different methods of substrate washing were examined. The sputtering conditions are shown. For the purpose of preventing the worsening of the film quality due to the reverse sputtering of oxygen negative ions to the thin film surface, sputtering gas pressure was set up high at 30 Pa. The film thickness and the temperature-resistance characteristics were measured. The experimental method and the experimental results are reported. By keeping the temperature on substrate surfaces constant, the reproducibility in the production of the thin films was improved remarkably. The effect of substrate washing was large. (K.I.)

In situ Oxidation of Ultrathin Silver Films on Ni(111)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, A.; Flege, I.; Senanayake, S.; Kaemena, B.; Rettew, R.; Alamgir, F.; Falta, J.

2011-01-01

Oxidation of silver films of one- and two-monolayer thicknesses on the Ni(111) surface was investigated by low-energy electron microscopy at temperatures of 500 and 600 K. Additionally, intensity-voltage curves were measured in situ during oxidation to reveal the local film structure on a nanometer scale. At both temperatures, we find that exposure to molecular oxygen leads to the destabilization of the Ag film with subsequent relocation of the silver atoms to small few-layer-thick silver patches and concurrent evolution of NiO(111) regions. Subsequent exposure of the oxidized surface to ethylene initiates the transformation of bilayer islands back into monolayer islands, demonstrating at least partial reversibility of the silver relocation process at 600 K.

Ion beam analysis of PECVD silicon oxide thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez-Lima, F.; Rodriguez, J.A.; Pedrero, E.; Fonseca Filho, H.D.; Llovera, A.; Riera, M.; Dominguez, C.; Behar, M.; Zawislak, F.C.

2006-01-01

A study of ion beam analysis techniques of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon oxide thin films (1 μm thick) obtained from silane (SiH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is reported. The film, elemental composition and surface morphology were determined as function of the reactant gas flow ratio, R = [N 2 O]/[SiH 4 ] in the 22-110 range using the Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, nuclear reaction analysis and atomic force microscopy techniques. The density of the films was determined by combining the RBS and thickness measurements. All the experiments were done at a deposition temperature of 300 deg. C. In all the cases almost stoichiometric oxides were obtained being the impurity content function of R. It was also observed that physical properties such as density, surface roughness and shape factor increase with R in the studied interval

Correlation between active layer thickness and ambient gas stability in IGZO thin-film transistors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Xu; Mao, Bao-Hua; Wang, Sui-Dong; Lin, Meng-Fang; Shimizu, Maki; Mitoma, Nobuhiko; Kizu, Takio; Ou-Yang, Wei; Tsukagoshi, Kazuhito; Nabatame, Toshihide; Liu, Zhi

2017-01-01

Decreasing the active layer thickness has been recently reported as an alternative way to achieve fully depleted oxide thin-film transistors for the realization of low-voltage operations. However, the correlation between the active layer thickness and device resistivity to environmental changes is still unclear, which is important for the optimized design of oxide thin-film transistors. In this work, the ambient gas stability of IGZO thin-film transistors is found to be strongly correlated to the IGZO thickness. The TFT with the thinnest IGZO layer shows the highest intrinsic electron mobility in a vacuum, which is greatly reduced after exposure to O 2 /air. The device with a thick IGZO layer shows similar electron mobility in O 2 /air, whereas the mobility variation measured in the vacuum is absent. The thickness dependent ambient gas stability is attributed to a high-mobility region in the IGZO surface vicinity with less sputtering-induced damage, which will become electron depleted in O 2 /air due to the electron transfer to adsorbed gas molecules. The O 2 adsorption and deduced IGZO surface band bending is demonstrated by the ambient-pressure x-ray photoemission spectroscopy results. (paper)

Photoconduction in silicon rich oxide films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luna-Lopez, J A; Carrillo-Lopez, J; Flores-Gracia, F J; Garcia-Salgado, G [CIDS-ICUAP, Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. Ed. 103 D and C, col. San Manuel, Puebla, Pue. Mexico 72570 (Mexico); Aceves-Mijares, M; Morales-Sanchez, A, E-mail: jluna@buap.siu.m, E-mail: jluna@inaoep.m [INAOE, Luis Enrique Erro No. 1, Apdo. 51, Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico 72000 (Mexico)

2009-05-01

Photoconduction of silicon rich oxide (SRO) thin films were studied by current-voltage (I-V) measurements, where ultraviolet (UV) and white (Vis) light illumination were applied. SRO thin films were deposited by low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) technique, using SiH{sub 4} (silane) and N{sub 2}O (nitrous oxide) as reactive gases at 700 {sup 0}. The gas flow ratio, Ro = [N{sub 2}O]/[SiH{sub 4}] was used to control the silicon excess. The thickness and refractive index of the SRO films were 72.0 nm, 75.5 nm, 59.1 nm, 73.4 nm and 1.7, 1.5, 1.46, 1.45, corresponding to R{sub o} = 10, 20, 30 and 50, respectively. These results were obtained by null ellipsometry. Si nanoparticles (Si-nps) and defects within SRO films permit to obtain interesting photoelectric properties as a high photocurrent and photoconduction. These effects strongly depend on the silicon excess, thickness and structure type. Two different structures (Al/SRO/Si and Al/SRO/SRO/Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)-like structures) were fabricated and used as devices. The photocurrent in these structures is dominated by the generation of carriers due to the incident photon energies ({approx}3.0-1.6 eV and 5 eV). These structures showed large photoconductive response at room temperature. Therefore, these structures have potential applications in optoelectronics devices.

Thickness-modulated anisotropic ferromagnetism in Fe-doped epitaxial HfO2 thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wenlong; Liu, Ming; Zhang, Ruyi; Ma, Rong; Wang, Hong

2017-10-01

Epitaxial tetragonal Fe-doped Hf0.95Fe0.05O2 (FHO) thin films with various thicknesses were deposited on (001)-oriented NdCaAlO4 (NCAO) substrates by using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system. The crystal structure and epitaxial nature of the FHO thin films were confirmed by typical x-ray diffraction (XRD) θ-2θ scan and reciprocal space mapping (RSM). The results indicate that two sets of lattice sites exist with two different crystal orientations [(001) and (100)] in the thicker FHO thin films. Further, the intensity of the (100) direction increases with the increase in thicknesses, which should have a significant effect on the anisotropic magnetization of the FHO thin films. Meanwhile, all the FHO thin films possess a tetragonal phase structure. An anisotropy behavior in magnetization has been observed in the FHO thin films. The anisotropic magnetization of the FHO thin films is slowly weakened as the thickness increases. Meanwhile, the saturation magnetization (Ms) of both in-plane and out-of-plane decreases with the increase in the thickness. The change in the anisotropic magnetization and Ms is attributed to the crystal lattice and the variation in the valence of Fe ions. These results indicate that the thickness-modulated anisotropic ferromagnetism of the tetragonal FHO epitaxial thin films is of potential use for the integration of metal-oxide semiconductors with spintronics.

THE THICKNESS DEPENDENCE OF OXYGEN PERMEABILITY IN SOL-GEL DERIVED CGO-COFE2O4 THIN FILMS ON POROUS CERAMIC SUBSTRATES: A SPUTTERED BLOCKING LAYER FOR THICKNESS CONTROL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brinkman, K

2009-01-08

Mixed conductive oxides are a topic of interest for applications in oxygen separation membranes as well as use in producing hydrogen fuel through the partial oxidation of methane. The oxygen flux through the membrane is governed both by the oxygen ionic conductivity as well as the material's electronic conductivity; composite membranes like Ce{sub 0.8}Gd{sub 0.2}O{sub 2-{delta}} (CGO)-CoFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} (CFO) use gadolinium doped ceria oxides as the ionic conducting material combined with cobalt iron spinel which serves as the electronic conductor. In this study we employ {approx} 50 nm sputtered CeO{sub 2} layers on the surface of porous CGO ceramic substrates which serve as solution 'blocking' layers during the thin film fabrication process facilitating the control of film thickness. Films with thickness of {approx} 2 and 4 microns were prepared by depositing 40 and 95 separate sol-gel layers respectively. Oxygen flux measurements indicated that the permeation increased with decreasing membrane thickness; thin film membrane with thickness on the micron level showed flux values an order of magnitude greater (0.03 {micro}mol/cm{sup 2} s) at 800 C as compared to 1mm thick bulk ceramic membranes (0.003 {micro}mol/cm{sup 2}).

Mn-implanted, polycrystalline indium tin oxide and indium oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scarlat, Camelia; Vinnichenko, Mykola; Xu Qingyu; Buerger, Danilo; Zhou Shengqiang; Kolitsch, Andreas; Grenzer, Joerg; Helm, Manfred; Schmidt, Heidemarie

2009-01-01

Polycrystalline conducting, ca. 250 nm thick indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium oxide (IO) films grown on SiO 2 /Si substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering, have been implanted with 1 and 5 at.% of Mn, followed by annealing in nitrogen or in vacuum. The effect of the post-growth treatment on the structural, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties has been studied. The roughness of implanted films ranges between 3 and 15 nm and XRD measurements revealed a polycrystalline structure. A positive MR has been observed for Mn-implanted and post-annealed ITO and IO films. It has been interpreted by considering s-d exchange. Spectroscopic ellipsometry has been used to prove the existence of midgap electronic states in the Mn-implanted ITO and IO films reducing the transmittance below 80%.

Effect of Firing Temperature on Humidity Sensing Properties of SnO2 Thick Film Resistor

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R. Y. Borse

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Thick films of SnO2 were prepared using standard screen printing technique. The films were dried and fired at different temperatures. Tin-oxide is an n-type wide band gap semiconductor, whose resistance is described as a function of relative humidity. An increasing firing temperature on SnO2 film increases the sensitivity to humidity. The parameters such as sensitivity, response times and hysteresis of the SnO2 film sensors have been evaluated. The thick films were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDAX and grain size, composition of elements, relative phases are obtained.

Local electrical properties of thermally grown oxide films formed on duplex stainless steel surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, L. Q.; Yang, B. J.; He, J. Y.; Qiao, L. J.

2018-06-01

The local electrical properties of thermally grown oxide films formed on ferrite and austenite surfaces of duplex stainless steel at different temperatures were investigated by Current sensing atomic force microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). The current maps and XPS/AES analyses show that the oxide films covering austenite and ferrite surfaces formed at different temperatures exhibit different local electrical characteristics, thickness and composition. The dependence of electrical conductivity of oxide films covering austenite and ferrite surface on the formation temperature is attributed to the film thickness and semiconducting structures, which is intrinsically related to thermodynamics and kinetics process of film grown at different temperature. This is well elucidated by corresponding semiconductor band structures of oxide films formed on austenite and ferrite phases at different temperature.

Process-structure-property relationships of micron thick gadolinium oxide films deposited by reactive electron beam-physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD)

Science.gov (United States)

Grave, Daniel A.

Gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) is an attractive material for solid state neutron detection due to gadolinium's high thermal neutron capture cross section. Development of neutron detectors based on Gd2 O3 requires sufficiently thick films to ensure neutron absorption. In this dissertation work, the process-structure-property relationships of micron thick Gd2O3 films deposited by reactive electron-beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) were studied. Through a systematic design of experiments, fundamental studies were conducted to determine the effects of processing conditions such as deposition temperature, oxygen flow rate, deposition rate, and substrate material on Gd2O3 film crystallographic phase, texture, morphology, grain size, density, and surface roughness. Films deposited at high rates (> 5 A/s) were examined via x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Quantitative phase volume calculations were performed via a Rietveld refinement technique. All films deposited at high rates were found to be fully monoclinic or mixed cubic/monoclinic phase. Generally, increased deposition temperature and increased oxygen flow resulted in increased cubic phase volume. As film thickness increased, monoclinic phase volume increased. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) depth profiling analysis showed that cubic phase was only present under large incidence angle (large penetration depth) measurements, and after a certain point, only monoclinic phase was grown. This was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis with selected area diffraction (SAD). Based on this information, a large compressive stress was hypothesized to cause the formation of the monoclinic phase and this hypothesis was confirmed by demonstrating the existence of a stress induced phase transition. An experiment was designed to introduce compressive stress into the Gd2O 3 films via ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). This allowed for systematic increase in compressive stress while

Thickness evaluation using a new relationship between film density and penetrated thickness in radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sung Sik; Kim, Young H.

2005-01-01

In order to improve the accuracies in the thickness evaluation using radiography, a new relationship between film density and penetrated thickness has been proposed, and experimental verification of the proposed relationship was carried out by using the X- and γ-ray radiographs of two carbon steel step wedges. A new parameter, the logarithmic gradient of film density, was defined in order to express the characteristics of the radiographic film for wider range of film density. A new relationship between the film density and the penetrated thickness were formulated using the logarithmic gradient of the film density. In experiment, the logarithmic gradient of the film density was independent on both the exposure and the film density and measured for the radiographic film used in the present work from the slope of the fitting lines for the same penetrated thickness. Experimental results verifies the accuracy of the proposed relationship between film density and the penetrated thickness for the range of film density from 1.0 to 3.5. The thickness can be more accurately determined by using the proposed relationship and the parameters determined by experiment. It is also found that the γ-ray having simple energy spectrum is more appropriate radiation source for the evaluation of the thickness from the film density of the radiograph

Improvement in the Sensitivity of PbO Doped Tin Oxide Thick Film Gas Sensor by RF and Microwave Oxygen Plasma Treatment

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J. K. SRIVASTAVA

2010-07-01

Full Text Available In the present work efforts have been made to analyze the effect of oxygen plasma and PbO doping on the sensitivity of SnO2-based thick film gas sensor for methanol, propanol and acetone. The effect of substrate temperature on the response of dual frequency (RF and microwave plasma treated thick film sensor array has also been studied. To achieve this, three sensor arrays (each with four tin oxide sensors doped with different (1 %, 2 %, 3 % and 4 % PbO concentrations were fabricated by thick film technology and then treated with oxygen plasma for various durations (5 min, 10 min. and 15 min.. The plasma treated sensors were found to possess appreciably high sensitivity at room temperature in comparison to untreated sensor. The sensitivity showed the increasing trend with plasma exposure time and 15 minutes exposure time was found to be most suitable as the sensitivity of the plasma treated sensors for this duration were high towards all the chosen vapors with maximum (97 % value for propanol. The sensitivity of the sensors were found to be increasing gradually as PbO concentration was varied from 1- 4%.

Thick-film analysis: literature search and bibliography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehman, R.W.

1981-09-01

A literature search was conducted to support development of in-house diagnostic testing of thick film materials for hybrid microcircuits. A background literature review covered thick film formulation, processing, structure, and performance. Important material properties and tests were identified and several test procedures were obtained. Several tests were selected for thick film diagnosis at Bendix Kansas City. 126 references

Y-Ba-Cu-O superconducting film on oxidized silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, R.P.; Khokle, W.S.; Dubey, R.C.; Singhal, S.; Nagpal, K.C.; Rao, G.S.T.; Jain, J.D.

1988-01-01

We report thick superconducting films of Y-Ba-Cu-O on oxidized silicon substrates. The critical temperatures for onset and zero resistance are 96 and 77 K, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis predicts 1, 2, 3 composition and orthorhombic phase of the film

Influence of processing parameters on PZT thick films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Oliver; Bandyopadhyay, Amit; Bose, Susmita

2005-01-01

We have studied influence of processing parameters on the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based thick films in the range of 5-25 μm. PZT and 2% La-doped PZT thick films were processed using a modified sol-gel process. In this process, PZT- and La-doped PZT powders were first prepared via sol-gel. These powders were calcined and then used with respective sols to form a slurry. Slurry composition was optimized to spin-coat thick films on platinized Si substrate (Si/SiO 2 /Ti/Pt). Spinning rate, acceleration and slurry deposition techniques were optimized to form thick films with uniform thickness and without any cracking. Increasing solids loading was found to enhance the surface smoothness of the film and decrease porosity. Films were tested for their electrical properties and ferroelectric fatigue response. The maximum polarization obtained was 40 μC/cm 2 at 250 kV/cm for PZT thick film and 30 μC/cm 2 at 450 kV/cm for La-doped PZT thick film. After 10 9 cycles of fatiguing at 35 kHz, La-doped PZT showed better resistance for ferroelectric fatigue compared with un-doped PZT films

Electrochemical investigations of ion-implanted oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schultze, J.W.; Danzfuss, B.; Meyer, O.; Stimming, U.

1985-01-01

Oxide films (passive films) of 40-50 nm thickness were prepared by anodic polarization of hafnium and titanium electrodes up to 20 V. Multiple-energy ion implantation of palladium, iron and xenon was used in order to obtain modified films with constant concentration profiles of the implanted ions. Rutherford backscattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and electrochemical charging curves prove the presence of implanted ions, but electrochemical and photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that the dominating effect of ion implantation is the disordering of the oxide film. The capacity of hafnium electrodes increases as a result of an increase in the dielectric constant D. For titanium the Schottky-Mott analysis shows that ion implantation causes an increase in D and the donor concentration N. Additional electronic states in the band gap which are created by the implantation improve the conductivity of the semiconducting or insulating films. This is seen in the enhancement of electron transfer reactions and its disappearance during repassivation and annealing. Energy changes in the band gap are derived from photoelectrochemical measurements; the absorption edge of hafnium oxide films decreases by approximately 2 eV because of ion implantation, but it stays almost constant for titanium oxide films. All changes in electrochemical behavior caused by ion implantation show little variation with the nature of the implanted ion. Hence the dominating effect seems to be a disordering of the oxide. (Auth.)

Probing anodic oxidation kinetics and nanoscale heterogeneity within TiO2 films by Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy and combined techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diamanti, M.V.; Souier, T.; Stefancich, M.; Chiesa, M.; Pedeferri, M.P.

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Nanoscale anodic titanium oxides were investigated with multidisciplinary approach. • Oxide thickness was estimated via spectrophotometry and coulometry. • C-AFM identified nanometric conductivity heterogeneities, ascribed to oxide structure. • High conductivity areas exhibited local memristive behavior. - Abstract: Anodic oxidation of titanium in acid electrolytes allows to obtain a thin, compact oxide layer with thickness, structure, color, and electrical properties that vary with process parameters imposed, among which cell voltage has a key effect. Although oxidation kinetics have been investigated in several research works, a broader vision of oxide properties–including thickness and structure–still has to be achieved, especially in the case of very thin oxide films, few tens of nanometers thick. This is vital for engineered applications of nanostructured TiO 2 films, as in the field of memristive devices, where a precise control of oxide thickness, composition and structure is required to tune its electrical response. In this work, oxide films were produced on titanium with thickness ranging from few nanometers to 200 nm. Oxide thickness was estimated by coulometry and spectrophotometry. These techniques were then combined with C-AFM, which provided a deeper understanding of oxide thickness and uniformity of the metal surface and probed the presence of crystalline nano-domains within the amorphous oxide phase affecting the overall film electrical and optical properties

Characterization of zirconium alloy oxidation films by alternating current impedance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosecrans, P.M.

1984-01-01

Kinetics of zirconium alloy oxidation are highly nonlinear. The results of electrochemical measurements and electron microscopy support the existence of porosity in oxide films formed on zirconium alloys in high temperature aqueous environments. Analytical treatment is presented relating oxidation kinetics to the thickness and distribution of nonporous elements within the oxide. This analysis illustrates that both the level and distribution of porosity within the oxide factor into oxidation kinetics. The barrier layer model can provide a basis for predicting the effect of environmental changes on oxidation rate. In addition, it demonstrates the need for further research into porosity generation mechanisms in oxide films

Characterization of zirconium alloy oxidation films by alternating current impedance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosecrans, P.M.

1983-11-01

Kinetics of zirocnium alloy oxidation are highly nonlinear. The results of electrochemical measurements and electron microscopy support the existence of porosity in oxide films formed on zirconium alloys in high temperature aqueous environments. Analytical treatment is presented relating oxidation kinetics to the thickness and distribution of nonporous elements within the oxide. This analysis illustrates that both the level and distribution of porosity within the oxide factor into oxidation kinetics. The barrier layer model can provide a basis for predicting the effect of environmental changes on oxidation rate. In addition, it demonstrates the need for further research into porosity generation mechanisms in oxide films

The Effect of Film Thickness on the Gas Sensing Properties of Ultra-Thin TiO₂ Films Deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Rachel L; Simion, Cristian Eugen; Blackman, Christopher S; Carmalt, Claire J; Stanoiu, Adelina; Di Maggio, Francesco; Covington, James A

2018-03-01

Analyte sensitivity for gas sensors based on semiconducting metal oxides should be highly dependent on the film thickness, particularly when that thickness is on the order of the Debye length. This thickness dependence has previously been demonstrated for SnO₂ and inferred for TiO₂. In this paper, TiO₂ thin films have been prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) using titanium isopropoxide and water as precursors. The deposition process was performed on standard alumina gas sensor platforms and microscope slides (for analysis purposes), at a temperature of 200 °C. The TiO₂ films were exposed to different concentrations of CO, CH₄, NO₂, NH₃ and SO₂ to evaluate their gas sensitivities. These experiments showed that the TiO₂ film thickness played a dominant role within the conduction mechanism and the pattern of response for the electrical resistance towards CH₄ and NH₃ exposure indicated typical n -type semiconducting behavior. The effect of relative humidity on the gas sensitivity has also been demonstrated.

Electrical characteristics of AlO sub x N sub y prepared by oxidation of sub-10-nm-thick AlN films for MOS gate dielectric applications

CERN Document Server

Jeon, S H; Kim, H S; Noh, D Y; Hwang, H S

2000-01-01

In this research, the feasibility of ultrathin AlO sub x N sub y prepared by oxidation of sub 100-A-thick AlN thin films for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) gate dielectric applications was investigated. Oxidation of 51-A-and 98-A-thick as-deposited AlN at 800 .deg. C was used to form 72-A-and 130-A-thick AlO sub x N sub y , respectively. Based on the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements of the MOS capacitor, the dielectric constants of 72 A-thick and 130 A-thick Al-oxynitride were 5.15 and 7, respectively. The leakage current of Al-oxynitride at low field was almost the same as that of thermal SiO sub 2. based on the CV data, the interface state density of Al-oxynitride was relatively higher than that of SiO sub 2. Although process optimization is still necessary, the Al-oxynitride exhibits some possibility for future MOS gate dielectric applications.

Electrical characteristics of AlO{sub x}N{sub y} prepared by oxidation of sub-10-nm-thick AlN films for MOS gate dielectric applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeon, Sang Hun; Jang, Hyeon Woo; Kim, Hyun Soo; Noh, Do Young; Hwang, Hyun Sang [Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Kwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2000-12-01

In this research, the feasibility of ultrathin AlO{sub x}N{sub y} prepared by oxidation of sub 100-A-thick AlN thin films for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) gate dielectric applications was investigated. Oxidation of 51-A-and 98-A-thick as-deposited AlN at 800 .deg. C was used to form 72-A-and 130-A-thick AlO{sub x}N{sub y}, respectively. Based on the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements of the MOS capacitor, the dielectric constants of 72 A-thick and 130 A-thick Al-oxynitride were 5.15 and 7, respectively. The leakage current of Al-oxynitride at low field was almost the same as that of thermal SiO{sub 2}. based on the CV data, the interface state density of Al-oxynitride was relatively higher than that of SiO{sub 2}. Although process optimization is still necessary, the Al-oxynitride exhibits some possibility for future MOS gate dielectric applications.

Hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy of transition-metal oxide thin films and interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wadati, H.; Fujimori, A.

2013-01-01

Highlights: •Photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study the electronic structures of transition-metal oxides. •Hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES) is a new type of photoemission spectroscopy which can probe bulk states. •HXPES is very suitable for studying oxide thin films such as the composition dependence and the film thickness dependence. -- Abstract: Photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful experimental technique to study the electronic structures of solids, especially of transition-metal oxides. Recently, hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES) has emerged as a more relevant experimental technique to obtain clear information about bulk states. Here, we describe how HXPES can be conveniently applied to study the interesting subjects on oxide thin films such as the composition dependence and the film thickness dependence of the electronic structures and the interfacial electronic structure of multilayers

Effect of Ni Doping on Gas Sensing Performance of ZnO Thick Film Resistor

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M. K. DEORE

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This work investigates the use of ZnO-NiO as a H2S metal oxide thick film gas sensor. To find the optimum ratio of NiO to ZnO, two compositions were prepared using different molecular percentages and prepared as a thick film paste. These pastes were then screen-printed onto glass substrates with suitable binder. The final composition of each film was determined using SEM analysis. The films were used to detect CO, CL2, ethanol, Amonia and H2S. For each composition tested, the highest responses where displayed for H2S gas. The Thick film having composition of equal molar ZnO and NiO shows the highest response at operating temp. 350 0C for 100 ppm level. The gas response, selectivity, response and recovery time of the sensor were measured and presented. The role played by NiO species is to improve the gas sensing performance is discussed.

Optical scattering characteristic of annealed niobium oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai Fachun; Li Ming; Wang Haiqian; Hu Hailong; Wang Xiaoping; Hou, J.G.; Song Yizhou; Jiang Yousong

2005-01-01

Niobium oxide (Nb 2 O 5 ) films with thicknesses ranging from 200 to 1600 nm were deposited on fused silica at room temperature by low frequency reactive magnetron sputtering system. In order to study the optical losses resulting from the microstructures, the films with 500 nm thickness were annealed at temperatures between 600 and 1100 deg. C, and films with thicknesses from 200 to 1600 nm were annealed at 800 deg. C. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy images show that the root mean square of surface roughness, the grain size, voids, microcracks, and grain boundaries increase with increasing both the annealing temperature and the thickness. Correspondingly, the optical transmittance and reflectance decrease, and the optical loss increases. The mechanisms of the optical losses are discussed. The results suggest that defects in the volume and the surface roughness should be the major source for the optical losses of the annealed films by causing pronounced scattering. For samples with a determined thickness, there is a critical annealing temperature, above which the surface scattering contributes to the major optical losses. In the experimental scope, for the films annealed at temperatures below 900 deg. C, the major optical losses resulted from volume scattering. However, surface roughness was the major source for the optical losses when the 500-nm films were annealed at temperatures above 900 deg. C

Investigation of the fabrication parameters of thick film metal oxide-polymer pH electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gac, Arnaud

2002-01-01

This thesis describes a study into the development of an optimum material and fabrication process for the production of thick film pH electrodes. These devices consist of low cost, miniature and rugged pH sensors formed by screen printing a metal oxide bearing paste onto a high temperature (∼850 deg C) fired metal back contact supported on a standard alumina substrate. The pH sensitive metal oxide layer must be fabricated at relatively low temperatures (<300 deg C) in order to maintain the pH sensitivity of the layer and hence requires the use of a suitably stable low temperature curing binder. Bespoke fabricated inks are derived from a Taguchi style factorial experimental plans in which, different binder types, curing temperatures, hydration level and percentage mixtures of different metal oxides and layer thicknesses were investigated. The pH responses of 18 printed electrodes per batch were assessed in buffer solutions with respect to a commercial reference electrode forming a complete potentiometric circuit. The evaluation criteria used in the study included the device-to-device variation in sensitivity of the pH sensors and their sensitivity variation as a function of time. The results indicated the importance of the choice of binder type in particular on the performance characteristics. Reproducible device-to-device variation in sensitivity was determined for the best inks found, whatever the ink fabrication batch. A reduction in the sensitivity variation with time has been determined using the mathematical models derived from an experimental plan. The lack of reproducibility of the sensitivity magnitude, regardless of the ink manufacturing batch, seems to be a recurrent problem with prototype inks. Experimental sub-Nernstian responses are discussed in the light of possible pH mechanisms. (author)

Growth of anodic oxide films on oxygen-containing niobium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Habazaki, H. [Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628 (Japan)]. E-mail: habazaki@eng.hokudai.ac.jp; Ogasawara, T. [Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628 (Japan); Konno, H. [Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628 (Japan); Shimizu, K. [University Chemical Laboratory, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8522 (Japan); Asami, K. [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Saito, K. [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Nagata, S. [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Skeldon, P. [Corrosion and Protection Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, P.O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD (United Kingdom); Thompson, G.E. [Corrosion and Protection Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, P.O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD (United Kingdom)

2005-09-20

The present study is directed at understanding of the influence of oxygen in the metal on anodic film growth on niobium, using sputter-deposited niobium containing from about 0-52 at.% oxygen, with anodizing carried out at high efficiency in phosphoric acid electrolyte. The findings reveal amorphous anodic niobia films, with no significant effect of oxygen on the field strength, transport numbers, mobility of impurity species and capacitance. However, since niobium is partially oxidized due to presence of oxygen in the substrate, less charge is required to form the films, hence reducing the time to reach a particular film thickness and anodizing voltage. Further, the relative thickness of film material formed at the metal/film interface is increased by the incorporation of oxygen species into the films from the substrate, with an associated altered depth of incorporation of phosphorus species into the films.

The influence of thickness on memory characteristic based on nonvolatile tuning behavior in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Yanmei; Ai, Chunpeng; Lu, Junguo; Li, Lei; Wen, Dianzhong; Bai, Xuduo

2016-01-01

The memory characteristic based on nonvolatile tuning behavior in indium tin oxide/poly(N-vinylcarbazole)/aluminum (ITO/PVK/Al) was investigated, the different memory behaviors were first observed in PVK film as the film thickness changing. By control of PVK film thickness with different spinning speeds, the nonvolatile behavior of ITO/PVK/Al sandwich structure can be tuned in a controlled manner. Obviously different nonvolatile behaviors, such as (i) flash memory behavior and (ii) write-once-read-many times (WORM) memory behavior are from the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the PVK films. The results suggest that the film thickness plays a key part in determining the memory type of the PVK. - Highlights: • The different memory behaviors were observed in PVK film. • The nonvolatile behavior of ITO/PVK/Al sandwich structure can be tuned. • The film thickness plays a key part in determining the memory type of the PVK.

Thickness Dependent on Photocatalytic Activity of Hematite Thin Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yen-Hua Chen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Hematite (Fe2O3 thin films with different thicknesses are fabricated by the rf magnetron sputtering deposition. The effects of film thicknesses on the photocatalytic activity of hematite films have been investigated. Hematite films possess a polycrystalline hexagonal structure, and the band gap decreases with an increase of film thickness. Moreover, all hematite films exhibit good photocatalytic ability under visible-light irradiation; the photocatalytic activity of hematite films increases with the increasing film thickness. This is because the hematite film with a thicker thickness has a rougher surface, providing more reaction sites for photocatalysis. Another reason is a lower band gap of a hematite film would generate more electron-hole pairs under visible-light illumination to enhance photocatalytic efficiency. Experimental data are well fitted with Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model. The photocatalytic rate constant of hematite films ranges from 0.052 to 0.068 min-1. This suggests that the hematite film is a superior photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation.

Structural-optical study of high-dielectric-constant oxide films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Losurdo, M. [Institute of Inorganic Methodologies and Plasmas, IMIP-CNR, Department of Chemistry and INSTM Universita di bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari (Italy)]. E-mail: maria.losurdo@ba.imip.cnr.it; Giangregorio, M.M. [Institute of Inorganic Methodologies and Plasmas, IMIP-CNR, Department of Chemistry and INSTM Universita di bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari (Italy); Luchena, M. [Institute of Inorganic Methodologies and Plasmas, IMIP-CNR, Department of Chemistry and INSTM Universita di bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari (Italy); Capezzuto, P. [Institute of Inorganic Methodologies and Plasmas, IMIP-CNR, Department of Chemistry and INSTM Universita di bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari (Italy); Bruno, G. [Institute of Inorganic Methodologies and Plasmas, IMIP-CNR, Department of Chemistry and INSTM Universita di bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari (Italy); Toro, R.G. [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Catania, and INSTM-UdR Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania (Italy); Malandrino, G. [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Catania, and INSTM-UdR Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania (Italy); Fragala, I.L. [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Catania, and INSTM-UdR Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania (Italy); Nigro, R. Lo [Istituto di Microelettronica e Microsistemi, IMM-CNR, Stradale Primosole 50, I-95121 Catania (Italy)

2006-10-31

High-k polycrystalline Pr{sub 2}O{sub 3} and amorphous LaAlO{sub 3} oxide thin films deposited on Si(0 0 1) are studied. The microstructure is investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Optical properties are determined in the 0.75-6.5 eV photon energy range using spectroscopic ellipsometry. The polycrystalline Pr{sub 2}O{sub 3} films have an optical gap of 3.86 eV and a dielectric constant of 16-26, which increases with film thickness. Similarly, very thin amorphous LaAlO{sub 3} films have the optical gap of 5.8 eV, and a dielectric constant below 14 which also increases with film thickness. The lower dielectric constant compared to crystalline material is an intrinsic characteristic of amorphous films.

Electrical and Gas Sensing Properties of SnO2 Thick Film Resistors Prepared by Screen-printing Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Y. BORSE

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Thick films of tin-oxide (SnO2 were deposited on alumina substrates employing screen-printing technique. The films were dried and fired at 680 0C for 30 minutes. The variation of D.C. resistance of thick films was measured in air as well as in H2S gas atmosphere as a function of temperature. The SnO2 films exhibit semiconducting behaviour. The SnO2 thick films studied were also showing decrease in resistance with increase of concentration of H2S gas. The film resistors showed the highest sensitivity to H2S gas at 350 0C. The XRD studies of the thick film indicate the presence of different phases of SnO2. The elemental analysis was confirmed by EDX spectra. The surface morphological study of the films was analyzed by SEM. The microstructure of the films was porous resulting from loosely interconnected small crystallites. The parameters such as grain size, activation energy, sensitivity and response time were described.

Film-thickness and composition dependence of epitaxial thin-film PZT-based

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nguyen, Duc Minh; Dekkers, Jan M.; Vu, Hung Ngoc; Rijnders, Augustinus J.H.M.

2013-01-01

The transverse piezoelectric coefficient e31,f and mass-sensitivity were measured on piezoelectric cantilevers based on epitaxial PZT thin-films with film-thicknesses ranging from 100 to 2000 nm. The highest values of e31,f and mass-sensitivity were observed at a film thickness of 500–750 nm, while

Charge transport in films of Geobacter sulfurreducens on graphite electrodes as a function of film thickness

KAUST Repository

Jana, Partha Sarathi; Katuri, Krishna; Kavanagh, Paul; Kumar, Amit Ravi Pradeep; Leech, Dó nal

2014-01-01

Harnessing, and understanding the mechanisms of growth and activity of, biofilms of electroactive bacteria (EAB) on solid electrodes is of increasing interest, for application to microbial fuel and electrolysis cells. Microbial electrochemical cell technology can be used to generate electricity, or higher value chemicals, from organic waste. The capability of biofilms of electroactive bacteria to transfer electrons to solid anodes is a key feature of this emerging technology, yet the electron transfer mechanism is not fully characterized as yet. Acetate oxidation current generated from biofilms of an EAB, Geobacter sulfurreducens, on graphite electrodes as a function of time does not correlate with film thickness. Values of film thickness, and the number and local concentration of electrically connected redox sites within Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms as well as a charge transport diffusion co-efficient for the biofilm can be estimated from non-turnover voltammetry. The thicker biofilms, of 50 ± 9 μm, display higher charge transport diffusion co-efficient than that in thinner films, as increased film porosity of these films improves ion transport, required to maintain electro-neutrality upon electrolysis. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.

Film thickness determination by grazing incidence diffraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Battiston, G A; Gerbasi, R [CNR, Padua (Italy). Istituto di Chimica e Tecnologie Inorganiche e dei Materiali Avanzati

1996-09-01

Thin films deposited via MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition) are layers in the thickness range of a few manometers to about ten micrometers. An understanding of the physics and chemistry of films is necessary for a better comprehension of the phenomena involved in the film deposition procedure and its optimisation. Together with the crystalline phase a parameter that must be determined is the thickness of the layer. In this work the authors present a method for the measurement of the film thickness. This procedure, based on diffraction intensity absorption of the X-rays, both incident and diffracted in passing through the layers, resulted quite simple, rapid and non-destructive.

Film thickness determination by grazing incidence diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battiston, G. A.; Gerbasi, R.

1996-01-01

Thin films deposited via MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition) are layers in the thickness range of a few manometers to about ten micrometers. An understanding of the physics and chemistry of films is necessary for a better comprehension of the phenomena involved in the film deposition procedure and its optimisation. Together with the crystalline phase a parameter that must be determined is the thickness of the layer. In this work the authors present a method for the measurement of the film thickness. This procedure, based on diffraction intensity absorption of the X-rays, both incident and diffracted in passing through the layers, resulted quite simple, rapid and non-destructive

Effect of hydrogen on stresses in anodic oxide film on titanium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Joong-Do; Pyun, Su-Il; Seo, Masahiro

2003-01-01

Stresses in anodic oxide film on titanium thin film/glass electrode in pH 8.4 borate solution were investigated by a bending beam method. The increases in compressive stress observed with cathodic potential sweeps after formation of anodic oxide film were attributed to the volume expansion due to the compositional change of anodic oxide film from TiO 2 to TiO 2-x (OH) x . The instantaneous responses of changes in stress, Δσ, in the anodic oxide film to potential steps demonstrated the reversible characteristic of the TiO 2-x (OH) x formation reaction. In contrast, the transient feature of Δσ for the titanium without anodic oxide film represented the irreversible formation of TiH x at the metal/oxide interphase. The large difference in stress between with and without the oxide film, has suggested that most of stresses generated during the hydrogen absorption/desorption reside in the anodic oxide film. A linear relationship between changes in stress, Δ(Δσ) des , and electric charge, ΔQ des , during hydrogen desorption was found from the current and stress transients, manifesting that the stress changes were crucially determined by the amount of hydrogen desorbed from the oxide film. The increasing tendency of -Δ(Δσ) des with increasing number of potential steps and film formation potential were discussed in connection with the increase in desorption amount of hydrogen in the oxide film with increasing absorption/desorption cycles and oxide film thickness

Optical characterisation of thin film cadmium oxide prepared by a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The optical transmission spectra of transparent conducting cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films deposited by a modified reactive evaporation process onto glass substrates have been measured. The interference fringes were used to calculate the refractive index, thickness variation, average thickness and absorption coefficient ...

Humidity sensing properties of WO3 thick film resistor prepared by screen printing technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garde, Arun S

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Polycrystalline WO 3 Thick films are fabricated by screen printing technique. • Monoclinic phases were the majority in formation of films. • The peak at 1643 cm −1 shows stretching vibrations attributed to W-OH of adsorbed H 2 O. • Absorption peaks in the range 879–650 cm −1 are attributed to the stretching W-O-W bonds. • Increase in resistance with decrease in RH when exposed to 20–100% RH. - Abstract: Thick films of tungsten oxide based were prepared using standard screen printing technique. To study the effect of temperature on the thick films were fired at different temperature for 30 min in air atmosphere. The WO 3 thick films were characterized with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and EDAX for elemental analysis. The formation of mixed phases of the film together with majority of monoclinic phase was observed. IR spectra confirm the peak at 1643 cm −1 clearly shows stretching vibrations attributed to the W-OH bending vibration mode of the adsorbed water molecules. The absorption peaks in the range 879–650 cm −1 are attributed to the stretching W-O-W bonds (i.e. ν [W-O inter -W]). The peak located at 983 cm −1 belong to W=O terminal of cluster boundaries. A change in the resistance was observed with respect to the relative humidity when the WO 3 thick films were exposed to a wide humidity range of 20–100%. An increasing firing temperature of WO 3 film increases with the sensitivity. The parameters such as sensitivity and hysteresis of the WO 3 film sensors have been evaluated

Interferometric measurement of film thickness during bubble blowing

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Z.; Mandracchia, B.; Ferraro, V.; Tammaro, D.; Di Maio, E.; Maffettone, P. L.; Ferraro, P.

2017-06-01

In this paper, we propose digital holography in transmission configuration as an effective method to measure the time-dependent thickness of polymeric films during bubble blowing. We designed a complete set of experiments to measure bubble thickness, including the evaluation of the refractive index of the polymer solution. We report the measurement of thickness distribution along the film during the bubble formation process until the bubble`s rupture. Based on those data, the variation range and variation trend of bubble film thickness are clearly measured during the process of expansion to fracture is indicated.

The Effect of Film Thickness on the Gas Sensing Properties of Ultra-Thin TiO2 Films Deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel L. Wilson

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Analyte sensitivity for gas sensors based on semiconducting metal oxides should be highly dependent on the film thickness, particularly when that thickness is on the order of the Debye length. This thickness dependence has previously been demonstrated for SnO2 and inferred for TiO2. In this paper, TiO2 thin films have been prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD using titanium isopropoxide and water as precursors. The deposition process was performed on standard alumina gas sensor platforms and microscope slides (for analysis purposes, at a temperature of 200 °C. The TiO2 films were exposed to different concentrations of CO, CH4, NO2, NH3 and SO2 to evaluate their gas sensitivities. These experiments showed that the TiO2 film thickness played a dominant role within the conduction mechanism and the pattern of response for the electrical resistance towards CH4 and NH3 exposure indicated typical n-type semiconducting behavior. The effect of relative humidity on the gas sensitivity has also been demonstrated.

Cuprous oxide thin films grown by hydrothermal electrochemical deposition technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majumder, M.; Biswas, I.; Pujaru, S.; Chakraborty, A.K.

2015-01-01

Semiconducting cuprous oxide films were grown by a hydrothermal electro-deposition technique on metal (Cu) and glass (ITO) substrates between 60 °C and 100 °C. X-ray diffraction studies reveal the formation of cubic cuprous oxide films in different preferred orientations depending upon the deposition technique used. Film growth, uniformity, grain size, optical band gap and photoelectrochemical response were found to improve in the hydrothermal electrochemical deposition technique. - Highlights: • Cu 2 O thin films were grown on Cu and glass substrates. • Conventional and hydrothermal electrochemical deposition techniques were used. • Hydrothermal electrochemical growth showed improved morphology, thickness and optical band gap

Effect of Al2O3 insulator thickness on the structural integrity of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide based thin film transistors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hak-Jun; Hwang, In-Ju; Kim, Youn-Jea

2014-12-01

The current transparent oxide semiconductors (TOSs) technology provides flexibility and high performance. In this study, multi-stack nano-layers of TOSs were designed for three-dimensional analysis of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) based thin film transistors (TFTs). In particular, the effects of torsional and compressive stresses on the nano-sized active layers such as the a-IGZO layer were investigated. Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the structural integrity of a-IGZO based TFTs with three different thicknesses of the aluminum oxide (Al2O3) insulator (δ = 10, 20, and 30 nm), respectively, using a commercial code, COMSOL Multiphysics. The results are graphically depicted for operating conditions.

Indium--tin oxide films radio frequency sputtered from specially formulated high density indium--tin oxide targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulkarni, S.; Bayard, M.

1991-01-01

High density ITO (indium--tin oxide) targets doped with Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 manufactured in the Tektronix Ceramics Division have been used to rf sputter ITO films of various thicknesses on borosilicate glass substrates. Sputtering in an oxygen--argon gas mixture and annealing in forming gas, resulted in ITO films exhibiting 90% transmission at 550 nm and a sheet resistance of 15 Ω/sq for a thickness of 1100 A. Sputtering in an oxygen--argon gas mixture and annealing in air increased sheet resistance without a large effect on the transmission. Films sputtered in argon gas alone were transparent in the visible and the sheet resistance was found to be 100--180 Ω/sq for the same thickness, without annealing

NdFeB thick films prepared by tape casting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pawlowski, B.; Schwarzer, S.; Rahmig, A.; Toepfer, J.

2003-01-01

NdFeB films of thickness between 100 and 800 μm were prepared by tape casting of a slurry containing 84-95 wt% of commercial NdFeB powder (MQP-B, -Q and -S). After curing the flexible green tapes at 120 deg. C non-porous magnetic films are obtained. The remanence of the films is in the range of 350-450 mT and the coercivity is between 300 and 800 kA/m depending on the type of MQP powder used. The magnetic properties of the films are discussed in relation to film composition and type of magnetic material. For MEMS applications the thick films are magnetized with a multi-pole stripe pattern with 1 mm pole pitch. The induction at the surface of the films was measured with a Hall probe and compared to theoretical calculations. The results indicate that the films are completely magnetized regardless of the film thickness. Tape-casted NdFeB thick films are promising candidates for applications in micro-systems or actuators. Miniaturization of the magnet components is one of the key issues in the development of electromagnetic micro-systems, thus creating a need for replacement of small sintered magnets by magnetic thick film components. Other applications include encoders

Gas Sensing Properties of Pure and Cr Activated WO3 Thick Film Resistors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. B. GAIKWAD

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Thick films of WO3 (Tungsten Oxide were prepared by screen-printing techniques. The surfaces of the films were modified by dipping them into an aqueous solution of Chromium Oxide (CrO3 for different intervals of time, followed by firing at 550 oC for 30 min. The gas sensing performance of the pure and Cr2O3-modified films was tested for various gases at different temperatures. The unmodified films showed response to H2S, ethanol and cigar smoke. However Cr2O3- modified films suppresses gas sensing response to all gases except H2S. The surface modification, using dipping process, altered the adsorbate-adsorbent interactions, which gave the specific selectivity and enhanced sensitivity to H2S gas. The gas response, selectivity, thermal stability and recovery time of the sensor were measured and presented. The role played by surface chromium species to improve gas sensing performance is discussed.

Effect of diffraction and film-thickness gradients on wafer-curvature measurements of thin-film stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breiland, W.G.; Lee, S.R.; Koleske, D.D.

2004-01-01

When optical measurements of wafer curvature are used to determine thin-film stress, the laser beams that probe the sample are usually assumed to reflect specularly from the curved surface of the film and substrate. Yet, real films are not uniformly thick, and unintended thickness gradients produce optical diffraction effects that steer the laser away from the ideal specular condition. As a result, the deflection of the laser in wafer-curvature measurements is actually sensitive to both the film stress and the film-thickness gradient. We present a Fresnel-Kirchhoff optical diffraction model of wafer-curvature measurements that provides a unified description of these combined effects. The model accurately simulates real-time wafer-curvature measurements of nonuniform GaN films grown on sapphire substrates by vapor-phase epitaxy. During thin-film growth, thickness gradients cause the reflected beam to oscillate asymmetrically about the ideal position defined by the stress-induced wafer curvature. This oscillating deflection has the same periodicity as the reflectance of the growing film, and the deflection amplitude is a function of the film-thickness gradient, the mean film thickness, the wavelength distribution of the light source, the illuminated spot size, and the refractive indices of the film and substrate. For typical GaN films grown on sapphire, misinterpretation of these gradient-induced oscillations can cause stress-measurement errors that approach 10% of the stress-thickness product; much greater errors occur in highly nonuniform films. Only transparent films can exhibit substantial gradient-induced deflections; strongly absorbing films are immune

Nuclear microanalysis of oxide films on structural steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istomin, I.V.; Karabash, V.A.; Maisyukov, V.D.; Sosnin, A.N.; Shorin, V.S.

1989-01-01

Studies of the behavior of structural materials in nuclear power plants have indicated the important role of oxide films on metals, especially metals of the iron group. The films may be formed as a result of the corrosion of the metal in an aggressive coolant. At the same time, some oxide films have anticorrosive properties and can be produced specially by the introduction of inhibitor-passivators, e.g., molecular oxygen, into the aggressive medium. Experimental data on the film growth rate make it possible to determine the kinetics of the oxidation process, the nature of the diffusion of the main components through the film, and the role of the phase transitions (crystal-chemical transformations) and point defects during the migration of oxygen and metal ions through the oxide. In this study nuclear microanalysis is used to measure the parameters of oxide films formed on 10Cr2Mo and 1Cr18Ni10Ti steels in steam in the temperature range 320-620C. In this method the film parameters in the general analysis of the energy spectra of deuterons back-scattered from iron nuclei and protons in the case of the 16 O(d,p 1 ) 17 O nuclear reaction. With this approach and an initial deuteron energy E o = 0.9 MeV the range of the measurable thickness t of the films is 0.001-1.5 mg/cm 2 . The data obtained not only confirm the high sensitivity of the nuclear microanalysis method but also demonstrate that it can be used for nondestructive quality control of the surface

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic Analysis of RuO2 Based Thick Film pH Sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjakkal, Libu; Djurdjic, Elvira; Cvejin, Katarina; Kulawik, Jan; Zaraska, Krzysztof; Szwagierczak, Dorota

2015-01-01

The conductimetric interdigitated thick film pH sensors based on RuO 2 were fabricated and their electrochemical reactions with solutions of different pH values were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. The microstructural properties and composition of the sensitive films were examined by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The EIS analysis of the sensor was carried out in the frequency range 10 mHz–2 MHz for pH values of test solutions 2–12. The electrical parameters of the sensor were found to vary with changing pH. The conductance and capacitance of the film were distinctly dependent on pH in the low frequency range. The Nyquist and Bode plots derived from the impedance data for the metal oxide thick film pH sensor provided information about the underlying electrochemical reactions

Advantages of PZT thick film for MEMS sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hindrichsen, Christian Carstensen; Lou-Moller, R.; Hansen, K.

2010-01-01

For all MEMS devices a high coupling between the mechanical and electrical domain is desired. Figures of merit describing the coupling are important for comparing different piezoelectric materials. The existing figures of merit are discussed and a new figure of merit is introduced for a fair comp....... Improved figure of merit is reached in the piezoelectric PZT thick film, TF2100CIP, by using cold isostatic pressure in the PZT preparation process. The porosity of TF2100 is decreased 38%, hence, allowing an increase of charge sensitivity for MEMS sensors of 59%....... thin film and PZT thick film. It is shown that MEMS sensors with the PZT thick film TF2100 from InSensor A/S have potential for significant higher voltage sensitivities compared to PZT thin film base MEMS sensors when the total thickness of the MEMS cantilever, beam, bridge or membrane is high...

Improvement of the effective work function and transmittance of thick indium tin oxide/ultrathin ruthenium doped indium oxide bilayers as transparent conductive oxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taweesup, Kattareeya; Yamamoto, Ippei; Chikyow, Toyohiro; Lothongkum, Gobboon; Tsukagoshi, Kazutoshi; Ohishi, Tomoji; Tungasmita, Sukkaneste; Visuttipitukul, Patama; Ito, Kazuhiro; Takahashi, Makoto; Nabatame, Toshihide

2016-01-01

Ruthenium doped indium oxide (In_1_−_xRu_xO_y) films fabricated using DC magnetron co-sputtering with In_2O_3 and Ru targets were investigated for use as transparent conductive oxides. The In_1_−_xRu_xO_y films had an amorphous structure in the wide compositional range of x = 0.3–0.8 and had an extremely smooth surface. The transmittance and resistivity of the In_1_−_xRu_xO_y films increased as the Ru content increased. The transmittance of the In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y film improved to over 80% when the film thickness was less than 5 nm, while the specific resistivity (ρ) was kept to a low value of 1.6 × 10"−"4 Ω cm. Based on these experimental data, we demonstrated that thick indium tin oxide (In_0_._9Sn_0_._1O_y, ITO) (150 nm)/ultrathin In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y (3 nm) bilayers have a high effective work function of 5.3 eV, transmittance of 86%, and low ρ of 9.2 × 10"−"5 Ω cm. This ITO/In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y bilayer is a candidate for use as an anode for organic electroluminescent devices. - Highlights: • We investigated characteristics of thick ITO/ultrathin Ru doped In_2O_3 bilayers. • Effect of Ru addition in In_2O_3 results in smooth surface because of an amorphous structure. • The In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y film with less than 5 nm improves to high transmittance over 80%. • ITO/In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y bilayer has a high effective work function of 5.3 eV. • We conclude that ITO/ultrathin In_0_._3_8Ru_0_._6_2O_y bilayer is a candidate as an anode of OEL.

Evolution of insoluble eutectic Si particles in anodic oxidation films during adipic-sulfuric acid anodizing processes of ZL114A aluminum alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Lei; Liu, Jian-hua; Li, Song-mei; Yu, Mei; Wang, Lei; Cui, Yong-xin

2015-03-01

The effects of insoluble eutectic Si particles on the growth of anodic oxide films on ZL114A aluminum alloy substrates were investigated by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The anodic oxidation was performed at 25°C and a constant voltage of 15 V in a solution containing 50 g/L sulfuric acid and 10 g/L adipic acid. The thickness of the formed anodic oxidation film was approximately 7.13 μm. The interpore distance and the diameters of the major pores in the porous layer of the film were within the approximate ranges of 10-20 nm and 5-10 nm, respectively. Insoluble eutectic Si particles strongly influenced the morphology of the anodic oxidation films. The anodic oxidation films exhibited minimal defects and a uniform thickness on the ZL114A substrates; in contrast, when the front of the oxide oxidation films encountered eutectic Si particles, defects such as pits and non-uniform thickness were observed, and pits were observed in the films.

Effects of thickness and geometric variations in the oxide gate stack on the nonvolatile memory behaviors of charge-trap memory thin-film transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Bak, Jun Yong; Kim, So-Jung; Byun, Chun-Won; Pi, Jae-Eun; Ryu, Min-Ki; Hwang, Chi Sun; Yoon, Sung-Min

2015-09-01

Device designs of charge-trap oxide memory thin-film transistors (CTM-TFTs) were investigated to enhance their nonvolatile memory performances. The first strategy was to optimize the film thicknesses of the tunneling and charge-trap (CT) layers in order to meet requirements of both higher operation speed and longer retention time. While the program speed and memory window were improved for the device with a thinner tunneling layer, a long retention time was obtained only for the device with a tunneling layer thicker than 5 nm. The carrier concentration and charge-trap densities were optimized in the 30-nm-thick CT layer. It was observed that 10-nm-thick tunneling, 30-nm-thick CT, and 50-nm-thick blocking layers were the best configuration for our proposed CTM-TFTs, where a memory on/off margin higher than 107 was obtained, and a memory margin of 6.6 × 103 was retained even after the lapse of 105 s. The second strategy was to examine the effects of the geometrical relations between the CT and active layers for the applications of memory elements embedded in circuitries. The CTM-TFTs fabricated without an overlap between the CT layer and the drain electrode showed an enhanced program speed by the reduced parasitic capacitance. The drain-bias disturbance for the memory off-state was effectively suppressed even when a higher read-out drain voltage was applied. Appropriate device design parameters, such as the film thicknesses of each component layer and the geometrical relations between them, can improve the memory performances and expand the application fields of the proposed CTM-TFTs.

Study on Gas Sensing Performance of In2O3 Thick Film Resistors Prepared by Screen Printing Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. C. KULKARNI

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Indium Oxide (In2O3 thick films were prepared on alumina substrate by using standard screen printing technique. These films were dried and fired at temperatures between 750 0C to 950 0C for two hours in air atmosphere. The compositional, morphological and structural properties of In2O3 films were performed by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDX, XRD, and Scanning electron Microscopy respectively. We explore the various gases to study sensing performance of In2O3 thick films. The maximum response was reported to film fired at 750 0C for H2S gas at 150 0C operating temperature.

On the mechanism of self-deceleration of the thin oxide film growth

CERN Document Server

Mukhambetov, D G

2002-01-01

The objective of this work was to investigate the kinetics of the two-phase oxide film growth on the alpha-Fe surface at temperatures of 650-750 K. We experimentally determined that the film thickness (h)-time oxidation (tau) relationship in the range denoted above is a logarithmic function, whereas Cabrera and Mott's theory gives a square law of film growth. In our work, analytical treatment of experimental data was made based on this theory, but we propose that self-deceleration of the film growth is caused not by attenuation of the electric intensity in the film because of an increase of h but by the shielding influence of the space charge of diffusing ions and electrons in that oxide film. With that purpose in view, the Debye shielding distance for plasma substance state in the oxide film was taken into consideration. The logarithmic law of oxide film growth was derived. Estimated calculations of this law's parameters were made that quantitatively correspond with literature data. The results obtained were...

Thickness dependent electrical properties of CdO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murthy, L.C.S.; Rao, K.S.R.K.

1999-01-01

A large number of thin films of cadmium oxide have been prepared on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis method. The prepared films have uniform thickness varying from 200-600 nm and good adherence to the glass substrate. A systematic study has been made on the influence of thickness on resistivity, sheet resistance, carrier concentration and mobility of the films. The resistivity, sheet resistance, carrier concentration and mobility values varied from 1.56-5.72x10 -3 Ω-cm, 128-189 Ω/□, 1.6-3.9x10 21 cm -3 and 0.3-3 cm 2 /Vs, respectively for varying film thickness. A systematic increase in mobility with grain size clearly indicates the reduction of overall scattering of charge carriers at the grain boundaries. The large concentration of charge carriers and low mobility values have been attributed to the presence of Cd as an impurity in CdO microcrystallites. Using the optical transmission data, the band gap was estimated and found to vary from 2.20-2.42 eV. These films have transmittance around 77% and average reflectance is below 2.6% in the spectral range 350-850 nm. The films are n-type and polycrystalline in nature. SEM micrographs of the CdO films were taken and the films exhibit clear grains and grain boundary formation at a substrate temperature as low as 523 K. (author)

Impact of active layer thickness of nitrogen-doped In–Sn–Zn–O films on materials and thin film transistor performances

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhi-Yue; Yang, Hao-Zhi; Chen, Sheng-Chi; Lu, Ying-Bo; Xin, Yan-Qing; Yang, Tian-Lin; Sun, Hui

2018-05-01

Nitrogen-doped indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO:N) thin film transistors (TFTs) were deposited on SiO2 (200 nm)/p-Si〈1 0 0〉 substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The structural, chemical compositions, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties as a function of the active layer thickness were investigated. As the active layer thickness increases, Zn content decreases and In content increases gradually. Meanwhile, Sn content is almost unchanged. When the thickness of the active layer is more than 45 nm, the ITZO:N films become crystallized and present a crystal orientation along InN(0 0 2) plan. No matter what the thickness is, ITZO:N films always display a high transmittance above 80% in the visible region. Their optical band gaps fluctuate between 3.4 eV and 3.62 eV. Due to the dominance of low interface trap density and high carrier concentration, ITZO:N TFT shows enhanced electrical properties as the active layer thickness is 35 nm. Its field-effect mobility, on/off radio and sub-threshold swing are 17.53 cm2 V‑1 · s‑1, 106 and 0.36 V/dec, respectively. These results indicate that the suitable thickness of the active layer can enhance the quality of ITZO:N films and decrease the defects density of ITZO:N TFT. Thus, the properties of ITZO:N TFT can be optimized by adjusting the thickness of the active layer.

Spark counting technique with an aluminium oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, H.; Koga, T.; Morishima, H.; Niwa, T.; Nishiwaki, Y.

1980-01-01

Automatic spark counting of etch-pits on a polycarbonate film produced by nuclear fission fragments is now used for neutron monitoring in several countries. A method was developed using an aluminium oxide film instead of a polycarbonate as the neutron detector. Aluminium oxide films were prepared as follows: A cleaned aluminium plate as an anode and a nickel plate as a cathode were immersed in dilute sulfuric acid solution and electric current flowed between the electrodes at 12degC for 10-30 minutes. Electric current density was about 10 mA/cm 2 . The aluminium plate was then kept in boiling water for 10-30 minutes for sealing. The thickness of the aluminium oxide layer formed was about 1μm. The aluminium plate attached to a plate of suitable fissionable material, such as uranium or thorium, was irradiated with neutrons and set in a usual spark counter for fission track counting. One electrode was the aluminium plate and the other was an aluminized polyester sheet. Sparked pulses were counted with a usual scaler. The advantage of using spark counting with an aluminium oxide film for neutron monitoring is rapid measurement of neutron exposure, since chemical etching which is indispensable for spark counting with a polycarbonate detector film, is not needed. (H.K.)

Multiple High Voltage Pulse Stressing of Polymer Thick Film Resistors

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Busi Rambabu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to study high voltage interactions in polymer thick film resistors, namely, polyvinyl chloride- (PVC- graphite thick film resistors, and their applications in universal trimming of these resistors. High voltages in the form of impulses for various pulse durations and with different amplitudes have been applied to polymer thick film resistors and we observed the variation of resistance of these resistors with high voltages. It has been found that the resistance of polymer thick film resistors decreases in the case of higher resistivity materials and the resistance of polymer thick film resistor increases in the case of lower resistivity materials when high voltage impulses are applied to them. It has been also found that multiple high voltage pulse (MHVP stressing can be used to trim the polymer thick film resistors either upwards or downwards.

Photocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds via waveguide-supported titanium dioxide films

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Lawrence W.

A photochemical reactor based on titanium dioxide (TiO2)-coated silica optical fibers was constructed to explore the use of waveguide-supported TiO2 films for photocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds. The reactor was used for the photocatalytic oxidation of 4-chlorophenol in water. It was confirmed that TiO2 films could be securely attached to silica optical fibers. The 4-chlorophenol (100 mumol/L in water) was successfully oxidized on the TiO2 surface when UV light (310 nm--380 nm) was propagated through the fibers to the films. Rates of 4-chlorophenol oxidation and UV light flux to the fibers were measured. The quantum efficiency of 4-chlorophenol oxidation [defined as the change in 4-chlorophenol concentration divided by the UV light absorbed by the catalyst] was determined as a function of TiO2 catalyst film thickness and internal incident angle of propagating UV light. A maximum quantum efficiency of 2.8% was measured when TiO2 film thickness was ca. 80 nm and the maximum internal incident angle of propagating light was 84°. Quantum efficiency increased with increasing internal angle of incidence of propagating light and decreased with TiO2 film thickness. UV-Visible internal reflection spectroscopy was used to determine whether UV light propagated through TiO2-coated silica waveguides in an ATR mode. Propagation of UV light in an ATR mode was confirmed by the similarities between internal reflection spectra of phenolphthalein obtained with uncoated and TiO2-coated silica crystals. Planar silica waveguides coated with TiO2 were employed in a photocatalytic reactor for the oxidation of formic acid (833 mumol/L in water). It was shown that the quantum yield of formic acid oxidation [defined as the moles of formic acid oxidized divided by the moles of UV photons absorbed by the catalyst] on the waveguide-supported TiO2 surface is enhanced when UV light propagates through the waveguides in an ATR mode. A maximum quantum yield of 3.9% was found for formic

Highly conductive grain boundaries in copper oxide thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deuermeier, Jonas, E-mail: j.deuermeier@campus.fct.unl.pt [Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, i3N/CENIMAT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and CEMOP/UNINOVA, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Department of Materials and Earth Sciences, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Jovanka-Bontschits-Straße 2, D-64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Wardenga, Hans F.; Morasch, Jan; Siol, Sebastian; Klein, Andreas, E-mail: aklein@surface.tu-darmstadt.de [Department of Materials and Earth Sciences, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Jovanka-Bontschits-Straße 2, D-64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Nandy, Suman; Calmeiro, Tomás; Martins, Rodrigo; Fortunato, Elvira [Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, i3N/CENIMAT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and CEMOP/UNINOVA, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal)

2016-06-21

High conductivity in the off-state and low field-effect mobility compared to bulk properties is widely observed in the p-type thin-film transistors of Cu{sub 2}O, especially when processed at moderate temperature. This work presents results from in situ conductance measurements at thicknesses from sub-nm to around 250 nm with parallel X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. An enhanced conductivity at low thickness is explained by the occurrence of Cu(II), which is segregated in the grain boundary and locally causes a conductivity similar to CuO, although the surface of the thick film has Cu{sub 2}O stoichiometry. Since grains grow with an increasing film thickness, the effect of an apparent oxygen excess is most pronounced in vicinity to the substrate interface. Electrical properties of Cu{sub 2}O grains are at least partially short-circuited by this effect. The study focuses on properties inherent to copper oxide, although interface effects cannot be ruled out. This non-destructive, bottom-up analysis reveals phenomena which are commonly not observable after device fabrication, but clearly dominate electrical properties of polycrystalline thin films.

Thin Cu film resistivity using four probe techniques: Effect of film thickness and geometrical shapes

Science.gov (United States)

Choudhary, Sumita; Narula, Rahul; Gangopadhyay, Subhashis

2018-05-01

Precise measurement of electrical sheet resistance and resistivity of metallic thin Cu films may play a significant role in temperature sensing by means of resistivity changes which can further act as a safety measure of various electronic devices during their operation. Four point probes resistivity measurement is a useful approach as it successfully excludes the contact resistance between the probes and film surface of the sample. Although, the resistivity of bulk samples at a particular temperature mostly depends on its materialistic property, however, it may significantly differ in the case of thin films, where the shape and thickness of the sample can significantly influence on it. Depending on the ratio of the film thickness to probe spacing, samples are usually classified in two segments such as (i) thick films or (ii) thin films. Accordingly, the geometric correction factors G can be related to the sample resistivity r, which has been calculated here for thin Cu films of thickness up to few 100 nm. In this study, various rectangular shapes of thin Cu films have been used to determine the shape induced geometric correction factors G. An expressions for G have been obtained as a function of film thickness t versus the probe spacing s. Using these expressions, the correction factors have been plotted separately for each cases as a function of (a) film thickness for fixed linear probe spacing and (b) probe distance from the edge of the film surface for particular thickness. Finally, we compare the experimental results of thin Cu films of various rectangular geometries with the theoretical reported results.

Swift heavy ion induced de wetting of metal oxide thin films on silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolse, T.; Paulus, H.; Bolse, W.

2006-01-01

We have observed that thin oxide coatings (NiO, Fe 2 O 3 ) tend to dewet their Si substrate when being bombarded with swift heavy ions (350-600 MeV Au ions) even though the irradiation was carried out about 80 K and hence, the films never reached their melting point. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopy reveal a surprising similarity of the dewetting morphologies with those observed for molten polymer films on Si, which have recently been reported by others [S. Herminghaus, K. Jakobs, K. Mecke, J. Bischof, A. Fery, M. Ibn-Elhaj, S. Schlagowsky, Science 282 (1998) 916; R. Seemann, S. Herminghaus, K. Jacobs, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13 (2001) 4925]. Like in that cases also here heterogeneous and homogeneous hole nucleation could be identified. Heterogeneous nucleation is less pronounced in Fe 2 O 3 /Si than in NiO/Si. The occurrence of spinodal-like dewetting cannot be detected unambiguously. The dewetting kinetics were determined by means of Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and found to slightly differ for the two compounds. The dewetting kinetics as well as the final dewetting pattern strongly depend on the initial film thicknesses. No dewetting occurs for film thicknesses above about 150 nm, while for very small thicknesses below about 40 nm the film decays into nm-sized spherical droplets. At intermediate film thicknesses percolated networks of small oxide bridges are formed

Comment on "Tunable Design of Structural Colors Produced by Pseudo-1D Photonic Crystals of Graphene Oxide" and Thin-Film Interference from Dried Graphene Oxide Film.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Seung-Ho; Song, Jang-Kun

2017-04-01

The mechanism of the iridescent color reflection from dried thin graphene oxide (GO) film on Si wafer is clarified. Dissimilarly to the photonic crystalline reflection in aqueous GO dispersion, the color reflection in dried GO film originates from the thin film interference. The peak reflection can reach 23% by optimizing the GO thickness and the substrate. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Thickness Dependence of Optoelectrical Properties of Mo-Doped In2O3 Films Deposited on Polyethersulfone Substrates by Ion-Beam-Assisted Evaporation

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Chin-Chiuan Kuo

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Indium molybdenum oxide (IMO films were deposited onto the polyethersulfone (PES substrates by ion-beam-assisted evaporation (IBAE deposition at low temperature in this study. The effects of film thickness on their optical and electrical properties were investigated. The results show that the deposited IMO films exhibit a preferred orientation of B(222. The electrical resistivity of the deposited film initially reduces then subsequently increases with film thickness. The IMO film with the lowest resistivity of 7.61 × 10−4 ohm-cm has been achieved when the film thickness is 120 nm. It exhibits a satisfactory surface roughness pv of 8.75 nm and an average visible transmittance of 78.7%.

Thermal transport properties of polycrystalline tin-doped indium oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ashida, Toru; Miyamura, Amica; Oka, Nobuto; Sato, Yasushi; Shigesato, Yuzo; Yagi, Takashi; Taketoshi, Naoyuki; Baba, Tetsuya

2009-01-01

Thermal diffusivity of polycrystalline tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films with a thickness of 200 nm has been characterized quantitatively by subnanosecond laser pulse irradiation and thermoreflectance measurement. ITO films sandwiched by molybdenum (Mo) films were prepared on a fused silica substrate by dc magnetron sputtering using an oxide ceramic ITO target (90 wt %In 2 O 3 and 10 wt %SnO 2 ). The resistivity and carrier density of the ITO films ranged from 2.9x10 -4 to 3.2x10 -3 Ω cm and from 1.9x10 20 to 1.2x10 21 cm -3 , respectively. The thermal diffusivity of the ITO films was (1.5-2.2)x10 -6 m 2 /s, depending on the electrical conductivity. The thermal conductivity carried by free electrons was estimated using the Wiedemann-Franz law. The phonon contribution to the heat transfer in ITO films with various resistivities was found to be almost constant (λ ph =3.95 W/m K), which was about twice that for amorphous indium zinc oxide films

Influence of thickness on properties of plasticized oat starch films

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Melicia Cintia Galdeano

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of thickness (between 80 and 120 µm on apparent opacity, water vapor permeability and mechanical properties (tensile and puncture of oat starch films plasticized with glycerol, sorbitol, glycerol:sorbitol mixture, urea and sucrose. Films were stored under 11, 57, 76 and 90% relative humidity (RH to study the mechanical properties. It was observed that the higher the thickness, the higher was the opacity values. Films without the plasticizer were more opaque in comparison with the plasticized ones. Glycerol:sorbitol films presented increased elongation with increasing thickness at all RH. Puncture force showed a strong dependence on the film thickness, except for the films plasticized with sucrose. In general, thickness did not affect the water permeability.

Film thickness in gas-liquid two-phase flow, (2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekoguchi, Kotohiko; Fukano, Toru; Kawakami, Yasushi; Shimizu, Hideo.

1977-01-01

The effect of four rectangular obstacles inserted into a circular tube has been studied in gas-liquid two-phase flow. The obstacles are set on the inner wall of the tube, and the ratio of the opening is 0.6. The water film flows partially through the obstacles. The minimum thickness of water film was measured in relation to flow speed. The serious effect of the obstacles was seen against the formation of water film, and drainage under the obstacles and backward flow play important roles. Since water film can flow partially through the obstacles, the film in case of the rectangular obstacles in thicker than that in case of an orifice when the gas flow speed was slower than 5 m/s. However, when the gas flow speed is over 5 m/s, the film thickness was thinner. The minimum film thickness of downstream of the obstacles was almost same as that in case of no obstacle. The minimum film thickness of up stream depends on the location of measurement due to the effect of drainage. (Kato, T.)

One-step aerosol synthesis of nanoparticle agglomerate films: simulation of film porosity and thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maedler, Lutz; Lall, Anshuman A; Friedlander, Sheldon K

2006-01-01

A method is described for designing nanoparticle agglomerate films with desired film porosity and film thickness. Nanoparticle agglomerates generated in aerosol reactors can be directly deposited on substrates to form uniform porous films in one step, a significant advance over existing technologies. The effect of agglomerate morphology and deposition mechanism on film porosity and thickness are discussed. Film porosity was calculated for a given number and size of primary particles that compose the agglomerates, and fractal dimension. Agglomerate transport was described by the Langevin equation of motion. Deposition enhancing forces such as thermophoresis are incorporated in the model. The method was validated for single spherical particles using previous theoretical studies. An S-shape film porosity dependence on the particle Peclet number typical for spherical particles was also observed for agglomerates, but films formed from agglomerates had much higher porosities than films from spherical particles. Predicted film porosities compared well with measurements reported in the literature. Film porosities increased with the number of primary particles that compose an agglomerate and higher fractal dimension agglomerates resulted in denser films. Film thickness as a function of agglomerate deposition time was calculated from the agglomerate deposition flux in the presence of thermophoresis. The calculated film thickness was in good agreement with measured literature values. Thermophoresis can be used to reduce deposition time without affecting the film porosity

Barium titanate thick films prepared by screen printing technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirjana M. Vijatović

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The barium titanate (BaTiO3 thick films were prepared by screen printing technique using powders obtained by soft chemical route, modified Pechini process. Three different barium titanate powders were prepared: i pure, ii doped with lanthanum and iii doped with antimony. Pastes for screen printing were prepared using previously obtained powders. The thick films were deposited onto Al2O3 substrates and fired at 850°C together with electrode material (silver/palladium in the moving belt furnace in the air atmosphere. Measurements of thickness and roughness of barium titanate thick films were performed. The electrical properties of thick films such as dielectric constant, dielectric losses, Curie temperature, hysteresis loop were reported. The influence of different factors on electrical properties values was analyzed.

Indium Tin Oxide thin film gas sensors for detection of ethanol vapours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaishnav, V.S.; Patel, P.D.; Patel, N.G.

2005-01-01

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO: In 2 O 3 + 17% SnO 2 ) thin films grown on alumina substrate at 648 K temperatures using direct evaporation method with two gold pads deposited on the top for electrical contacts were exposed to ethanol vapours (200-2500 ppm). The operating temperature of the sensor was optimized. The sensitivity variation of films having different thickness was studied. The sensitivity of the films deposited on Si substrates was studied. The response of the film with MgO catalytic layer on sensitivity and selectivity was observed. A novel approach of depositing thin stimulating layer of various metals/oxides below the ITO film was tried and tested

Temperature- and thickness-dependent elastic moduli of polymer thin films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ao Zhimin

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The mechanical properties of polymer ultrathin films are usually different from those of their counterparts in bulk. Understanding the effect of thickness on the mechanical properties of these films is crucial for their applications. However, it is a great challenge to measure their elastic modulus experimentally with in situ heating. In this study, a thermodynamic model for temperature- (T and thickness (h-dependent elastic moduli of polymer thin films Ef(T,h is developed with verification by the reported experimental data on polystyrene (PS thin films. For the PS thin films on a passivated substrate, Ef(T,h decreases with the decreasing film thickness, when h is less than 60 nm at ambient temperature. However, the onset thickness (h*, at which thickness Ef(T,h deviates from the bulk value, can be modulated by T. h* becomes larger at higher T because of the depression of the quenching depth, which determines the thickness of the surface layer δ.

Study optoelectronic properties for polymer composite thick film

Science.gov (United States)

Jobayr, Mahmood Radhi; Al Razak, Ali Hussein Abd; Mahdi, Shatha H.; Fadhil, Rihab Nassr

2018-05-01

Coupling the epoxy with cadmium oxide particles are important for optical properties that may be affected by various mixing proportions. The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the effect of different mixing proportions on these properties of reinforced epoxy with cadmium oxide particles. The ultrasonic techniques were used to mix and prepared samples of composites. The surfaces topographic of the 50 µm thick reinforced epoxy films were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and microscopy technique (FTIR) Spectroscopy. AFM imaging and quantitative characterization of the films showed that for all samples the root mean square of the surface roughness increases monotonically with increasing the CdO concentrations (from 0% to 15%). The observed effects of CdO concentrations on surface roughness can be explained by two things: the first reason is that the atoms of additives are combined with the original material to form a new compound that is smoother, more homogeneity and smaller in particle size. The second reason is due to high mixing due to ultrasonic mixing. It is clear also, AFM examination of the prepared samples of reinforced epoxy resin shown that topographical contrast and the identification of small structural details critically depend on hardness of epoxy resin, which in turn depended on the ratio of material (CdO) added. We show that the AFM imaging of the films showed that the mean diameter (104.8nm) of films for all of the samples decreased from 135.50 nm to 83.20 nm with the increase of CdO concentrations.

The effect of the film thickness and doping content of SnO2:F thin films prepared by the ultrasonic spray method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahal Achour; Benramache Said; Benhaoua Boubaker

2013-01-01

This paper reports on the effects of film thickness and doping content on the optical and electrical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide. Tin (II) chloride dehydrate, ammonium fluoride dehydrate, ethanol and HCl were used as the starting materials, dopant source, solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The doped films were deposited on a glass substrate at different concentrations varying between 0 and 5 wt% using an ultrasonic spray technique. The SnO 2 :F thin films were deposited at a 350 °C pending time (5, 15, 60 and 90 s). The average transmission was about 80%, and the films were thus transparent in the visible region. The optical energy gap of the doped films with 2.5 wt% F was found to increase from 3.47 to 3.89 eV with increasing film thickness, and increased after doping at 5 wt%. The decrease in the Urbach energy of the SnO 2 :F thin films indicated a decrease in the defects. The increase in the electrical conductivity of the films reached maximum values of 278.9 and 281.9 (Ω·cm) −1 for 2.5 and 5 wt% F, respectively, indicating that the films exhibited an n-type semiconducting nature. A systematic study on the influence of film thickness and doping content on the properties of SnO 2 :F thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray was reported. (semiconductor materials)

Impedance measurements on oxide films on aluminium obtained by pulsed tensions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belmokre, K. [Lab. of Applied Chemical, Dept. of Chemie, Skikda University, BP 26 - 21000 Skikda (Algeria); Azzouz, N. [Dept. of Industrial Chemie, Jijel University Center, 18000 Jijel (Algeria); Hannani, A. [Lab. Electrochem. Corros. Institute of Chemical USTHB Alger (Algeria); Pagetti, J. [Lab. LCMI, Franche-Comte - University UFR Sciences and Technical 16, Gray street - 25030 Besancon Cedex (France)

2003-01-01

We have performed this study on oxide films sealed or not in boiling water. The films are first obtained on type 1050 A aluminium substrate by pulsed tensions anodizing technique, in a sulfuric acid solution. Afterwards the, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is employed to appreciate the films behaviour in a neutral solution of 3.5% K{sub 2}SO{sub 4}, in which the interface processes interest only the ageing phenomenon of the oxide films and not their corrosion. We have also attempted a correlation between pulse parameters of anodization and the electrical parameters characterizing these films. The sealing influence on ageing has been studied as well. For all films, ageing is appreciated using impedance diagrams evolution versus time. The results show: - the existence of two capacitive loops confirming the presence of two oxide layers characteristic of oxide films obtained in a sulfuric acid medium. The first loop, at high frequencies, is related to the external porous layer and the second one, at lower frequencies, is related to the internal barrier layer. - the thickness of the barrier layer varies between 25 and 40 nm in relation with the electrical pulse parameters. - the sealing acts favorably against anodic oxide films ageing. (Abstract Copyright [2003], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Influence of Ag thickness of aluminum-doped ZnO/Ag/aluminum-doped ZnO thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Hung-Wei, E-mail: hwwu@mail.ksu.edu.tw [Department of Computer and Communication, Kun Shan University, No. 949, Dawan Rd., Yongkang Dist., Tainan City 710, Taiwan (China); Yang, Ru-Yuan [Graduate Institute of Materials Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, 1, Shuefu Rd., Neipu, Pingtung City 912, Taiwan (China); Hsiung, Chin-Min; Chu, Chien-Hsun [Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, 1, Shuefu Rd., Neipu, Pingtung City 912, Taiwan (China)

2012-10-01

Highly conducting aluminum-doped ZnO (30 nm)/Ag (5-15 nm)/aluminum-doped ZnO (30 nm) multilayer thin films were deposited on glass substrate by rf magnetron sputtering (for top/bottom aluminum-doped ZnO films) and e-beam evaporation (for Ag film). The transmittance is more than 70% for wavelengths above 400 nm with the Ag layer thickness of 10 nm. The resistivity is 3.71 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} {Omega}-cm, which can be decreased to 3.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -5} {Omega}-cm with the increase of the Ag layer thickness to 15 nm. The Haacke figure of merit has been calculated for the films with the best value being 8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} {Omega}{sup -1}. It was shown that the multilayer thin films have potential for applications in optoelectronics. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer High-quality Al-doped ZnO (AZO)/Ag/AZO Transparent Conducting Oxide films. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer AZO films (30 nm) made by RF sputtering; E-beam evaporation for Ag film (5-15 nm). Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Influence of Ag thickness on optical and electrical properties were analyzed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer High quality multilayer film with optimal intermediate Ag layer thickness of 10 nm. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer 3.71 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} {Omega}-cm resistivity, 91.89% transmittance at 470 nm obtained and reproducible.

Influence of thickness and coatings morphology in the antimicrobial performance of zinc oxide coatings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho, P. [Department of Physics, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimaraes (Portugal); Sampaio, P. [CBMA, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700 Braga (Portugal); Azevedo, S. [Department of Physics, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimaraes (Portugal); Vaz, C. [CBMA, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700 Braga (Portugal); Espinós, J.P. [Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla, CSIC-University of Sevilla, Avda. Américo Vespucio 49, 41092 Sevilla (Spain); Teixeira, V., E-mail: vasco@fisica.uminho.pt [Department of Physics, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimaraes (Portugal); Carneiro, J.O., E-mail: carneiro@fisica.uminho.pt [Department of Physics, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimaraes (Portugal)

2014-07-01

In this research work, the production of undoped and silver (Ag) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films for food-packaging applications were developed. The main goal was to determine the influence of coatings morphology and thickness on the antimicrobial performance of the produced samples. The ZnO based thin films were deposited on PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) substrates by means of DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The thin films were characterized by optical spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The antimicrobial performance of the undoped and Ag-doped ZnO thin films was also evaluated. The results attained have shown that all the deposited zinc oxide and Ag-doped ZnO coatings present columnar morphology with V-shaped columns. The increase of ZnO coatings thickness until 200 nm increases the active surface area of the columns. The thinner samples (50 and 100 nm) present a less pronounced antibacterial activity than the thickest ones (200–600 nm). Regarding Ag-doped ZnO thin films, it was verified that increasing the silver content decreases the growth rate of Escherichia coli and decreases the amount of bacteria cells present at the end of the experiment.

Thickness-dependent spontaneous dewetting morphology of ultrathin Ag films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krishna, H; Favazza, C [Department of Physics, Washington University in St Louis, MO 63130 (United States); Sachan, R; Strader, J; Kalyanaraman, R [Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Khenner, M, E-mail: ramki@utk.edu [Department of Mathematics, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101 (United States)

2010-04-16

We show here that the morphological pathway of spontaneous dewetting of ultrathin Ag films on SiO{sub 2} under nanosecond laser melting is dependent on film thickness. For films with thickness h of 2 nm {<=} h {<=} 9.5 nm, the morphology during the intermediate stages of dewetting consisted of bicontinuous structures. For films with 11.5 nm {<=} h {<=} 20 nm, the intermediate stages consisted of regularly sized holes. Measurement of the characteristic length scales for different stages of dewetting as a function of film thickness showed a systematic increase, which is consistent with the spinodal dewetting instability over the entire thickness range investigated. This change in morphology with thickness is consistent with observations made previously for polymer films (Sharma and Khanna 1998 Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 3463-6; Seemann et al 2001 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13 4925-38). Based on the behavior of free energy curvature that incorporates intermolecular forces, we have estimated the morphological transition thickness for the intermolecular forces for Ag on SiO{sub 2}. The theory predictions agree well with observations for Ag. These results show that it is possible to form a variety of complex Ag nanomorphologies in a consistent manner, which could be useful in optical applications of Ag surfaces, such as in surface enhanced Raman sensing.

A new attempt of measurement film thickness by x-ray diffractometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosaka, Masao; Kobayashi, Hideo

1987-01-01

In order to make film thickness measurements independent from the property or the structure of the film materials or the substrate, it is needed to adopt instead of directly utilizing the X-ray diffraction intensity, or attenuation information obtained from the substrate or film material, other new methods for measurement. Among the information obtained by X-ray diffraction, if intensity is excluded, others are F.W.H.M. and diffraction angle, only. If it is possible to investigate the film thickness dependency of the diffraction angle, it should be possible to measure the film thickness by diffraction angle. However, since diffraction angle has no film thickness dependency, it cannot be used directly for measurement. However, if we consider the principle of the X-ray diffractometer method, although it may be very slight, the substrate will be eccentric from the revolving center of the goniometer on account of the thickness of the film. If eccentricity occurs, this will cause changes in the diffraction angle. If we set the radius of the goniometer as R, diffraction angle θ, and the eccentricity from the revolving center of the specimen surface X, the deflection angle Δ2θ of 2θ may be expressed by Δ2θ = -2X · COSθ/R Thus, if X is caused by the film thickness, and by measuring the Δ2θ, it will be possible to measure the film thickness. As a result of the experiment, it was found that X-ray diffraction method can be used for the measurement of the film thickness of a few microns or above by utilizing the eccentricity caused by the film thickness. Especially it has the advantage of being able to measure thick films that X-rays will not penetrate, without being influenced by the chemical structure of the film or the substrates. (author)

Film thickness determining method of the silicon isotope superlattices by SIMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takano, Akio; Shimizu, Yasuo; Itoh, Kohei M.

2008-01-01

It is becoming important to evaluate silicon self-diffusion with progress of a silicon semiconductor industry. In order to evaluate the self-diffusion of silicon, silicon isotope superlattices (SLs) is the only marker. For this reason, it is important to correctly evaluate a film thickness and a depth distribution of isotope SLs by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). As for film thickness, it is difficult to estimate the thicknesses correctly if the cycles of SLs are short. In this work, first, we report the determination of the film thickness for short-period SLs using mixing roughness-information (MRI) analysis to SIMS profile. Next, the uncertainty of the conventional method to determine the film thicknesses of SLs is determined. It was found that the conventional methods cannot correctly determine film thickness of short-period-isotope SLs where film thickness differs for every layer

Effect of thickness on optical properties of thermally evaporated SnS films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selim, M.S.; Gouda, M.E.; El-Shaarawy, M.G.; Salem, A.M.; Abd El-Ghany, W.A.

2013-01-01

The effect of film thickness on the structure and optical properties of thermally evaporated SnS film has been studied. SnS films with different thicknesses in the range 152–585 nm were deposited onto clean glass substrates at room temperature. X-ray diffraction study revealed that SnS films of thickness ≥ 283 nm are crystalline, whereas films of lower thickness exhibit poor crystalline with more amorphous background. The crystalline nature of the lower film thickness has been confirmed using transmission electron microscope and the corresponding electron diffraction pattern. The thicker film samples showed nearly stoichiometric chemical composition; however, thinner samples are deficient in S and rich in Sn. The optical property of the deposited films has been investigated in the wavelength range 350–2500 nm. The refractive index increases notably with increasing film thickness. The refractive index for the investigated film thicknesses are adequately described by the effective-single-oscillator model. The static refractive index and the static dielectric constant have been calculated. Analysis of the optical absorption coefficient revealed the presence of direct optical transition and the corresponding band gap values were found to decrease as the film thickness increases. - Highlights: ► X-ray diffraction was used to study the structure of SnS films. ► Transmission electron microscope confirms the crystalline state of SnS films. ► The refractive index increases notably with increasing the film thickness. ► The optical band gap of SnS films decreases with increasing film thickness

Intrinsic stress of bismuth oxide thin films: effect of vapour chopping and air ageing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patil, R B; Puri, R K; Puri, V

2008-01-01

Bismuth oxide thin films of thickness 1000 A 0 have been prepared by thermal oxidation (in air) of vacuum evaporated bismuth thin films (on glass substrate) at different oxidation temperatures and duration. Both the vapour chopped and nonchopped bismuth oxide thin films showed polycrystalline and polymorphic structure. The monoclinic bismuth oxide was found to be predominant in both the cases. The effect of vapour chopping and air exposure for 40 days on the intrinsic stress of bismuth oxide thin films has been studied. The vapour chopped films showed low (3.92 - 4.80 x 10 9 N/m 2 ) intrinsic stress than those of nonchopped bismuth oxide thin films (5.77 - 6.74 x 10 9 N/m 2 ). Intrinsic stress was found to increase due to air ageing. The effect of air ageing on the vapour chopped films was found low. The vapour chopped films showed higher packing density. Higher the packing density, lower the film will age. The process of chopping vapour flow creates films with less inhomogenety i.e. a low concentration of flaws and non-planar defects which results in lower intrinsic stress

Estimating the thickness of hydrated ultrathin poly(o-phenylenediamine) film by atomic force microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, C.-C.; Chang, H.-C.

2004-01-01

A novel method to measure ultrathin poly(o-phenylenediamine) (PPD) film electropolymerized on gold electrode in liquid was developed. It is based on the force versus distance curve (force curve) of atomic force microscopy (AFM). When 1-0.25 μm/s was chosen as the rising rate of the scanner, and 50% of the confidence interval (CI) as the qualifying threshold value, the thickness of the hydrated polymer film could be calculated. This result was compared with one obtained from an AFM image. A step-like electrode fabricated by a photolithographic process was used. The height difference of the electrode before and after the PPD coating was imaged in liquid, and then the real thickness, 19.6±5.2 nm, was obtained. The sample was also measured by estimating the transition range of the force curve of hydrated PPD film, and the thickness of the hydrated PPD film was determined to be 19.3±8.2 nm. However, the results calculated by integrating the electropolymerized charge for the oxidation process of o-phenylenediamine (o-PD) was only one-third as large as it was when using the two previously described methods. This indicated that the structure of hydrated PPD film might have been swollen

Surface oxidation on thin films affects ionization cross section induced by proton beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertol, Ana Paula Lamberti; Vasconcellos, M.A.Z.; Hinrichs, Ruth; Limandri, Silvina; Trincavelli, Jorge

2012-01-01

Full text: In microanalysis techniques such as Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), the transformation from intensity to concentration is made by standard less software that needs exact values of fundamental parameters such as the ionization cross section, transition probabilities of the different electronic levels, and fluorescent yield. The three parameters together measure the photon generating probability of an electronic transition and can be determined experimentally under the name of production cross section. These measurements are performed on thin films, with thickness around 10 nm, but most studies do not take into account any spontaneous surface oxidation. In this work, in the attempt to obtain cross section values of Al, Si and Ti, in metallic and oxide films, the influence of surface oxidation on the metallic films was established. Simulations considering the oxidation with the software SIMNRA on the Rutherford backscattering (RBS) spectra obtained from the films provided mass thickness values used to calculate the cross section data that were compared with theoretical values (PWBA and ECPSSR), and with experimental values and empirical adjustments from other studies. The inclusion of the natural oxidation affects the values of cross section, and may be one of the causes of discrepancies between the experimental values published in literature. (author)

Electroplated thick-film cobalt platinum permanent magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oniku, Ololade D.; Qi, Bin; Arnold, David P.

2016-01-01

The material and magnetic properties of multi-micron-thick (up to 6 μm) L1 0 CoPt magnetic films electroplated onto silicon substrates are investigated as candidate materials for integration in silicon-based microsystems. The influence of various process conditions on the structure and magnetic properties of electroplated CoPt thick-films is studied in order to better understand the complex process/structure/property relationships associated with the electroplated films. Process variables studied here include different seed layers, electroplating current densities (ranging from 25–200 mA/cm 2 ), deposition times (up to 60 min), and post-deposition annealing times and temperatures. Analyses include film morphology, film thickness, composition, surface roughness, grain size, phase volume fractions, and L1 0 ordering parameter. Key correlations are found relating process and structure variations to the extrinsic magnetic properties (remanence, coercivity, squareness, and energy product). Strong hard magnetic properties (B r ~0.8 T, H ci ~800 kA/m, squareness close to 0.9, and BH max of 100 kJ/m 3 ) are obtained for films deposited on Si/TiN/Ti/Cu at current densities of 100 mA/cm 2 , pH of 7, and subsequently annealed at 675 °C for 30 min. - Highlights: • CoPt films plated up to 6 μm thick on silicon substrates. • A1 to L1 0 phase transformation by annealing in forming gas. • Various process–structure–property relationships explored. • Key results: B r ~0.8 T, H ci ~800 kA/m, squareness 0.9, and BH max ~100 kJ/m 3 .

High-throughput measurement of polymer film thickness using optical dyes

Science.gov (United States)

Grunlan, Jaime C.; Mehrabi, Ali R.; Ly, Tien

2005-01-01

Optical dyes were added to polymer solutions in an effort to create a technique for high-throughput screening of dry polymer film thickness. Arrays of polystyrene films, cast from a toluene solution, containing methyl red or solvent green were used to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique. Measurements of the peak visible absorbance of each film were converted to thickness using the Beer-Lambert relationship. These absorbance-based thickness calculations agreed within 10% of thickness measured using a micrometer for polystyrene films that were 10-50 µm. At these thicknesses it is believed that the absorbance values are actually more accurate. At least for this solvent-based system, thickness was shown to be accurately measured in a high-throughput manner that could potentially be applied to other equivalent systems. Similar water-based films made with poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) dyed with malachite green oxalate or congo red did not show the same level of agreement with the micrometer measurements. Extensive phase separation between polymer and dye resulted in inflated absorbance values and calculated thickness that was often more than 25% greater than that measured with the micrometer. Only at thicknesses below 15 µm could reasonable accuracy be achieved for the water-based films.

Effect of thermal annealing of lead oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, Oh Hyeon; Kim, Sang Su; Suh, Jong Hee; Cho, Shin Hang; Kim, Ki Hyun; Hong, Jin Ki; Kim, Sun Ung

2011-01-01

Oxygen partial pressure in a growth process of lead oxide determines chemical and physical properties as well as crystalline structure. In order to supply oxygen, two ring-shape suppliers have been installed in a growth chamber. Films have been deposited using vacuum thermal evaporation from a raw material of yellow lead oxide powder (5N). Growth rate is controlled to be about 400 A/s, and film thickness more than 50 μm has been achieved. After deposition, the film is annealed at various temperatures under an oxygen atmosphere. In this study, an optimum growth condition for a good X-ray detector has been achieved by fine control of oxygen flow-rate and by thermal treatment. An electrical resistivity of 4.5x10 12 Ω cm is measured, and is comparable with the best data of PbO.

Anti-Oxidative and Antibacterial Self-Healing Edible Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Film in Fresh-Cut Fruits.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xuefan; Han, Wei; Zhu, Yanxi; Xuan, Hongyun; Ren, Jiaoyu; Zhang, Jianhao; Ge, Liqin

2018-04-01

The consumption of fresh-cut fruits is limited because of the oxidation browning and pathogenic bacteria's growth on the fruit surface. Besides, crack of the fresh-keeping film may shorten the preservation time of fruit. In this work, polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) film was fabricated by layer-by-layer (LBL) electrostatic deposition method. The film was made by carboxy methylcellulose sodium (CMC) and chitosan (CS). The as-prepared PEM film had good anti-oxidative and antibacterial capability. It inhibited the growth of Gram-negative bacteria and the antibacterial rate was more than 95%. The stratified structure and linear increase of the absorbance in the film verified a linear increase of film thickness. The slight scratched film could self-heal rapidly after the stimulation of water whatever the layer number was. Moreover, the film could heal cracks whose width was far bigger than the thickness. The application of PEM film on fresh-cut apples showed that PEM film had good browning, weight loss and metabolic activity inhibition ability. These results showed that the PEM film is a good candidate as edible film in fresh-cut fruits applications.

Enhanced selectivity of boron doped diamond electrodes for the detection of dopamine and ascorbic acid by increasing the film thickness

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qi, Yao; Long, Hangyu [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Ma, Li, E-mail: marycsupm@csu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Wei, Quiping, E-mail: qiupwei@csu.edu.cn [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Li, Site [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Yu, Zhiming [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Hu, Jingyuan [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Liu, Peizhi [Key laboratory of interface science and engineering in advanced materials, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024,PR China (China); Wang, Yijia [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Meng, Lingcong [Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

2016-12-30

Highlights: • BDD electrodes with different thickness have been fabricated. • BDD electrodes are used for simultaneous detection of DA and AA. • Anodic pretreatment enhance the separation of DA and AA oxidation peak potential. • Thicker BDD electrode show better performance for DA detection coexisting with AA. - Abstract: In this paper, boron doped diamond (BDD) with different thickness were prepared by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. The performance of BDD electrodes for detecting dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectra reveal the grain size increases and the film quality improves with the increase of film thickness. Electrochemical test show that the transfer coefficient in [Fe{sub 3} (CN) {sub 6}]{sup 3−/4−} redox system increases with the increase of the film thickness. The results of selectivity and sensitivity for DA mixed with AA detection show that 8h-BDD and 12h-BDD electrodes possess well selective separated oxidation peaks of DA and AA, and the 12h-BDD electrode exhibits optimal sensitivity until the DA concentration drops to 1 μ M.

Film-thickness dependence of structure formation in ultra-thin polymer blend films

CERN Document Server

Gutmann, J S; Stamm, M

2002-01-01

We investigated the film-thickness dependence of structure formation in ultra-thin polymer blend films prepared from solution. As a model system we used binary blends of statistical poly(styrene-co-p-bromostyrene) copolymers of different degrees of bromination. Ultra-thin-film samples differing in miscibility and film thickness were prepared via spin coating of common toluene solutions onto silicon (100) substrates. The resulting morphologies were investigated with scanning force microscopy, reflectometry and grazing-incidence scattering techniques using both X-rays and neutrons in order to obtain a picture of the sample structure at and below the sample surface. (orig.)

Thickness-dependent spontaneous dewetting morphology of ultrathin Ag films.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishna, H; Sachan, R; Strader, J; Favazza, C; Khenner, M; Kalyanaraman, R

2010-04-16

We show here that the morphological pathway of spontaneous dewetting of ultrathin Ag films on SiO2 under nanosecond laser melting is dependent on film thickness. For films with thickness h of 2 nm < or = h < or = 9.5 nm, the morphology during the intermediate stages of dewetting consisted of bicontinuous structures. For films with 11.5 nm < or = h < or = 20 nm, the intermediate stages consisted of regularly sized holes. Measurement of the characteristic length scales for different stages of dewetting as a function of film thickness showed a systematic increase, which is consistent with the spinodal dewetting instability over the entire thickness range investigated. This change in morphology with thickness is consistent with observations made previously for polymer films (Sharma and Khanna 1998 Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 3463-6; Seemann et al 2001 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13 4925-38). Based on the behavior of free energy curvature that incorporates intermolecular forces, we have estimated the morphological transition thickness for the intermolecular forces for Ag on SiO2. The theory predictions agree well with observations for Ag. These results show that it is possible to form a variety of complex Ag nanomorphologies in a consistent manner, which could be useful in optical applications of Ag surfaces, such as in surface enhanced Raman sensing.

Thermoluminescent response of aluminium oxide thin films subject to gamma irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arrieta, A.; Escobar A, L.; Camps, E.; Villagran, E.; Gonzalez, P.R

2006-07-01

The thermoluminescent (TL) properties of amorphous aluminium oxide thin films (thicknesses as low as 0.3 {mu}m) subjected to gamma (Co-60) irradiation are reported. Aluminium oxide thin films were prepared by laser ablation from an Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} target using a Nd: YAG laser with emission at the fundamental line. The films were exposed to gamma radiation (Co-60) in order to study their TL response. Thermoluminescence glow curves exhibited two peaks at 110 and 176 C. The high temperature peak shows good stability and 30% fading in the first 5 days after irradiation. A linear relationship between absorbed dose and the thermoluminescent response for doses span from 150 mGy to 100 Gy was observed. These results suggest that aluminium oxide thin films are suitable for detection and monitoring of gamma radiation. (Author)

Nano-Hydroxyapatite Thick Film Gas Sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khairnar, Rajendra S.; Mene, Ravindra U.; Munde, Shivaji G.; Mahabole, Megha P.

2011-01-01

In the present work pure and metal ions (Co and Fe) doped hydroxyapatite (HAp) thick films have been successfully utilized to improve the structural, morphological and gas sensing properties. Nanocrystalline HAp powder is synthesized by wet chemical precipitation route, and ion exchange process is employed for addition of Co and Fe ions in HAp matrix. Moreover, swift heavy ion irradiation (SHI) technique is used to modify the surface of pure and metal ion exchanged HAp with various ion fluence. The structural investigation of pure and metal ion exchanged HAp thick films are carried out using X-ray diffraction and the presence of functional group is observed by means FTIR spectroscopy. Furthermore, surface morphology is visualized by means of SEM and AFM analysis. CO gas sensing study is carried out for, pure and metal ions doped, HAp thick films with detail investigation on operating temperature, response/recovery time and gas uptake capacity. The surface modifications of sensor matrix by SHI enhance the gas response, response/recovery and gas uptake capacity. The significant observation is here to note that, addition of Co and Fe in HAp matrix and surface modification by SHI improves the sensing properties of HAp films drastically resulting in gas sensing at relatively lower temperatures.

Influence of thin film thickness of working electrodes on photovoltaic characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lai Yeong-Lin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the study of the influence of thin film thickness of working electrodes on the photovoltaic characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells. Titanium dioxide (TiO2 thin films, with the thickness from 7.67 to 24.3 μm, were used to fabricate the working electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs. A TiO2 film was coated on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO conductive glass substrate and then sintered in a high-temperature furnace. On the other hand, platinum (Pt solution was coated onto an FTO substrate for the fabrication of the counter electrode of a DSSC. The working electrode immersed in a dye, the counter electrode, and the electrolyte were assembled to complete a sandwich-structure DSSC. The material analysis of the TiO2 films of DSSCs was carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis spectroscopy, while the photovoltaic characteristics of DSSCs were measured by an AM-1.5 sunlight simulator. The light transmittance characteristics of the TiO2 working electrode depend on the TiO2 film thickness. The thin film thickness of the working electrode also affects the light absorption of a dye and results in the photovoltaic characteristics of the DSSC, including open-circuited voltage (VOC, short-circuited current density (JSC, fill factor, and photovoltaic conversion efficiency.

Self-Poling of BiFeO3 Thick Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Khomyakova, Evgeniya; Sadl, Matej; Ursic, Hana; Daniels, John; Malic, Barbara; Bencan, Andreja; Damjanovic, Dragan; Rojac, Tadej

2016-08-03

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) is difficult to pole because of the combination of its high coercive field and high electrical conductivity. This problem is particularly pronounced in thick films. The poling, however, must be performed to achieve a large macroscopic piezoelectric response. This study presents evidence of a prominent and reproducible self-poling effect in few-tens-of-micrometer-thick BiFeO3 films. Direct and converse piezoelectric measurements confirmed that the as-sintered BiFeO3 thick films yield d33 values of up to ∼20 pC/N. It was observed that a significant self-poling effect only appears in cases when the films are heated and cooled through the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition (Curie temperature TC ∼ 820 °C). These self-poled films exhibit a microstructure with randomly oriented columnar grains. The presence of a compressive strain gradient across the film thickness cooled from above the TC was experimentally confirmed and is suggested to be responsible for the self-poling effect. Finally, the macroscopic d33 response of the self-poled BiFeO3 film was characterized as a function of the driving-field frequency and amplitude.

Electroplated thick-film cobalt platinum permanent magnets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oniku, Ololade D.; Qi, Bin; Arnold, David P., E-mail: darnold@ufl.edu

2016-10-15

The material and magnetic properties of multi-micron-thick (up to 6 μm) L1{sub 0} CoPt magnetic films electroplated onto silicon substrates are investigated as candidate materials for integration in silicon-based microsystems. The influence of various process conditions on the structure and magnetic properties of electroplated CoPt thick-films is studied in order to better understand the complex process/structure/property relationships associated with the electroplated films. Process variables studied here include different seed layers, electroplating current densities (ranging from 25–200 mA/cm{sup 2}), deposition times (up to 60 min), and post-deposition annealing times and temperatures. Analyses include film morphology, film thickness, composition, surface roughness, grain size, phase volume fractions, and L1{sub 0} ordering parameter. Key correlations are found relating process and structure variations to the extrinsic magnetic properties (remanence, coercivity, squareness, and energy product). Strong hard magnetic properties (B{sub r} ~0.8 T, H{sub ci} ~800 kA/m, squareness close to 0.9, and BH{sub max} of 100 kJ/m{sup 3}) are obtained for films deposited on Si/TiN/Ti/Cu at current densities of 100 mA/cm{sup 2}, pH of 7, and subsequently annealed at 675 °C for 30 min. - Highlights: • CoPt films plated up to 6 μm thick on silicon substrates. • A1 to L1{sub 0} phase transformation by annealing in forming gas. • Various process–structure–property relationships explored. • Key results: B{sub r} ~0.8 T, H{sub ci} ~800 kA/m, squareness 0.9, and BH{sub max} ~100 kJ/m{sup 3}.

A thermally robust and thickness independent ferroelectric phase in laminated hafnium zirconium oxide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Riedel

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Ferroelectric properties in hafnium oxide based thin films have recovered the scaling potential for ferroelectric memories due to their ultra-thin-film- and CMOS-compatibility. However, the variety of physical phenomena connected to ferroelectricity allows a wider range of applications for these materials than ferroelectric memory. Especially mixed HfxZr1-xO2 thin films exhibit a broad compositional range of ferroelectric phase stability and provide the possibility to tailor material properties for multiple applications. Here it is shown that the limited thermal stability and thick-film capability of HfxZr1-xO2 can be overcome by a laminated approach using alumina interlayers.

Measurement of the thickness of thin films by backscattered protons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samaniego, L.E.Q.

1976-07-01

The method of backscattered protons has been used to measure the thickness of thin films. A monoenergetic beam of protons is directed on the film to be measured and the backscattered protons are detected with a particle detector. The film thickness is calculated from the energy spectrum of the protons. In the case of films consisting of several layers of elements with well separated atomic masses, it is possible to separate the spectra of protons scattered from the different elements, permitting a measurement of the thicknesses of the different layers. The method consists of calculating the energy loss of the protons throughout their trajectory, from the point of incidence on the film to the final detection. Thicknesses were measured for the following film combinations: gold on mylar, chromium on mylar, gold on chromium on mylar, and pure mylar. (Author) [pt

Photoinduced Cross-Linking of Dynamic Poly(disulfide) Films via Thiol Oxidative Coupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Feillée, Noémi; Chemtob, Abraham; Ley, Christian; Croutxé-Barghorn, Céline; Allonas, Xavier; Ponche, Arnaud; Le Nouen, Didier; Majjad, Hicham; Jacomine, Léandro

2016-01-01

Initially developed as an elastomer with an excellent record of barrier and chemical resistance properties, poly(disulfide) has experienced a revival linked to the dynamic nature of the S-S covalent bond. A novel photobase-catalyzed oxidative polymerization of multifunctional thiols to poly(disulfide) network is reported. Based solely on air oxidation, the single-step process is triggered by the photodecarboxylation of a xanthone acetic acid liberating a strong bicyclic guanidine base. Starting with a 1 μm thick film based on trithiol poly(ethylene oxide) oligomer, the UV-mediated oxidation of thiols to disulfides occurs in a matter of minutes both selectively, i.e., without overoxidation, and quantitatively as assessed by a range of spectroscopic techniques. Thiolate formation and film thickness determine the reaction rates and yield. Spatial control of the photopolymerization serves to generate robust micropatterns, while the reductive cleavage of S-S bridges allows the recycling of 40% of the initial thiol groups. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-throughput characterization of film thickness in thin film materials libraries by digital holographic microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai Yiuwai; Hofmann, Martin R; Ludwig, Alfred; Krause, Michael; Savan, Alan; Thienhaus, Sigurd; Koukourakis, Nektarios

2011-01-01

A high-throughput characterization technique based on digital holography for mapping film thickness in thin-film materials libraries was developed. Digital holographic microscopy is used for fully automatic measurements of the thickness of patterned films with nanometer resolution. The method has several significant advantages over conventional stylus profilometry: it is contactless and fast, substrate bending is compensated, and the experimental setup is simple. Patterned films prepared by different combinatorial thin-film approaches were characterized to investigate and demonstrate this method. The results show that this technique is valuable for the quick, reliable and high-throughput determination of the film thickness distribution in combinatorial materials research. Importantly, it can also be applied to thin films that have been structured by shadow masking.

High-throughput characterization of film thickness in thin film materials libraries by digital holographic microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Yiu Wai; Krause, Michael; Savan, Alan; Thienhaus, Sigurd; Koukourakis, Nektarios; Hofmann, Martin R; Ludwig, Alfred

2011-10-01

A high-throughput characterization technique based on digital holography for mapping film thickness in thin-film materials libraries was developed. Digital holographic microscopy is used for fully automatic measurements of the thickness of patterned films with nanometer resolution. The method has several significant advantages over conventional stylus profilometry: it is contactless and fast, substrate bending is compensated, and the experimental setup is simple. Patterned films prepared by different combinatorial thin-film approaches were characterized to investigate and demonstrate this method. The results show that this technique is valuable for the quick, reliable and high-throughput determination of the film thickness distribution in combinatorial materials research. Importantly, it can also be applied to thin films that have been structured by shadow masking.

Critical thickness of high structural quality SrTiO3 films grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biegalski, M. D.; Trolier-McKinstry, S.; Schlom, D. G.; Fong, D. D.; Eastman, J. A.; Fuoss, P. H.; Streiffer, S. K.; Heeg, T.; Schubert, J.; Tian, W.; Nelson, C. T.; Pan, X. Q.; Hawley, M. E.; Bernhagen, M.; Reiche, P.; Uecker, R.

2008-01-01

Strained epitaxial SrTiO 3 films were grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO 3 substrates by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy. The epitaxy of this substrate/film combination is cube on cube with a pseudocubic out-of-plane (001) orientation. The strain state and structural perfection of films with thicknesses ranging from 50 to 1000 A were examined using x-ray scattering. The critical thickness at which misfit dislocations was introduced was between 350 and 500 A. These films have the narrowest rocking curves (full width at half maximum) ever reported for any heteroepitaxial oxide film (0.0018 deg.). Only a modest amount of relaxation is seen in films exceeding the critical thicknesses even after postdeposition annealing at 700 deg. C in 1 atm of oxygen. The dependence of strain relaxation on crystallographic direction is attributed to the anisotropy of the substrate. These SrTiO 3 films show structural quality more typical of semiconductors such as GaAs and silicon than perovskite materials; their structural relaxation behavior also shows similarity to that of compound semiconductor films

Influence of various thickness metallic interlayers on opto-electric and mechanical properties of AZO thin films on PET substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, R. C.; Li, T. C.; Lin, C. W.

2012-02-01

Various thickness metallic interlayers to improve the opto-electric and mechanical properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films deposited on flexible polyethylene terephtalate (PET) substrates are studied. The effects of the interlayers on the resistance and transmittance of the AZO thin films are discussed. The result shows that the metallic interlayers effectively improve the electric resistance but reduce the optical transmittance of the AZO thin films. These phenomena become more obvious as the interlayer thickness increases. However, the AZO with an aluminum interlayer still behaves an acceptable transmittance. Moreover, mechanical tests indicate that the aluminum interlayer increases the hardness and modulus, and reduce the residual stress of the AZO thin films. In contrast, the silver and copper interlayers decrease the AZO's mechanical properties. Comparing to those without any interlayer, the results show that the best interlayer is the 6 nm thick aluminum film.

Study of oxide/metal/oxide thin films for transparent electronics and solar cells applications by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela Girtan

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A comprehensive study of a class of Oxide/Metal/Oxide (Oxide = ITO, AZO, TiO2 and Bi2O3, Metal = Au thin films was done by correlating the spectrophotometric studies with the ellispometric models. Films were deposited by successive sputtering from metallic targets In:Sn, Zn:Al, Ti and Bi in reactive atmosphere (for the oxide films and respective inert atmosphere (for the metallic Au interlayer films on glass substrates. The measurements of optical constants n—the refractive index and k—the extinction coefficient, at different incident photon energies for single oxide films and also for the three layers films oxide/metal/oxide samples were made using the spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE technique. The ellipsometry modelling process was coupled with the recorded transmission spectra data of a double beam spectrophotometer and the best fitting parameters were obtained not only by fitting the n and k experimental data with the dispersion fitting curves as usual is practiced in the most reported data in literature, but also by comparing the calculated the transmission coefficient from ellipsometry with the experimental values obtained from direct spectrophotometry measurements. In this way the best dispersion model was deduced for each sample. Very good correlations were obtained for the other different thin films characteristics such as the films thickness, optical band gap and electrical resistivity obtained by other measurements and calculation techniques. The ellipsometric modelling, can hence give the possibility in the future to predict, by ellipsometric simulations, the proper device architecture in function of the preferred optical and electrical properties.

Zirconium titanate thin film prepared by surface sol-gel process and effects of thickness on dielectric property

CERN Document Server

Kim, C H

2002-01-01

Single phase of multicomponent oxide ZrTiO sub 4 film could be prepared through surface sol-gel route simply by coating the mixture of 100mM zirconium butoxide and titanium butoxide on Pt/Ti/SiO sub 2 /Si(100) substrate, following pyrolysis at 450 .deg. C, and annealing it at 770 .deg. C. The dielectric constant of the film was reduced as the film thickness decreased due to of the interfacial effects caused by layer/electrode and a few voids inside the multilayer. However, the dielectric property was independent of applied dc bias sweeps voltage (-2 to +2 V). The dielectric constant of bulk film, 31.9, estimated using series-connected capacitor model was independent of film thickness and frequency in the measurement range, but theoretical interfacial thickness, t sub i , was dependent on the frequency. It reached a saturated t sub i value, 6.9 A, at high frequency by extraction of some capacitance component formed at low frequency range. The dielectric constant of bulk ZrTiO sub 4 pellet-shaped material was 3...

Subtractive fabrication of ferroelectric thin films with precisely controlled thickness

Science.gov (United States)

Ievlev, Anton V.; Chyasnavichyus, Marius; Leonard, Donovan N.; Agar, Joshua C.; Velarde, Gabriel A.; Martin, Lane W.; Kalinin, Sergei V.; Maksymovych, Petro; Ovchinnikova, Olga S.

2018-04-01

The ability to control thin-film growth has led to advances in our understanding of fundamental physics as well as to the emergence of novel technologies. However, common thin-film growth techniques introduce a number of limitations related to the concentration of defects on film interfaces and surfaces that limit the scope of systems that can be produced and studied experimentally. Here, we developed an ion-beam based subtractive fabrication process that enables creation and modification of thin films with pre-defined thicknesses. To accomplish this we transformed a multimodal imaging platform that combines time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry with atomic force microscopy to a unique fabrication tool that allows for precise sputtering of the nanometer-thin layers of material. To demonstrate fabrication of thin-films with in situ feedback and control on film thickness and functionality we systematically studied thickness dependence of ferroelectric switching of lead-zirconate-titanate, within a single epitaxial film. Our results demonstrate that through a subtractive film fabrication process we can control the piezoelectric response as a function of film thickness as well as improve on the overall piezoelectric response versus an untreated film.

Oxide ultrathin films science and technology

CERN Document Server

Pacchioni, Gianfranco

2012-01-01

A wealth of information in one accessible book. Written by international experts from multidisciplinary fields, this in-depth exploration of oxide ultrathin films covers all aspects of these systems, starting with preparation and characterization, and going on to geometrical and electronic structure, as well as applications in current and future systems and devices. From the Contents: Synthesis and Preparation of Oxide Ultrathin Films Characterization Tools of Oxide Ultrathin Films Ordered Oxide Nanostructures on Metal Surfaces Unusual Properties of Oxides and Other Insulators in the Ultrathin Limit Silica and High-K Dielectrics Thin Films in Microelectronics Oxide Passive Films and Corrosion Protection Oxide Films as Catalytic Materials and as Models of Real Catalysts Oxide Films in Spintronics Oxide Ultrathin Films in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Transparent Conducting and Chromogenic Oxide Films as Solar Energy Materials Oxide Ultrathin Films in Sensor Applications Ferroelectricity in Ultrathin Film Capacitors T...

Intrinsic flux pinning mechanisms in different thickness MgB2 films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Yang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available MgB2 films in four thickness (60 nm, 200nm, 600nm and 1μm have been fabricated by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition technique (HPCVD. By measuring the magnetization hysteresis loops and the resistivity, we have obtained the transport and magnetic properties of the four films. After that, the pinning mechanisms in them were discussed. Comparing the pinning behaviors in these ultrathin films, thin films and thick films, it was found that there exist different pinning types in MgB2 films of different thickness. In combination with the study of the surface morphology, cross-section and XRD results, we concluded that MgB2 films had different growth modes in different growth stages. For thin films, films grew along c axis, and grain boundaries acted as surface pinning. While for thick films, films grew along c axis at first, and then changed to a-b axis growth. As a result, the a-b axis grains acted as strong volume pinning.

Thickness-dependent appearance of ferromagnetism in Pd(100) ultrathin films

Science.gov (United States)

Sakuragi, S.; Sakai, T.; Urata, S.; Aihara, S.; Shinto, A.; Kageshima, H.; Sawada, M.; Namatame, H.; Taniguchi, M.; Sato, T.

2014-08-01

We report the appearance of ferromagnetism in thin films of Pd(100), which depends on film thickness in the range of 3-5 nm on SrTiO3(100) substrates. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurement shows the intrinsic nature of ferromagnetism in Pd(100) films. The spontaneous magnetization in Pd(100) films, corresponding to is 0.61μB/atom, is comparable to Ni, and it changes in an oscillatory manner depending on film thickness, where the period quantitatively agrees with the theoretical prediction based on the two-dimensional quantum well in the film. This indicates that the discrete electronic states in the quantum well shift to Fermi energy to satisfy the condition for ferromagnetism (Stoner criterion) at a specific film thickness.

Simple Methods for Production of Nanoscale Metal Oxide Films from Household Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Dean J.; Baliss, Michelle S.; Hinman, Jordan J.; Ziegenhorn, John W.; Andrews, Mark J.; Stevenson, Keith J.

2013-01-01

Production of thin metal oxide films was recently explored as part of an outreach program with a goal of producing nanoscale structures with household items. Household items coated with various metals or titanium compounds can be heated to produce colorful films with nanoscale thicknesses. As part of a materials chemistry laboratory experiment…

A „Hybrid“ Thin-Film pH Sensor with Integrated Thick-Film Reference

OpenAIRE

Simonis, Anette; Krings, Thomas; Lüth, Hans; Wang, Joseph; Schöning, Michael J.

2001-01-01

A reference electrode fabricated by means of thick-film technique is deposited onto a silicon substrate and combined with a thin-film pH sensor to a “hybrid†chip system. To evaluate the suitability of this combination, first investigations were carried out. The characteristics of the thin-film pH sensor were studied towards the thick-film Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Measurements were performed in the capacitance/voltage (C/V) and constant capacitance (Concap) mode for different pH ...

Process for growing a film epitaxially upon an oxide surface and structures formed with the process

Science.gov (United States)

McKee, Rodney A.; Walker, Frederick J.

1995-01-01

A process and structure wherein a film comprised of a perovskite or a spinel is built epitaxially upon a surface, such as an alkaline earth oxide surface, involves the epitaxial build up of alternating constituent metal oxide planes of the perovskite or spinel. The first layer of metal oxide built upon the surface includes a metal element which provides a small cation in the crystalline structure of the perovskite or spinel, and the second layer of metal oxide built upon the surface includes a metal element which provides a large cation in the crystalline structure of the perovskite or spinel. The layering sequence involved in the film build up reduces problems which would otherwise result from the interfacial electrostatics at the first atomic layers, and these oxides can be stabilized as commensurate thin films at a unit cell thickness or grown with high crystal quality to thicknesses of 0.5-0.7 .mu.m for optical device applications.

The growth and evolution of thin oxide films on delta-plutonium surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia Flores, Harry G [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Pugmire, David L [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2009-01-01

The common oxides of plutonium are the dioxide (PuO{sub 2}) and the sesquioxide (Pu{sub 2}O{sub 3}). The structure of an oxide on plutonium metal under air at room temperature is typically described as a thick PuO{sub 2} film at the gas-oxide interface with a thinner PuO{sub 2} film near the oxide-metal substrate interface. In a reducing environment, such as ultra high vacuum, the dioxide (Pu{sup 4+}; O/Pu = 2.0) readily converts to the sesquioxide (Pu{sup 3+}; O/Pu = 1.5) with time. In this work, the growth and evolution of thin plutonium oxide films is studied with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) under varying conditions. The results indicate that, like the dioxide, the sesquioxide is not stable on a very clean metal substrate under reducing conditions, resulting in substoichiometric films (Pu{sub 2}O{sub 3-y}). The Pu{sub 2}O{sub 3-y} films prepared exhibit a variety of stoichiometries (y = 0.2-1) as a function of preparation conditions, highlighting the fact that caution must be exercised when studying plutonium oxide surfaces under these conditions and interpreting resulting data.

Development of wear resistant zirconium oxide thin films on stainless steel substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Then, I.K.; Mujahid, M.; Zhang, B.

2005-01-01

The present work deals specifically with the development of zirconium oxide thin film coatings on the stainless steel orthodontic bracket system by sputtering technique. Thin films of zirconium oxide have been deposited on injection molded stainless steel substrates using sputtering under controlled temperature and environment conditions. The deposited films, 1.5 μm in thickness, were found to have a predominantly tetragonal structure with grain size of about 5 nm. The grain size was found to increase only slightly with increasing heat treatment time at 650 C. It has been shown that thin-film zirconia coatings with stable structure and good adhesion along with very low friction coefficient could be produced. (orig.)

Development of wear resistant zirconium oxide thin films on stainless steel substrates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Then, I.K.; Mujahid, M. [School of Materials Engineering, Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore); Zhang, B. [Dou Yee Technologies Pte Ltd, Bedok Industrial Park C (Singapore)

2005-07-01

The present work deals specifically with the development of zirconium oxide thin film coatings on the stainless steel orthodontic bracket system by sputtering technique. Thin films of zirconium oxide have been deposited on injection molded stainless steel substrates using sputtering under controlled temperature and environment conditions. The deposited films, 1.5 {mu}m in thickness, were found to have a predominantly tetragonal structure with grain size of about 5 nm. The grain size was found to increase only slightly with increasing heat treatment time at 650 C. It has been shown that thin-film zirconia coatings with stable structure and good adhesion along with very low friction coefficient could be produced. (orig.)

Order in nanometer thick intergranular films at Au-sapphire interfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baram, Mor [Department of Materials Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel); Garofalini, Stephen H. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8065 (United States); Kaplan, Wayne D., E-mail: kaplan@tx.technion.ac.il [Department of Materials Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)

2011-08-15

Highlights: {yields} Au particles were equilibrated on (0 0 0 1) sapphire in the presence of anorthite. {yields} 1.2 nm thick equilibrium films (complexions) were formed at the Au-sapphire interfaces. {yields} Quantitative HRTEM was used to study the atomistic structure of the films. {yields} Structural order was observed in the 1.2 nm thick films adjacent to the sapphire crystal. {yields} This demonstrates that ordering is an intrinsic part of equilibrium intergranular films. - Abstract: In recent years extensive studies on interfaces have shown that {approx}1 nm thick intergranular films (IGF) exist at interfaces in different material systems, and that IGF can significantly affect the materials' properties. However, there is great deal of uncertainty whether such films are amorphous or partially ordered. In this study specimens were prepared from Au particles that were equilibrated on sapphire substrates in the presence of anorthite glass, leading to the formation of 1.2 nm thick IGF at the Au-sapphire interfaces. Site-specific cross-section samples were characterized using quantitative high resolution transmission electron microscopy to study the atomistic structure of the films. Order was observed in the 1.2 nm thick films adjacent to the sapphire crystal in the form of 'Ca cages', experimentally demonstrating that ordering is an intrinsic part of IGF, as predicted from molecular dynamics and diffuse interface theory.

The passive oxide films growth on 316L stainless steel in borate buffer solution measured by real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Haisong; Wang, Lu; Sun, Dongbai [National Center for Materials Service Safety (NCMS), University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Yu, Hongying, E-mail: hyyu@ustb.edu.cn [Institute of Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China)

2015-10-01

Highlights: • The optical properties of passive oxide films on 316L stainless steel were studied. • The thickness of the oxide films (1.5–2.6 nm) increased linearly with the potentials. • The growth of passive film followed high electric field ion conduction model. • Selective solubility of oxide induced compositional change of passive film. - Abstract: Passive film growth on 316L stainless steel was investigated in borate buffer electrolyte (pH = 9.1) by real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and the composition was estimated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Anodic passivation of 316L SS was carried out in the potential range from 0 V{sub SCE} to 0.9 V{sub SCE}, after potentiostatic polarization for 1800s, the current density decayed from 10{sup −2} A cm{sup −2} to 10{sup −6} A cm{sup −2}. The passive film thickness was simulated from Frenel and Drude reflection equations, the average complex refractive index was assumed to be N = 2.3 − j0.445. The estimated thickness increased linearly with potential from 1.5 nm at 0 V to 2.6 nm at 0.8 V. The growth of passive film followed high electric field ion conduction model. The passive film mainly contained the oxide/hydroxide of iron and chromium. The selective solubility of oxide in passive film explained the change of iron and chromium content at different potentials. Few nickel and molybdenum also contributed to the passive film with a constant content.

Thickness effect on the microstructure, morphology and optoelectronic properties of ZnS films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prathap, P; Revathi, N; Subbaiah, Y P Venkata; Reddy, K T Ramakrishna

2008-01-01

Thin films of ZnS with thicknesses ranging from 100 to 600 nm have been deposited on glass substrates by close spaced thermal evaporation. All the films were grown at the same deposition conditions except the deposition time. The effect of thickness on the physical properties of ZnS films has been studied. The experimental results indicated that the thickness affects the structure, lattice strain, surface morphology and optoelectronic properties of ZnS films significantly. The films deposited at a thickness of 100 nm showed hexagonal structure whereas films of thickness 300 nm or more showed cubic structure. However, coexistence of both cubic and hexagonal structures was observed in the films of 200 nm thickness. The surface roughness of the films showed an increasing trend at higher thicknesses of the films. A blue-shift in the energy band gap along with an intense UV emission band was observed with the decrease of film thickness, which are ascribed to the quantum confinement effect. The behaviour of optical constants such as refractive index and extinction coefficient were analysed. The variation of refractive index and extinction coefficient with thickness was explained on the basis of the contribution from the packing density of the layers. The electrical resistivity as well as the activation energy were evaluated and found to decrease with the increase of film thickness. The thickness had a significant influence on the optical band gap as well as the luminescence intensity

Contribution of thickness dependent void fraction and TiSixOy interlayer to the optical properties of amorphous TiO2 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Fan; Zhang, Rong-Jun; Zheng, Yu-Xiang; Xu, Zi-Jie; Zhang, Dong-Xu; Wang, Zi-Yi; Yu, Xiang; Chen, Liang-Yao

2013-01-01

The optical properties of TiO 2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation were studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and analyzed quantitatively using effective medium approximation theory and an effective series capacitance model. The refractive indices of TiO 2 are essentially constant and approach to those of bulk TiO 2 for films thicker than 40 nm, but drop sharply with a decrease in thickness from 40 to 5.5 nm. This phenomenon can be interpreted quantitatively by the thickness dependence of the void fraction and interfacial oxide region. The optical band gaps calculated from Tauc law increase with an increase of film thickness, and can be attributed to the contribution of disorder effect. - Highlights: • Amorphous TiO 2 thin films fabricated on Si substrate by electron beam evaporation • The refractive index and band gap are obtained from spectroscopic ellipsometry. • The refractive index decreases with decreasing film thickness. • Effective medium approximation theory and effective series capacitance model introduced • A band gap increases gradually with an increase in film thickness

A method to measure the mean thickness and non-uniformity of non-uniform thin film by alpha-ray thickness gauge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyahara, Hiroshi; Yoshida, Makoto; Watanabe, Tamaki

1977-01-01

The α-ray thickness gauge is used to measure non-destructively the thicknesses of thin films, and up to the present day, a thin film with uniform thickness is only taken up as the object of α-ray thickness gauge. When the thickness is determined from the displacement between the absorption curves in the presence and absence of thin film, the absorption curve must be displaced in parallel. When many uniform particles were dispersed as sample, the shape of the absorption curve was calculated as the sum of many absorption curves corresponding to the thin films with different thicknesses. By the comparison of the calculated and measured absorption curves, the number of particles, or the mean superficial density can be determined. This means the extension of thickness measurement from uniform to non-uniform films. Furthermore, these particle models being applied to non-uniform thin film, the possibility of measuring the mean thickness and non-uniformity was discussed. As the result, if the maximum difference of the thickness was more than 0.2 mg/cm 2 , the nonuniformity was considered to distinguish by the usual equipment. In this paper, an α-ray thickness gauge using the absorption curve method was treated, but one can apply this easily to an α-ray thickness gauge using α-ray energy spectra before and after the penetration of thin film. (auth.)

Ultrafast demagnetisation dependence on film thickness: A TDDFT calculation

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, N.; Sharma, S.

2018-04-01

Ferromagnetic materials when subjected to intense laser pulses leads to reduction of their magnetisation on an ultrafast scale. Here, we perform an ab-initio calculation to study the behavior of ultrafast demagnetisation as a function of film thickness for Nickel as compared to the bulk of the material. In thin films surface formation results in amplification of demagnetisation with the percentage of demagnetisation depending upon the film thickness.

Critical current densities in thick yttrium-barium cuprate (1-2-3) films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryvkina, G.G.; Gorlanov, S.F.; Vedernikov, G.E.; Telegin, A.B.; Ryabin, V.A.; Khodos, M.Ya.

1993-01-01

The study of critical current densities j c of oxide superconductors and their thick films is a very important practical task because the value of j c is one of the main criteria for their utilization in modern cryoelectronics. For most devices based on the Josephson effect, the value of j c ∼ 10 2 - 10 3 A/cm 2 is acceptable, which is easily attainable for polycrystalline thick films obtained by stenciling. The study of the current-transport phenomenon involves a number of difficulties, especially for direct current, because both the sample itself and the lead-in contacts are resistance-heated during the measurements, which, in turn, results in lower values of the j c . Measurements with pulsed currents allow one to lower the power that is applied to the sample; the heat that is released in the sample is reduced, in comparison to measurements with direct current, by a factor of the pulsed-current duty cycle. In addition, measurements with direct current detects only the appearance of resistance; it provides no information on the rest of the transition from the normal to the superconductive state, i.e., on the so-called 'tail' of the transition. In this work, the authors studied critical current densities of thick HTSC yttrium-barium cuprate films of the 1-2-3 composition using pulsed current

Enhancing Performance of Large-Area Organic Solar Cells with Thick Film via Ternary Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jianqi; Zhao, Yifan; Fang, Jin; Yuan, Liu; Xia, Benzheng; Wang, Guodong; Wang, Zaiyu; Zhang, Yajie; Ma, Wei; Yan, Wei; Su, Wenming; Wei, Zhixiang

2017-06-01

Large-scale fabrication of organic solar cells requires an active layer with high thickness tolerability and the use of environment-friendly solvents. Thick films with high-performance can be achieved via a ternary strategy studied herein. The ternary system consists of one polymer donor, one small molecule donor, and one fullerene acceptor. The small molecule enhances the crystallinity and face-on orientation of the active layer, leading to improved thickness tolerability compared with that of a polymer-fullerene binary system. An active layer with 270 nm thickness exhibits an average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.78%, while the PCE is less than 8% with such thick film for binary system. Furthermore, large-area devices are successfully fabricated using polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/Silver gride or indium tin oxide (ITO)-based transparent flexible substrates. The product shows a high PCE of 8.28% with an area of 1.25 cm 2 for a single cell and 5.18% for a 20 cm 2 module. This study demonstrates that ternary organic solar cells exhibit great potential for large-scale fabrication and future applications. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic analysis of RuO_2-Ta_2O_5 thick film pH sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjakkal, Libu; Cvejin, Katarina; Kulawik, Jan; Zaraska, Krzysztof; Socha, Robert P.; Szwagierczak, Dorota

2016-01-01

The paper reports on investigation of the pH sensing mechanism of thick film RuO_2-Ta_2O_5 sensors by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Interdigitated conductimetric pH sensors were screen printed on alumina substrates. The microstructure and elemental composition of the films were examined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The XPS studies revealed the presence of Ru ions at different oxidation states and the surface hydroxylation of the sensing layer increasing with increasing pH. The EIS analysis carried out in the frequency range 10 Hz–2 MHz showed that the electrical parameters of the sensitive electrodes in the low frequency range were distinctly dependent on pH. The charge transfer and ionic exchange occurring at metal oxide-solution interface were indicated as processes responsible for the sensing mechanism of thick film RuO_2-Ta_2O_5 pH sensors. - Highlights: • Conductimetric pH sensors with RuO_2-Ta_2O_5 thick film electrodes were developed. • Microstructure and elemental composition of the films were examined by SEM and EDX. • Sensing film composition and hydroxylation were studied by XPS as a function of pH. • Electrochemical reactions at oxide-solution interface were analyzed by EIS method. • Impact of solution pH, electrode composition and sintering temperature was studied.

Percolation effect in thick film superconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sali, R.; Harsanyi, G. [Technical Univ. of Budapest (Hungary)

1994-12-31

A thick film superconductor paste has been developed to study the properties of granulated superconductor materials, to observe the percolation effect and to confirm the theory of the conducting mechanism in the superconducting thick films. This paste was also applied to make a superconducting planar transformer. Due to high T{sub c} and advantageous current density properties the base of the paste was chosen to be of Bi(Pb)SrCaCuO system. For contacts a conventional Ag/Pt paste was used. The critical temperature of the samples were between 110 K and 115 K depending on the printed layer thickness. The critical current density at the boiling temperature of the liquid He- was between 200-300 A/cm{sup 2}. The R(T) and V(I) functions were measured with different parameters. The results of the measurements have confirmed the theory of conducting mechanism in the material. The percolation structure model has been built and described. As an application, a superconducting planar thick film transformer was planned and produced. Ten windings of the transformer were printed on one side of the alumina substrate and one winding was printed on the other side. The coupling between the two sides was possible through the substrate. The samples did not need special drying and firing parameters. After the preparation, the properties of the transformer were measured. The efficiency and the losses were determined. Finally, some fundamental advantages and problems of the process were discussed.

Percolation effect in thick film superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sali, R.; Harsanyi, G.

1994-01-01

A thick film superconductor paste has been developed to study the properties of granulated superconductor materials, to observe the percolation effect and to confirm the theory of the conducting mechanism in the superconducting thick films. This paste was also applied to make a superconducting planar transformer. Due to high T c and advantageous current density properties the base of the paste was chosen to be of Bi(Pb)SrCaCuO system. For contacts a conventional Ag/Pt paste was used. The critical temperature of the samples were between 110 K and 115 K depending on the printed layer thickness. The critical current density at the boiling temperature of the liquid He- was between 200-300 A/cm 2 . The R(T) and V(I) functions were measured with different parameters. The results of the measurements have confirmed the theory of conducting mechanism in the material. The percolation structure model has been built and described. As an application, a superconducting planar thick film transformer was planned and produced. Ten windings of the transformer were printed on one side of the alumina substrate and one winding was printed on the other side. The coupling between the two sides was possible through the substrate. The samples did not need special drying and firing parameters. After the preparation, the properties of the transformer were measured. The efficiency and the losses were determined. Finally, some fundamental advantages and problems of the process were discussed

Thickness dependence of J_c (0) in MgB_2 films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Yiling; Yang, Can; Jia, Chunyan; Feng, Qingrong; Gan, Zizhao

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A serial of MgB_2 superconducting films from 10 nm to 8 µm have been prepared. • T_c and J_c (5 K, 0 T) of films are high. • J_c (5 K, 0 T) reaches its maximum 2.3 × 10"8 A cm"−"2 for 100 nm films. • The relationship between thickness and J_c has been discussed in detail. - Abstract: MgB_2 superconducting films, whose thicknesses range from 10 nm to 8 µm, have been fabricated on SiC substrates by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) method. It is the first time that the T_c and the J_c of MgB_2 films are studied on such a large scale. It is found that with the increasing of thickness, T_c elevates first and then keeps roughly stable except for some slight fluctuations, while J_c (5 K, 0 T) experiences a sharp increase followed by a relatively slow fall. The maximum J_c (5 K, 0 T) = 2.3 × 10"8 A cm"−"2 is obtained for 100 nm films, which is the experimental evidence for preparing high-quality MgB_2 films by HPCVD method. Thus, this work may provide guidance on choosing the suitable thickness for applications. Meanwhile, the films prepared by us cover ultrathin films, thin films and thick films, so the study on them will bring a comprehensive understanding of MgB_2 films.

Thickness effects of yttria-doped ceria interlayers on solid oxide fuel cells

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Zeng; An, Jihwan; Iancu, Andrei; Prinz, Fritz B.

2012-11-01

Determining the optimal thickness range of the interlayed yttria-doped ceria (YDC) films promises to further enhance the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at low operating temperatures. The YDC interlayers are fabricated by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method with one super cycle of the YDC deposition consisting of 6 ceria deposition cycles and one yttria deposition cycle. YDC films of various numbers of ALD super cycles, ranging from 2 to 35, are interlayered into bulk fuel cells with a 200 um thick yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte. Measurements and analysis of the linear sweep voltammetry of these fuel cells reveal that the performance of the given cells is maximized at 10 super cycles. Auger elemental mapping and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques are employed to determine the film completeness, and they verify 10 super cycles of YDC to be the critical thickness point. This optimal YDC interlayer condition (6Ce1Y × 10 super cycles) is applied to the case of micro fuel cells as well, and the average performance enhancement factor is 1.4 at operating temperatures of 400 and 450 °C. A power density of 1.04 W cm-2 at 500 °C is also achieved with the optimal YDC recipe.

Zinc oxide films impurified with Ti and prepared by the Sol-gel method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tirado G, S.; Cazares R, J.M.; Maldonado, A.

2006-01-01

Titanium-doped zinc oxide thin films have been prepared on silicon substrate using the Sol-Gel technique. The structural, morphology, electrical and optical properties of such thin films were studied as a function of titanium concentration (0.5, 1 and 1.5 %) and the thin films thickness. Zinc acetate dihydrate and titanium (VI)-oxy acetylacetonate were used as precursor materials, using 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine as via. The X-ray diffraction spectra show polycrystalline films in all the cases. It can see for all the thin films a preferential growth along the (002) planes where the titanium concentration and also the thin films thickness play an important rule. No structural changes are observed at all. The surface morphology studied shows as the grain size decreases when thin thickness is increases. For titanium concentration of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 % values the grains size increase also. The thin films thickness for titanium concentration of 1.5 % was 500 nm (4v), 400 nm (3v), 180 nm (2v) and 130 nm (1v), values obtained from cross-section micrographs. Highly resistive samples are obtained for substrate soda-lime even showing high transmittance. Better physical properties are required for gas sensors or semitransparent electrodes and other possible applications. (Author)

Ferroelectric thin films using oxides as raw materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E.B. Araújo

1999-01-01

Full Text Available This work describes an alternative method for the preparation of ferroelectric thin films based on pre-calcination of oxides, to be used as precursor material for a solution preparation. In order to show the viability of the proposed method, PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 and Bi4Ti3O12 thin films were prepared on fused quartz and Si substrates. The results were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM, Infrared Spectroscopy (IR and Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS. The films obtained show good quality, homogeneity and the desired stoichiometry. The estimated thickness for one layer deposition was approximately 1000 Å and 1500 Å for Bi4Ti3O12 and PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 films, respectively.

An investigation of room temperature ''oxidized'' thin films of A1 for photovoltaic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adegboyega, G.A.

1985-12-01

Sheet resistance and transmittance changes of thin films of A1 evaporated in high vacuum were measured during sorption of oxygen at room atmosphere. An increase of both sheet resistance and transmittance with a tendency to saturation has been observed. Evaluation of various thicknesses of the films for possible use as transparent electrode material for photovoltaic applications shows that for very thin films ( = 200 A) the ''oxidized'' films are superior. (author)

Oxide films on magnesium and magnesium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shih, T.-S.; Liu, J.-B.; Wei, P.-S.

2007-01-01

Magnesium alloys are very active and readily ignite during heating and melting. In this study, we discuss the combustion of magnesium and magnesium alloys and propose prospective anti-ignition mechanisms for magnesium alloys during the heating process. When magnesium and magnesium alloys were heated in air, the sample surfaces produced layers of thermally formed oxides. These thermally formed oxides played an important role in affecting the combustion of the magnesium and magnesium alloys. When magnesium was heated in air, brucite that formed in the early stage was then transformed into periclase by dehydroxylation. By extending the heating time, more periclase formed and increased in thickness which was associated with microcracks formation. When magnesium was heated in a protective atmosphere (SF 6 ), a film of MgF 2 formed at the interface between the oxide layer and the Mg substrate. This film generated an anti-ignition behavior which protected the substrate from oxidation. When solution-treated AZ80 alloy was heated, spinel developed at the interface between the thermally formed oxide layer and the Mg substrate, improving the anti-ignition properties of the substrate. In addition, we also explain the effects of beryllium in an AZB91 alloy on the ignition-proofing behavior

Advantages of using amorphous indium zinc oxide films for window layer in Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warasawa, Moe [Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda 278-8510 (Japan); Kaijo, Akira [Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., 1280 Kami-izumi, Sodegaura, 229-0293 (Japan); Sugiyama, Mutsumi, E-mail: mutsumi@rs.noda.tus.ac.jp [Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda 278-8510 (Japan)

2012-01-01

The advantages of using indium zinc oxide (IZO) films instead of conventional Ga-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ga) films for Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} (CIGS) solar cells are described. The electrical properties of IZO are independent of film thickness. IZO films have higher mobility (30-40 cm{sup 2}/Vs) and lower resistivity (4-5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} {Omega} cm) compared to ZnO:Ga films deposited without intentional heating, because the number of grain boundaries in amorphous IZO films is small. The properties of a CIGS solar cell using IZO at the window layer were better than those obtained using a conventional ZnO:Ga at the window layer; moreover, the properties tended to be independent of thickness. These results indicate that use of IZO as a transparent conducting oxide layer is expected to increase the efficiency of CIGS solar cells.

Ion beam-based characterization of multicomponent oxide thin films and thin film layered structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krauss, A.R.; Rangaswamy, M.; Lin, Yuping; Gruen, D.M.; Schultz, J.A.; Schmidt, H.K.; Chang, R.P.H.

1992-01-01

Fabrication of thin film layered structures of multi-component materials such as high temperature superconductors, ferroelectric and electro-optic materials, and alloy semiconductors, and the development of hybrid materials requires understanding of film growth and interface properties. For High Temperature Superconductors, the superconducting coherence length is extremely short (5--15 Angstrom), and fabrication of reliable devices will require control of film properties at extremely sharp interfaces; it will be necessary to verify the integrity of thin layers and layered structure devices over thicknesses comparable to the atomic layer spacing. Analytical techniques which probe the first 1--2 atomic layers are therefore necessary for in-situ characterization of relevant thin film growth processes. However, most surface-analytical techniques are sensitive to a region within 10--40 Angstrom of the surface and are physically incompatible with thin film deposition and are typically restricted to ultra high vacuum conditions. A review of ion beam-based analytical methods for the characterization of thin film and multi-layered thin film structures incorporating layers of multicomponent oxides is presented. Particular attention will be paid to the use of time-of-flight techniques based on the use of 1- 15 key ion beams which show potential for use as nondestructive, real-time, in-situ surface diagnostics for the growth of multicomponent metal and metal oxide thin films

Superficial oxidation in mono and polycrystalline niobium films for Josephson joints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Celaschi, S.; Geballi, T.H.

1984-01-01

Niobium thin films (Nb) with multigranular and monocrystalline structure with 3000 A of thickness was put in different temperatures on sapphire monocrystalline substrate by high vaccum evaporation technique (10 -8 Torr). The evaporation process and some of structural properties of the films are described. The oxidation process is studied through the characteristics of the current curves x voltage measured in low temperature (4.2 K). (E.G.) [pt

Oxidation films morphology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paidassi, J.

1960-01-01

After studying the oxidation of several pure polyvalent metals (Fe, Cu, Mn, Ni, U) and of their oxides at high temperature and atmospheric pressure, the author suggests how to modify the usual representation of the oxide film (a piling of different oxide layers, homogeneous on a micrographic scale with a equi-axial crystallisation, free of mechanical tensions, with flat boundary surfaces) to have it nearer to reality. In this first part, the author exposes the study of the real micrographic structure of the oxidation film and gives examples of precipitation in the oxides during the cooling of the oxidised sample. (author) [fr

A Study on the Thickness Measurement of Thin Film by Ultrasonic Wave

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Eung Kyo; Lee, Jae Joon; Kim, Jae Yeol

1988-01-01

Recently, it is gradually raised necessity that thickness of thin film is measured accurately and managed in industrial circles and medical world. In this study, regarding to the thickness of film which is in opaque object and is beyond distance resolution capacity, thickness measurement was done by MEM-cepstrum analysis of received ultrasonic wave. In measurement results, film thickness which is beyond distance resolution capacity was measured accurately. And within thickness range that don't exist interference, thickness measurement by MEM-ceptrum analysis was impossible

Anomalous size effect in conductivity of Bi films of small thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anopchenko, A.S.; Kashirin, V.Yu.; Komnik, Yu.F.

1995-01-01

Experimental data are obtained at helium temperature, which describe the kinetic properties (conductivity, magnetoresistance and Hall coefficient) of Bi films whose thicknesses are within 100-500 A. The small-thickness Bi films display an anomalous size effect- the growing conductivity at decreasing thickness, and pronounced quantum interference effects - weak electron localization and enhancing electron-electron interaction in a disordered system. The information derived on the kinetic properties of the films is used to identify the character of the changes in the electron and hole concentrations and mobilities with a decreasing thickness. The isotropy of the properties in the films plane due to the axial texture has permitted us to use the equations for a conductor with two types of charge carriers. The used kinetic characteristics correctly take into account the contribution of the quantum corrections related to quantum interference. It is found that the concentration of the charge carries increases appreciably (by about two orders of magnitude) as the film thickness decreases to 100 A, which determines the anomalous size effect in the conductivity of the films

Hexaferrite multiferroics: from bulk to thick films

Science.gov (United States)

Koutzarova, T.; Ghelev, Ch; Peneva, P.; Georgieva, B.; Kolev, S.; Vertruyen, B.; Closset, R.

2018-03-01

We report studies of the structural and microstructural properties of Sr3Co2Fe24O41 in bulk form and as thick films. The precursor powders for the bulk form were prepared following the sol-gel auto-combustion method. The prepared pellets were synthesized at 1200 °C to produce Sr3Co2Fe24O41. The XRD spectra of the bulks showed the characteristic peaks corresponding to the Z-type hexaferrite structure as a main phase and second phases of CoFe2O4 and Sr3Fe2O7-x. The microstructure analysis of the cross-section of the bulk pellets revealed a hexagonal sheet structure. Large areas were observed of packages of hexagonal sheets where the separate hexagonal particles were ordered along the c axis. Sr3Co2Fe24O41 thick films were deposited from a suspension containing the Sr3Co2Fe24O41 powder. The microstructural analysis of the thick films showed that the particles had the perfect hexagonal shape typical for hexaferrites.

Effects of film thickness on scintillation characteristics of columnar CsI:Tl films exposed to high gamma radiation doses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shinde, Seema; Singh, S.G.; Sen, S.; Gadkari, S.C., E-mail: gadkari@barc.gov.in

2016-02-21

Oriented columnar films of Tl doped CsI (CsI:Tl) of varying thicknesses from 50 µm to 1000 µm have been deposited on silica glass substrates by a thermal evaporation technique. The SEM micrographs confirmed the columnar structure of the film while the powder X-ray diffraction pattern recorded for the films revealed a preferred orientation of the grown columns along the <200> direction. Effects of high energy gamma exposure up to 1000 Gy on luminescence properties of the films were investigated. Results of radio-luminescence, photo-luminescence and scintillation studies on the films are compared with those of a CsI:Tl single crystal with similar thickness. A possible correlation between the film thicknesses and radiation damage in films has been observed. - Highlights: • CsI:Tl films of different thicknesses deposited for γ and α detection. • Pulse-height spectra found to degrade with increasing thickness. • Radiation damage is found more in films than single crystal of comparable thickness. • Detection efficiency increases for γ while it is invariant for α beyond 50 µm.

Effects of film thickness on scintillation characteristics of columnar CsI:Tl films exposed to high gamma radiation doses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shinde, Seema; Singh, S.G.; Sen, S.; Gadkari, S.C.

2016-01-01

Oriented columnar films of Tl doped CsI (CsI:Tl) of varying thicknesses from 50 µm to 1000 µm have been deposited on silica glass substrates by a thermal evaporation technique. The SEM micrographs confirmed the columnar structure of the film while the powder X-ray diffraction pattern recorded for the films revealed a preferred orientation of the grown columns along the direction. Effects of high energy gamma exposure up to 1000 Gy on luminescence properties of the films were investigated. Results of radio-luminescence, photo-luminescence and scintillation studies on the films are compared with those of a CsI:Tl single crystal with similar thickness. A possible correlation between the film thicknesses and radiation damage in films has been observed. - Highlights: • CsI:Tl films of different thicknesses deposited for γ and α detection. • Pulse-height spectra found to degrade with increasing thickness. • Radiation damage is found more in films than single crystal of comparable thickness. • Detection efficiency increases for γ while it is invariant for α beyond 50 µm.

Nanostructured MgTiO{sub 3} thick films obtained by electrophoretic deposition from nanopowders prepared by solar PVD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Apostol, Irina [S.C. IPEE Amiral Trading Impex S.A., 115300 Curtea de Arges (Romania); Mahajan, Amit [Department of Materials and Ceramics Engineering, Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials, CICECO, University of Aveiro, 3810-093 Aveiro (Portugal); Monty, Claude J.A. [CNRS-PROMES Laboratory, 66120 Font Romeu Odeillo (France); Venkata Saravanan, K., E-mail: venketvs@cutn.ac.in [Department of Materials and Ceramics Engineering, Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials, CICECO, University of Aveiro, 3810-093 Aveiro (Portugal); Department of Physics, School of Basic and Applied Science, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 61010 (India)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • Obtaining nano-crystalline magnesium titanium oxide powders by solar physical vapor deposition (SPVD) process. And using these nano-powders to obtain thick films on conducting substrates by electrophoretic deposition (EPD). • SPVD is a core innovative, original and environmentally friendly process to prepare nano-materials in a powder form. • Sintered thick films exhibited dielectric constant, ε{sub r} ∼18.3 and dielectric loss, tan δ ∼0.0012 at 1 MHz, which is comparable to the values reported earlier. • New contributions to the pool of information on the preparation of nano-structured MgTiO{sub 3} thick films at low temperatures. • A considerable decrease in synthesis temperature of pure MgTiO{sub 3} thick film was observed by the combination of SPVD and EPD. - Abstract: A novel combination of solar physical vapor deposition (SPVD) and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) that was developed to grow MgTiO{sub 3} nanostructured thick films is presented. Obtaining nanostructured MgTiO{sub 3} thick films, which can replace bulk ceramic components, a major trend in electronic industry, is the main objective of this work. The advantage of SPVD is direct synthesis of nanopowders, while EPD is simple, fast and inexpensive technique for preparing thick films. SPVD technique was developed at CNRS-PROMES Laboratory, Odeillo-Font Romeu, France, while the EPD was performed at University of Aveiro – DeMAC/CICECO, Portugal. The nanopowders with an average crystallite size of about 30 nm prepared by SPVD were dispersed in 50 ml of acetone in basic media with addition of triethanolamine. The obtained well-dispersed and stable suspensions were used for carrying out EPD on 25 μm thick platinum foils. After deposition, films with thickness of about 22–25 μm were sintered in air for 15 min at 800, 900 and 1000 °C. The structural and microstructural characterization of the sintered thick films was carried out using XRD and SEM, respectively. The

Critical thickness of high structural quality SrTiO{sub 3} films grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO{sub 3}.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biegalski, M. D.; Trolier-McKinstry, S.; Nelson, C. T.; Schlom, D. G.; Fong, D. D.; Eastman, J. A.; Fuoss, P. H.; Streiffer, S. K.; Heeg, T.; Schubert, J.; Tian, W.; Pan, X. Q.; Hawley, M. E.; Bernhagen, M.; Reiche, P.; Uecker, R.; Pennsylvania State Univ.; Forschungszentrum Julich; Univ. Michigan; LANL; Max-Born-Strabe

2008-12-01

Strained epitaxial SrTiO{sub 3} films were grown on orthorhombic (101) DyScO{sub 3} substrates by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy. The epitaxy of this substrate/film combination is cube on cube with a pseudocubic out-of-plane (001) orientation. The strain state and structural perfection of films with thicknesses ranging from 50 to 1000 {angstrom} were examined using x-ray scattering. The critical thickness at which misfit dislocations was introduced was between 350 and 500 {angstrom}. These films have the narrowest rocking curves (full width at half maximum) ever reported for any heteroepitaxial oxide film (0.0018{sup o}). Only a modest amount of relaxation is seen in films exceeding the critical thicknesses even after postdeposition annealing at 700 C in 1 atm of oxygen. The dependence of strain relaxation on crystallographic direction is attributed to the anisotropy of the substrate. These SrTiO{sub 3} films show structural quality more typical of semiconductors such as GaAs and silicon than perovskite materials; their structural relaxation behavior also shows similarity to that of compound semiconductor films.

Synthesis of electro-active manganese oxide thin films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Merritt, Anna R. [Energetics Research Division, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, CA 93555 (United States); Rajagopalan, Ramakrishnan [Department of Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, Dubois, PA 15801 (United States); Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Carter, Joshua D. [Energetics Research Division, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, CA 93555 (United States)

2014-04-01

The good stability, cyclability and high specific capacitance of manganese oxide (MnO{sub x}) has recently promoted a growing interest in utilizing MnO{sub x} in asymmetric supercapacitor electrodes. Several literature reports have indicated that thin film geometries of MnO{sub x} provide specific capacitances that are much higher than bulk MnO{sub x} powders. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a versatile technique for the production of metal oxide thin films with high purity and controllable thickness. In this work, MnO{sub x} thin films deposited by PECVD from a methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl precursor are presented and the effect of processing conditions on the quality of MnO{sub x} films is described. The film purity and oxidation state of the MnO{sub x} films were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Preliminary electrochemical testing of MnO{sub x} films deposited on carbon fiber electrodes in aqueous electrolytes indicates that the PECVD synthesized films are electrochemically active. - Highlights: • Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of manganese oxide thin films. • Higher plasma power and chamber pressure increase deposition rate. • Manganese oxide thin films are electrochemically active. • Best electrochemical performance observed for pure film with low stress • Lower capacitance observed at higher scan rates despite thin film geometry.

The effect of bubble acceleration on the liquid film thickness in micro tubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Youngbae, E-mail: bhan@feslab.t.u-tokyo.ac.j [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Shikazono, Naoki, E-mail: shika@feslab.t.u-tokyo.ac.j [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)

2010-08-15

Liquid film thickness is an important parameter for predicting boiling heat transfer in micro tubes. In the previous study (), liquid film thickness under the steady condition was investigated and an empirical correlation for the initial liquid film thickness based on capillary number, Reynolds number and Weber number was proposed. However, under flow boiling conditions, bubble velocity is not constant but accelerated due to evaporation. It is necessary to consider this bubble acceleration effect on the liquid film thickness, since it affects viscous, surface tension and inertia forces in the momentum equation. In addition, viscous boundary layer develops, and it may also affect the liquid film thickness. In the present study, the effect of bubble acceleration is investigated. Laser focus displacement meter is used to measure the liquid film thickness. Ethanol, water and FC-40 are used as working fluids. Circular tubes with three different inner diameters, D = 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 mm, are used. The increase of liquid film thickness with capillary number is restricted by the bubble acceleration. Finally, an empirical correlation is proposed for the liquid film thickness of accelerated flows in terms of capillary number and Bond number based on the bubble acceleration.

The effect of bubble acceleration on the liquid film thickness in micro tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Youngbae; Shikazono, Naoki

2010-01-01

Liquid film thickness is an important parameter for predicting boiling heat transfer in micro tubes. In the previous study (), liquid film thickness under the steady condition was investigated and an empirical correlation for the initial liquid film thickness based on capillary number, Reynolds number and Weber number was proposed. However, under flow boiling conditions, bubble velocity is not constant but accelerated due to evaporation. It is necessary to consider this bubble acceleration effect on the liquid film thickness, since it affects viscous, surface tension and inertia forces in the momentum equation. In addition, viscous boundary layer develops, and it may also affect the liquid film thickness. In the present study, the effect of bubble acceleration is investigated. Laser focus displacement meter is used to measure the liquid film thickness. Ethanol, water and FC-40 are used as working fluids. Circular tubes with three different inner diameters, D = 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 mm, are used. The increase of liquid film thickness with capillary number is restricted by the bubble acceleration. Finally, an empirical correlation is proposed for the liquid film thickness of accelerated flows in terms of capillary number and Bond number based on the bubble acceleration.

Relaxation in Thin Polymer Films Mapped across the Film Thickness by Astigmatic Single-Molecule Imaging

KAUST Repository

Oba, Tatsuya

2012-06-19

We have studied relaxation processes in thin supported films of poly(methyl acrylate) at the temperature corresponding to 13 K above the glass transition by monitoring the reorientation of single perylenediimide molecules doped into the films. The axial position of the dye molecules across the thickness of the film was determined with a resolution of 12 nm by analyzing astigmatic fluorescence images. The average relaxation times of the rotating molecules do not depend on the overall thickness of the film between 20 and 110 nm. The relaxation times also do not show any dependence on the axial position within the films for the film thickness between 70 and 110 nm. In addition to the rotating molecules we observed a fraction of spatially diffusing molecules and completely immobile molecules. These molecules indicate the presence of thin (<5 nm) high-mobility surface layer and low-mobility layer at the interface with the substrate. (Figure presented) © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Inkjet-printed p-type nickel oxide thin-film transistor

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Hailong; Zhu, Jingguang; Chen, Maosheng; Guo, Tailiang; Li, Fushan

2018-05-01

High-performance inkjet-printed nickel oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) with Al2O3 high-k dielectric have been fabricated using a sol-gel precursor ink. The "coffee ring" effect during the printing process was facilely restrained by modifying the viscosity of the ink to control the outward capillary flow. The impacts on the device performance was studied in detail in consideration of annealing temperature of the nickel oxide film and the properties of dielectric layer. The optimized switching ability of the device were achieved at an annealing temperature of 280 °C on a 50-nm-thick Al2O3 dielectric layer, with a hole mobility of 0.78 cm2/V·s, threshold voltage of -0.6 V and on/off current ratio of 5.3 × 104. The as-printed p-type oxide TFTs show potential application in low-cost, large-area complementary electronic devices.

MEMS-based thick film PZT vibrational energy harvester

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lei, Anders; Xu, Ruichao; Thyssen, Anders

2011-01-01

We present a MEMS-based unimorph silicon/PZT thick film vibrational energy harvester with an integrated proof mass. We have developed a process that allows fabrication of high performance silicon based energy harvesters with a yield higher than 90%. The process comprises a KOH etch using a mechan......We present a MEMS-based unimorph silicon/PZT thick film vibrational energy harvester with an integrated proof mass. We have developed a process that allows fabrication of high performance silicon based energy harvesters with a yield higher than 90%. The process comprises a KOH etch using...... a mechanical front side protection of an SOI wafer with screen printed PZT thick film. The fabricated harvester device produces 14.0 μW with an optimal resistive load of 100 kΩ from 1g (g=9.81 m s-2) input acceleration at its resonant frequency of 235 Hz....

Oxide films at the nanoscale: new structures, new functions, and new materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Giordano, Livia; Pacchioni, Gianfranco

2011-11-15

We all make use of oxide ultrathin films, even if we are unaware of doing so. They are essential components of many common devices, such as mobile phones and laptops. The films in these ubiquitous electronics are composed of silicon dioxide, an unsurpassed material in the design of transistors. But oxide films at the nanoscale (typically just 10 nm or less in thickness) are integral to many other applications. In some cases, they form under normal reactive conditions and confer new properties to a material: one example is the corrosion protection of stainless steel, which is the result of a passive film. A new generation of devices for energy production and communications technology, such as ferroelectric ultrathin film capacitors, tunneling magnetoresistance sensors, solar energy materials, solid oxide fuel cells, and many others, are being specifically designed to exploit the unusual properties afforded by reduced oxide thickness. Oxide ultrathin films also have tremendous potential in chemistry, representing a rich new source of catalytic materials. About 20 years ago, researchers began to prepare model systems of truly heterogeneous catalysts based on thin oxide layers grown on single crystals of metal. Only recently, however, was it realized that these systems may behave quite differently from their corresponding bulk oxides. One of the phenomena uncovered is the occurrence of a spontaneous charge transfer from the metal support to an adsorbed species through the thin insulating layer (or vice versa). The importance of this property is clear: conceptually, the activation and bond breaking of adsorbed molecules begin with precisely the same process, electron transfer into an antibonding orbital. But electron transfer can also be harnessed to make a supported metal particle more chemically active, increase its adhesion energy, or change its shape. Most importantly, the basic principles underlying electron transfer and other phenomena (such as structural

Investigation of top electrode for PZT thick films based MEMS sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hindrichsen, Christian Carstensen; Pedersen, Thomas; Kristiansen, Paw T.

2010-01-01

In this work processing of screen printed piezoelectric PZT thick films on silicon substrates is investigated for use in future MEMS devices. E-beam evaporated Al and Pt are patterned on PZT as a top electrode using a lift-off process with a line width down to 3 mu m. Three test structures are used...... to investigate the optimal thickness of the top electrode, the degradation of the piezoelectric properties of the PZT film in absence of a diffusion barrier layer and finally how to fabricate electrical interconnects down the edge of the PZT thick film. The roughness of the PZT is found to have a strong...... influence on the conductance of the top electrode influencing the optimal top electrode thickness. A 100 nm thick top electrode on the PZT thick film with a surface roughness of 273 nm has a 4.5 times higher resistance compared to a similar wire on a planar SiO2 surface which has a surface roughness of less...

Miniaturized, Planar Ion-selective Electrodes Fabricated by Means of Thick-film Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Koncki

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Various planar technologies are employed for developing solid-state sensorshaving low cost, small size and high reproducibility; thin- and thick-film technologies aremost suitable for such productions. Screen-printing is especially suitable due to itssimplicity, low-cost, high reproducibility and efficiency in large-scale production. Thistechnology enables the deposition of a thick layer and allows precise pattern control.Moreover, this is a highly economic technology, saving large amounts of the used inks. Inthe course of repetitions of the film-deposition procedure there is no waste of material dueto additivity of this thick-film technology. Finally, the thick films can be easily and quicklydeposited on inexpensive substrates. In this contribution, thick-film ion-selective electrodesbased on ionophores as well as crystalline ion-selective materials dedicated forpotentiometric measurements are demonstrated. Analytical parameters of these sensors arecomparable with those reported for conventional potentiometric electrodes. All mentionedthick-film strip electrodes have been totally fabricated in only one, fully automated thick-film technology, without any additional manual, chemical or electrochemical steps. In allcases simple, inexpensive, commercially available materials, i.e. flexible, plastic substratesand easily cured polymer-based pastes were used.

Work Function of Oxide Ultrathin Films on the Ag(100) Surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Sementa, Luca; Barcaro, Giovanni; Negreiros, Fabio R; Thomas, Iorwerth O; Netzer, Falko P; Ferrari, Anna Maria; Fortunelli, Alessandro

2012-02-14

Theoretical calculations of the work function of monolayer (ML) and bilayer (BL) oxide films on the Ag(100) surface are reported and analyzed as a function of the nature of the oxide for first-row transition metals. The contributions due to charge compression, charge transfer and rumpling are singled out. It is found that the presence of empty d-orbitals in the oxide metal can entail a charge flow from the Ag(100) surface to the oxide film which counteracts the decrease in the work function due to charge compression. This flow can also depend on the thickness of the film and be reduced in passing from ML to BL systems. A regular trend is observed along first-row transition metals, exhibiting a maximum for CuO, in which the charge flow to the oxide is so strong as to reverse the direction of rumpling. A simple protocol to estimate separately the contribution due to charge compression is discussed, and the difference between the work function of the bare metal surface and a Pauling-like electronegativity of the free oxide slabs is used as a descriptor quantity to predict the direction of charge transfer.

Effects of accelerated degradation on metal supported thin film-based solid oxide fuel cell

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reolon, R. P.; Sanna, S.; Xu, Yu

2018-01-01

A thin film-based solid oxide fuel cell is deposited on a Ni-based metal porous support by pulsed laser deposition with a multi-scale-graded microstructure design. The fuel cell, around 1 μm in thickness, is composed of a stabilized-zirconia/doped-ceria bi-layered dense electrolyte and nanostruct......A thin film-based solid oxide fuel cell is deposited on a Ni-based metal porous support by pulsed laser deposition with a multi-scale-graded microstructure design. The fuel cell, around 1 μm in thickness, is composed of a stabilized-zirconia/doped-ceria bi-layered dense electrolyte......, electrochemical performances are steady, indicating the stability of the cell. Under electrical load, a progressive degradation is activated. Post-test analysis reveals both mechanical and chemical degradation of the cell. Cracks and delamination of the thin films promote a significant nickel diffusion and new...

Chemical state analysis of oxide thin films using a high resolution double crystal X-ray fluorescence spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masuda, Hirohisa; Morinaga, Kenji; Ohta, Yoshio.

1995-01-01

The chemical state analysis of r.f.-sputtered amorphous oxide thin films was determined by a high resolution X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with double crystals. The polymerization degree of silicate anions in the silicate film was as same as a target (α-Quartz). The oxygen coordination number of Al 3+ ions in the aluminate film was different from a target (α-Al 2 O 3 ), and it was a mixture of 4 and 6 in a spinel-like structure. In CaO-SiO 2 and CaO-Al 2 O 3 films, when the film thickness is thin at the beginning of sputtering, the composition of films are in the shortage of CaO. But when the film thickness become thicker, the composition of films become as same as the target. From the results above, the chemical state of films and their variations with film thickness can be clarified by using the apparatus. (author)

A study on the evolution of dielectric function of ZnO thin films with decreasing film thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, X. D.; Chen, T. P.; Liu, P.; Liu, Y.; Liu, Z.; Leong, K. C.

2014-01-01

Dielectric function, band gap, and exciton binding energies of ultrathin ZnO films as a function of film thickness have been obtained with spectroscopic ellipsometry. As the film thickness decreases, both real (ε 1 ) and imaginary (ε 2 ) parts of the dielectric function decrease significantly, and ε 2 shows a blue shift. The film thickness dependence of the dielectric function is shown related to the changes in the interband absorption, discrete-exciton absorption, and continuum-exciton absorption, which can be attributed to the quantum confinement effect on both the band gap and exciton binding energies

Structural, transport and microwave properties of 123/sapphire films: Thickness effect

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Predtechensky, MR.; Smal, A.N.; Varlamov, Y.D. [Institute of Thermophysics, Novosibirsk (Russian Federation)] [and others

1994-12-31

The effect of thickness and growth conditions on the structure and microwave properties has been investigated for the 123/sapphire films. It has been shown that in the conditions of epitaxial growth and Al atoms do not diffuse from substrate into the film and the films with thickness up to 100nm exhibit the excellent DC properties. The increase of thickness of GdBaCuO films causes the formation of extended line-mesh defects and the increase of the surface resistance (R{sub S}). The low value of surface resistance R{sub S}(75GHz,77K)=20 mOhm has been obtained for the two layer YBaCuO/CdBaCuO/sapphire films.

The effects of film thickness on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of cylindrical, rotating, magnetron-sputtered ITO films

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jae-Ho; Seong, Tae-Yeon; Ahn, Kyung-Jun; Chung, Kwun-Bum; Seok, Hae-Jun; Seo, Hyeong-Jin; Kim, Han-Ki

2018-05-01

We report the characteristics of Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) films intended for use as transparent conducting electrodes; the films were prepared via a five-generation, in-line type, cylindrical, rotating magnetron sputtering (CRMS) system as a function of film thickness. By using a rotating cylindrical ITO target with high usage (∼80%), we prepared high conductivity, transparent ITO films on five-generation size glass. The effects of film thickness on the electrical, optical, morphological, and structural properties of CRMS-grown ITO films are investigated in detail to correlate the thickness and performance of ITO films. The preferred orientation changed from the (2 2 2) to the (4 0 0) plane with increasing thickness of ITO is attributed to the stability of the (4 0 0) plane against resputtering during the CRMS process. Based on X-ray diffraction, surface field emission scanning electron microscopy, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, we suggest a possible mechanism to explain the preferred orientation and effects of film thickness on the performance of CRMS-grown ITO films.

Imaging and thickness measurement of amorphous intergranular films using TEM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacLaren, I.

2004-01-01

Fresnel fringe analysis is shown to be unreliable for grain boundaries in yttrium-doped alumina: the determined thicknesses do not agree well with those measured from high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), the asymmetry between under- and overfocus is very large, and Fresnel fringes are sometimes shown at boundaries which contain no amorphous film. An alternative approach to the analysis of HRTEM images of grain boundary films is demonstrated: Fourier filtering is used to remove the lattice fringes from the image thereby significantly enhancing the visibility of the intergranular films. The apparent film thickness shows a discrepancy between measurements from the original HRTEM image and the filtered image. It was shown that fringe delocalisation and diffuseness of the amorphous/crystalline interfaces will lead to a significant underestimate of the thickness in unprocessed HRTEM images. In contrast to this, the average thickness can be much more accurately measured from the Fourier-filtered image, provided the boundary is oriented accurately edge-on

Photocatalytic Activity and Stability of Porous Polycrystalline ZnO Thin-Films Grown via a Two-Step Thermal Oxidation Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James C. Moore

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The photocatalytic activity and stability of thin, polycrystalline ZnO films was studied. The oxidative degradation of organic compounds at the ZnO surface results from the ultraviolet (UV photo-induced creation of highly oxidizing holes and reducing electrons, which combine with surface water to form hydroxyl radicals and reactive oxygen species. Therefore, the efficiency of the electron-hole pair formation is of critical importance for self-cleaning and antimicrobial applications with these metal-oxide catalyst systems. In this study, ZnO thin films were fabricated on sapphire substrates via direct current sputter deposition of Zn-metal films followed by thermal oxidation at several annealing temperatures (300–1200 °C. Due to the ease with which they can be recovered, stabilized films are preferable to nanoparticles or colloidal suspensions for some applications. Characterization of the resulting ZnO thin films through atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence indicated that decreasing annealing temperature leads to smaller crystal grain size and increased UV excitonic emission. The photocatalytic activities were characterized by UV-visible absorption measurements of Rhodamine B dye concentrations. The films oxidized at lower annealing temperatures exhibited higher photocatalytic activity, which is attributed to the increased optical quality. Photocatalytic activity was also found to depend on film thickness, with lower activity observed for thinner films. Decreasing activity with use was found to be the result of decreasing film thickness due to surface etching.

Polycrystalline Mn-alloyed indium tin oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scarlat, Camelia; Schmidt, Heidemarie; Xu, Qingyu; Vinnichenko, Mykola; Kolitsch, Andreas; Helm, Manfred; Iacomi, Felicia

2008-01-01

Magnetic ITO films are interesting for integrating ITO into magneto-optoelectronic devices. We investigated n-conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) films with different Mn doping concentration which have been grown by chemical vapour deposition using targets with the atomic ratio In:Sn:Mn=122:12:0,114:12:7, and 109:12:13. The average film roughness ranges between 30 and 50 nm and XRD patterns revealed a polycrystalline structure. Magnetotransport measurements revealed negative magnetoresistance for all the samples, but high field positive MR can be clearly observed at 5 K with increasing Mn doping concentration. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) has been used to prove the existence of midgap states in the Mn-alloyed ITO films revealing a transmittance less than 80%. A reasonable model for the ca. 250 nm thick Mn-alloyed ITO films has been developed to extract optical constants from SE data below 3 eV. Depending on the Mn content, a Lorentz oscillator placed between 1 and 2 eV was used to model optical absorption below the band gap

XPS and SEM studies of chromium oxide films chemically formed on stainless steel 316 L

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanov, P.; Marinova, T.

2000-01-01

The structure and composition of chromium oxide films formed on stainless steel by immersion in a chromium electrolyte have been studied by SEM and XPS. Cr 2 O 3 crystallites in the range 30-150 nm are fully developed and cover the whole surface. The chemical composition in the depth and the thickness of the oxide layer have been determined by XPS sputter profiles. The oxide film can be described within the framework of a double layer consisting of a thin outer hydrated layer and an inner layer of Cr 2 O 3 . (orig.)

Thickness-dependent radiative properties of Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phelan, P.E.; Chen, G.; Tien, C.L.

1991-01-01

Some applications of high-temperature superconductors where their thermal radiative behavior is important, such as bolometers, optically-triggered switches and gates, and space-cooled electronics, required the superconductor to be in the form of a very thin film whose radiative behavior cannot be adequately represented by a semi-infinite analysis. Two properties of particular importance are the film absorptance and the combined film/substrate absorptance, which are crucial to the operation of many devices. This paper reports on calculations of the absorptance of superconducting-state Y-Ba-Cu-O films on MgO substrates which suggest that for film thicknesses less than about 50 nm, a decrease in the film thickness leads to an increase in both the film absorptance and the film/substrate absorptance. Furthermore, the film absorptance is maximum at some optimal value of film thickness. Assuming the film to be a smooth, continuous slab with a refractive index equal to that of the bulk Y-Ba-Cu-O is verified, at least in the normal state and for films as thin as 35 nm, by room-temperature reflectance and transmittance measurements

Influence of the film thickness on the structure, optical and electrical properties of ITO coatings deposited by sputtering at room temperature on glass and plastic substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guillén, C; Herrero, J

2008-01-01

Transparent and conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) films with thickness between 0.2 and 0.7 µm were deposited by sputtering at room temperature on glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. All films were polycrystalline, with crystallite size increasing and lattice distortion decreasing when the film thickness was increased. Besides, transmission in the near-infrared region is found to be decreasing and carrier concentration increasing when the film thickness was increased. For the same thickness, the lattice distortion is slightly lower and the carrier concentration higher for the layers grown on PET substrates. A direct relationship between the lattice distortion and the free carrier concentration has been established, applying to the films grown on glass and plastic substrates. By adjusting ITO coating thickness, sheet resistance below 15 Ω sq −1 and average visible transmittance about 90% have been achieved by sputtering at room temperature

Ultra-low power thin film transistors with gate oxide formed by nitric acid oxidation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, H.; Kim, W. B.; Matsumoto, T.

2011-01-01

We have developed a low temperature fabrication method of SiO 2 /Si structure by use of nitric acid, i.e., nitric acid oxidation of Si (NAOS) method, and applied it to thin film transistors (TFT). A silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) layer formed by the NAOS method at room temperature possesses 1.8 nm thickness, and its leakage current density is as low as that of thermally grown SiO 2 layer with the same thickness formed at ∼900 deg C. The fabricated TFTs possess an ultra-thin NAOS SiO 2 /CVD SiO 2 stack gate dielectric structure. The ultrathin NAOS SiO 2 layer effectively blocks a gate leakage current, and thus, the thickness of the gate oxide layer can be decreased from 80 to 20 nm. The thin gate oxide layer enables to decrease the operation voltage to 2 V (cf. the conventional operation voltage of TFTs with 80 nm gate oxide: 12 V) because of the low threshold voltages, i.e., -0.5 V for P-ch TFTs and 0.5 V for N-ch TFTs, and thus the consumed power decreases to 1/36 of that of the conventional TFTs. The drain current increases rapidly with the gate voltage, and the sub-threshold voltage is ∼80 mV/dec. The low sub-threshold swing is attributable to the thin gate oxide thickness and low interface state density of the NAOS SiO 2 layer. (authors)

FIB-SEM investigation of trapped intermetallic particles in anodic oxide films on AA1050 aluminium

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jariyaboon, Manthana; Møller, Per; Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E.

2011-01-01

-containing intermetallic particles incorporated into the anodic oxide films on industrially pure aluminium (AA1050, 99.5 per cent) has been investigated. AA1050 aluminium was anodized in a 100?ml/l sulphuric acid bath with an applied voltage of 14?V at 20°C ±2°C for 10 or 120?min. The anodic film subsequently was analyzed......Purpose - The purpose of this investigation is to understand the structure of trapped intermetallics particles and localized composition changes in the anodized anodic oxide film on AA1050 aluminium substrates. Design/methodology/approach - The morphology and composition of Fe......-shaped particles were embedded in the anodic oxide film as a thin strip structure and located near the top surface of the film, whereas the round-shaped particles were trapped in the film with a spherical structure, but partially dissolved and were located throughout the thickness of the anodic film. The Fe...

Impact of acid and oxidative modifications, single or dual, of sorghum starch on biodegradable films.

Science.gov (United States)

Biduski, Bárbara; Silva, Francine Tavares da; Silva, Wyller Max da; Halal, Shanise Lisie de Mello El; Pinto, Vania Zanella; Dias, Alvaro Renato Guerra; Zavareze, Elessandra da Rosa

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of acid and oxidation modifications on sorghum starch, as well as the effect of dual modification of starch on the physical, morphological, mechanical, and barrier properties of biodegradable films. The acid modification was performed with 3% lactic acid and the oxidation was performed with 1.5% active chlorine. For dual modification, the acid modification was performed first, followed by oxidation under the same conditions as above. Both films of the oxidized starches, single and dual, had increased stiffness, providing a higher tensile strength and lower elongation when compared to films based on native and single acid modified starches. However, the dual modification increased the water vapor permeability of the films without changing their solubility. The increase in sorghum starch concentration in the filmogenic solution increased the thickness, water vapor permeability, and elongation of the films. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Hardness enhancement and oxidation resistance of nanocrystalline TiN/Mo xC multilayer films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Q.; Wang, X.P.; Liang, F.J.; Wang, J.X.; Fang, Q.F.

2006-01-01

In this paper the influence of the layer's microstructure on the hardness enhancement in multilayer nanocrystalline films and the oxidation resistance are studied. The TiN/Mo x C multilayer films at different modulation period, and Mo x C and TiN monolayer films were deposited on the (0 0 1) silicon wafers and molybdenum sheets by rf and dc magnetron sputtering. The monolayer TiN films with a thickness of about 2 μm are of pure face-center cubic TiN phase, while the monolayer Mo x C films consist of two phases, one of which is body-center cubic Mo and the other is hexagonal Mo 2 C as determined by XRD. The coarse columnar grains of about 200 nm in the monolayer TiN films become much smaller or disappear in the multilayer films. The hardness enhancement of the multilayer films takes place at the modulation period of 320 nm, which can reach to 26 GPa and is much higher than the values of Mo x C and TiN monolayer films. This enhancement in hardness can be explained as the decrease in the size and/or disappearance of columnar grains in the TiN layer. The Young's modulus in the temperature range from 100 to 400 deg. C increases with decreasing modulation period. It is found that about 100 nm thick TiN films can increase largely the oxidation resistance of Mo x C films

Thickness dependence of Hall mobility of HWE grown PbTe films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaya, P.R.; Majhi, J.; Gopalam, B.S.V.; Dattatreyan, C.

1985-01-01

Thin epitaxial n-PbTe films of various thicknesses are grown on KCl substrates by hot wall epitaxy (HWE) technique. The X-ray, SEM and TEM studies of these films revealed their single crystalline nature. The Hall mobility (μ/sub H/) of these films is measured by Van der Pauw technique and compared with the numerically calculated values of PbTe. It is observed that μ/sub H/ very strongly depends on thickness for thin films but becomes independent of film thickness beyond 5 μm approaching its bulk value. The constant value of Hall coefficient in the temperature range 77 to 300 K show the extrinsic nature of these films. It is also noticed that the rate of increase of mobility with decreasing temperature becomes higher with film thickness. The diffused scattering mobility due to the size effect is calculated and compared with experimental data. A large discrepancy observed between these two is explained on the basis of the residual mobility contribution. The residual mobility is attributed to overall scattering due to grain boundaries, dislocations, defects, cleavage steps, and other surface effects. (author)

Aluminium oxide barrier films on polymeric web and their conversion for packaging applications

OpenAIRE

Struller, CF; Kelly, PJ; Copeland, NJ; Tobin, V; Assender, HE; Holliday, CW; Read, SJ

2013-01-01

In recent years, inorganic transparent barrier layers such as aluminium oxide or silicon oxide deposited onto polymer films have emerged as an attractive alternative to polymer based transparent barrier layers for flexible food packaging materials. For this application, barrier properties against water vapour and oxygen are critical. Aluminium oxide coatings can provide good barrier levels at thicknesses in the nanometre range, compared to several micrometres for polymer-based barrier layers....

Low-Concentration Indium Doping in Solution-Processed Zinc Oxide Films for Thin-Film Transistors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xue Zhang

2017-07-01

Full Text Available We investigated the influence of low-concentration indium (In doping on the chemical and structural properties of solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO films and the electrical characteristics of bottom-gate/top-contact In-doped ZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs. The thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry analysis results showed that thermal annealing at 400 °C for 40 min produces In-doped ZnO films. As the In content of ZnO films was increased from 1% to 9%, the metal-oxygen bonding increased from 5.56% to 71.33%, while the metal-hydroxyl bonding decreased from 72.03% to 9.63%. The X-ray diffraction peaks and field-emission scanning microscope images of the ZnO films with different In concentrations revealed a better crystalline quality and reduced grain size of the solution-processed ZnO thin films. The thickness of the In-doped ZnO films also increased when the In content was increased up to 5%; however, the thickness decreased on further increasing the In content. The field-effect mobility and on/off current ratio of In-doped ZnO TFTs were notably affected by any change in the In concentration. Considering the overall TFT performance, the optimal In doping concentration in the solution-processed ZnO semiconductor was determined to be 5% in this study. These results suggest that low-concentration In incorporation is crucial for modulating the morphological characteristics of solution-processed ZnO thin films and the TFT performance.

Rare Earth Oxide Thin Films

CERN Document Server

Fanciulli, Marco

2007-01-01

Thin rare earth (RE) oxide films are emerging materials for microelectronic, nanoelectronic, and spintronic applications. The state-of-the-art of thin film deposition techniques as well as the structural, physical, chemical, and electrical properties of thin RE oxide films and of their interface with semiconducting substrates are discussed. The aim is to identify proper methodologies for the development of RE oxides thin films and to evaluate their effectiveness as innovative materials in different applications.

Thin film metal-oxides

CERN Document Server

Ramanathan, Shriram

2009-01-01

Presents an account of the fundamental structure-property relations in oxide thin films. This title discusses the functional properties of thin film oxides in the context of applications in the electronics and renewable energy technologies.

Sputtered tin oxide and titanium oxide thin films as alternative transparent conductive oxides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boltz, Janika

2011-12-12

Alternative transparent conductive oxides to tin doped indium oxide have been investigated. In this work, antimony doped tin oxide and niobium doped titanium oxide have been studied with the aim to prepare transparent and conductive films. Antimony doped tin oxide and niobium doped titanium oxide belong to different groups of oxides; tin oxide is a soft oxide, while titanium oxide is a hard oxide. Both oxides are isolating materials, in case the stoichiometry is SnO{sub 2} and TiO{sub 2}. In order to achieve transparent and conductive films free carriers have to be generated by oxygen vacancies, by metal ions at interstitial positions in the crystal lattice or by cation doping with Sb or Nb, respectively. Antimony doped tin oxide and niobium doped titanium oxide films have been prepared by reactive direct current magnetron sputtering (dc MS) from metallic targets. The process parameters and the doping concentration in the films have been varied. The films have been electrically, optically and structurally analysed in order to analyse the influence of the process parameters and the doping concentration on the film properties. Post-deposition treatments of the films have been performed in order to improve the film properties. For the deposition of transparent and conductive tin oxide, the dominant parameter during the deposition is the oxygen content in the sputtering gas. The Sb incorporation as doping atoms has a minor influence on the electrical, optical and structural properties. Within a narrow oxygen content in the sputtering gas highly transparent and conductive tin oxide films have been prepared. In this study, the lowest resistivity in the as deposited state is 2.9 m{omega} cm for undoped tin oxide without any postdeposition treatment. The minimum resistivity is related to a transition to crystalline films with the stoichiometry of SnO{sub 2}. At higher oxygen content the films turn out to have a higher resistivity due to an oxygen excess. After post

Thickness of residual wetting film in liquid-liquid displacement

Science.gov (United States)

Beresnev, Igor; Gaul, William; Vigil, R. Dennis

2011-08-01

Core-annular flow is common in nature, representing, for example, how streams of oil, surrounded by water, move in petroleum reservoirs. Oil, typically a nonwetting fluid, tends to occupy the middle (core) part of a channel, while water forms a surrounding wall-wetting film. What is the thickness of the wetting film? A classic theory has been in existence for nearly 50 years offering a solution, although in a controversial manner, for moving gas bubbles. On the other hand, an acceptable, experimentally verified theory for a body of one liquid flowing in another has not been available. Here we develop a hydrodynamic, testable theory providing an explicit relationship between the thickness of the wetting film and fluid properties for a blob of one fluid moving in another, with neither phase being gas. In its relationship to the capillary number Ca, the thickness of the film is predicted to be proportional to Ca2 at lower Ca and to level off at a constant value of ˜20% the channel radius at higher Ca. The thickness of the film is deduced to be approximately unaffected by the viscosity ratio of the fluids. We have conducted our own laboratory experiments and compiled experimental data from other studies, all of which are mutually consistent and confirm the salient features of the theory. At the same time, the classic law, originally deduced for films surrounding moving gas bubbles but often believed to hold for liquids as well, fails to explain the observations.

Application of β plastic film thickness gauge in automatic production of agricultural film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Longzhi; Guo Juhao

1996-01-01

The author briefly explains the importance of agricultural film at home, and mainly explains the measuring principles of plastic film thickness, the design of β detector, the temperature compensation technology and the design of automatic control device

High rate deposition of transparent conducting oxide thin films by vacuum arc plasma evaporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minami, Tadatsugu; Ida, Satoshi; Miyata, Toshihiro

2002-01-01

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films have been deposited at a high rate above 370 nm/min by vacuum arc plasma evaporation (VAPE) using sintered oxide fragments as the source material. It was found that the deposition rate of TCO films was strongly dependent on the deposition pressure, whereas the obtained electrical properties were relatively independent of the pressure. Resistivities of 5.6x10 -4 and 2.3x10 -4 Ω·cm and an average transmittance above 80% (with substrate included) in the visible range were obtained in Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited at 100 and 350 deg. C, respectively. In addition, a resistivity as low as 1.4x10 -4 Ω·cm and an average transmittance above 80% were also obtained in indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films deposited at 300 deg. C. The deposited TCO films exhibited uniform distributions of resistivity and thickness on large area substrates

High rate deposition of transparent conducting oxide thin films by vacuum arc plasma evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Minami, Tadatsugu; Ida, Satoshi; Miyata, Toshihiro

2002-09-02

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films have been deposited at a high rate above 370 nm/min by vacuum arc plasma evaporation (VAPE) using sintered oxide fragments as the source material. It was found that the deposition rate of TCO films was strongly dependent on the deposition pressure, whereas the obtained electrical properties were relatively independent of the pressure. Resistivities of 5.6x10{sup -4} and 2.3x10{sup -4} {omega}{center_dot}cm and an average transmittance above 80% (with substrate included) in the visible range were obtained in Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited at 100 and 350 deg. C, respectively. In addition, a resistivity as low as 1.4x10{sup -4} {omega}{center_dot}cm and an average transmittance above 80% were also obtained in indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films deposited at 300 deg. C. The deposited TCO films exhibited uniform distributions of resistivity and thickness on large area substrates.

Heterojunction Solar Cells Based on Silicon and Composite Films of Graphene Oxide and Carbon Nanotubes.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, LePing; Tune, Daniel; Shearer, Cameron; Shapter, Joseph

2015-09-07

Graphene oxide (GO) sheets have been used as the surfactant to disperse single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) in water to prepare GO/CNT electrodes that are applied to silicon to form a heterojunction that can be used in solar cells. GO/CNT films with different ratios of the two components and with various thicknesses have been used as semitransparent electrodes, and the influence of both factors on the performance of the solar cell has been studied. The degradation rate of the GO/CNT-silicon devices under ambient conditions has also been explored. The influence of the film thickness on the device performance is related to the interplay of two competing factors, namely, sheet resistance and transmittance. CNTs help to improve the conductivity of the GO/CNT film, and GO is able to protect the silicon from oxidation in the atmosphere. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The determination of the pressure-viscosity coefficient of a lubricant through an accurate film thickness formula and accurate film thickness measurements : part 2 : high L values

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, van H.J.

2011-01-01

The pressure-viscosity coefficient of a traction fluid is determined by fitting calculation results on accurate film thickness measurements, obtained at different speeds, loads, and temperatures. Through experiments, covering a range of 5.6 film thickness values are

Angular multiplexing holograms of four images recorded on photopolymer films with recording-film-thickness-dependent holographic characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Osabe, Keiichi; Kawai, Kotaro

2017-03-01

In this study, angular multiplexing hologram recording photopolymer films were studied experimentally. The films contained acrylamide as a monomer, eosin Y as a sensitizer, and triethanolamine as a promoter in a polyvinyl alcohol matrix. In order to determine the appropriate thickness of the photopolymer films for angular multiplexing, photopolymer films with thicknesses of 29-503 μm were exposed to two intersecting beams of a YVO laser at a wavelength of 532 nm to form a holographic grating with a spatial frequency of 653 line/mm. The diffraction efficiencies as a function of the incident angle of reconstruction were measured. A narrow angular bandwidth and high diffraction efficiency are required for angular multiplexing; hence, we define the Q value, which is the diffraction efficiency divided by half the bandwidth. The Q value of the films depended on the thickness of the films, and was calculated based on the measured diffraction efficiencies. The Q value of a 297-μm-thick film was the highest of the all films. Therefore, the angular multiplexing experiments were conducted using 300-μm-thick films. In the angular multiplexing experiments, the object beam transmitted by a square aperture was focused by a Fourier transform lens and interfered with a reference beam. The maximum order of angular multiplexing was four. The signal intensity that corresponds to the squared-aperture transmission and the noise intensity that corresponds to transmission without the square aperture were measured. The signal intensities decreased as the order of angular multiplexing increased, and the noise intensities were not dependent on the order of angular multiplexing.

Semiconducting properties of oxide films formed onto an Nb electrode in NaOH solutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VLADIMIR D. JOVIC

2008-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the results of the potentiostatic formation of homogeneous and heterogeneous, nano-crystalline passive films of Nb2O5 onto an Nb electrode in NaOH solutions of different concentrations at potentials lower than 3.0 V vs. SCE are presented. The semiconducting properties of such films were investigated by EIS measurements. After fitting the EIS results by appropriate equivalent circuits, the space charge capacitance (Csc and space charge resistance (Rsc of these films were determined. The donor density (Nsc, flat band potential (Efb and thickness of the space charge layer (dsc for such oxide films were determined from the corresponding Mott–Schottky (M–S plots. It is shown that all oxide films were n-type semiconductors in a certain potential range.

Influence of film thickness on structural, optical, and electrical properties of spray deposited antimony doped SnO{sub 2} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yadav, Abhijit A., E-mail: aay_physics@yahoo.co.in

2015-09-30

Transparent conducting antimony doped SnO{sub 2} thin films with varying thickness were deposited by chemical spray pyrolysis technique from non-aqueous solvent Propan-2-ol. The effect of film thickness on the properties of antimony doped SnO{sub 2} thin films have been studied. X-ray diffraction measurements showed tetragonal crystal structure of as-deposited antimony doped SnO{sub 2} films irrespective of film thickness. The surface morphology of antimony doped SnO{sub 2} thin film is spherical with the continuous distribution of grains. Electrical and optical properties were investigated by Hall Effect and optical measurements. The average optical transmittance of films decreased from 89% to 73% within the visible range (350–850 nm) with increase in film thickness. The minimum value of sheet resistance observed is 4.81 Ω/cm{sup 2}. The lowest resistivity found is 3.76 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm at 660 nm film thickness. - Highlights: • Effect of film thickness on the properties of antimony doped SnO{sub 2} thin films • Crystalline size in the range of 34–37 nm • Average transmittance decreased from 89% to 73% in the visible region. • Minimum sheet resistance of 4.81 Ω/cm{sup 2} • Lowest resistivity is found to be 3.76 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm at 660 nm film thickness.

Screen-printed piezoceramic thick films for miniaturised devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lou-Moeller, R.; Hindrichsen, Christian Carstensen; Thamdrup, Lasse Højlund

2007-01-01

machining. On the other hand, the process of screen printing thick films involves potential problems of thermal matching and chemical compatibility at the processing temperatures between the functional film, the substrate and the electrodes. As an example of such a miniaturised device, a MEMS accelerometer...

Influence of surface oxide films on the SCC of stainless steel in high temperature water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tani, Junichi; Kato, Shunji; Hirano, Hideo [Central Research Inst. of Electric Power Industry, Komae, Tokyo (Japan). Komae Research Lab; Kushida, H.

2000-06-01

Effect of pre-filming conditions on the SCC susceptibility of stainless steels (SS) was investigated by SSRT and electrochemical measurement in high temperature water. The IGSCC ratio of a specimen with the oxide film formed in hydrogen-saturated water (R film specimen) was higher than that of a specimen with the oxide film formed in air-saturated water (O film specimen). When the pre-filmed specimens were coupled with a Cr-depleted SS that simulated weld-heat-affected zones, the galvanic couple between the R film specimen and Cr-depleted SS showed higher corrosion current than the couple between the O film specimen and Cr-depleted SS. The film thickness of the Cr-depleted SS was thinner in the couple with the R film specimen after the test. These results clearly show that the SCC susceptibility of R film specimen was higher than that of the O film specimen, in accordance with the SSRT results. (author)

Influence of cement film thickness on the retention of implant-retained crowns.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehl, Christian; Harder, Sönke; Steiner, Martin; Vollrath, Oliver; Kern, Matthias

2013-12-01

The main goal of this study was to establish a new, high precision procedure to evaluate the influence of cement film thickness on the retention of cemented implant-retained crowns. Ninety-six tapered titanium abutments (6° taper, 4.3 mm diameter, Camlog) were shortened to 4 mm. Computer-aided design was used to design the crowns, and selective laser sintering, using a cobalt-chromium alloy, was used to produce the crowns. This method used a focused high-energy laser beam to fuse a localized region of metal powder to build up the crowns gradually. Before cementing, preset cement film thicknesses of 15, 50, 80, or 110 μm were established. Glass ionomer, polycarboxylate, or resin cements were used for cementation. After 3 days storage in demineralized water, the retention of the crowns was measured in tension using a universal testing machine. The cement film thicknesses could be achieved with a high level of precision. Interactions between the factors cement and cement film thickness could be found (p ≤ 0.001). For all cements, crown retention decreased significantly between a cement film thickness of 15 and 50 μm (p ≤ 0.001). At 15 μm cement film thickness, the resin cement was the most retentive cement, followed by the polycarboxylate and then the glass ionomer cement (p ≤ 0.05). The results suggest that cement film thickness has an influence on the retentive strength of cemented implant-retained crowns. © 2013 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

Electronic properties of thermally formed thin iron oxide films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wielant, J.; Goossens, V.; Hausbrand, R.; Terryn, H.

2007-01-01

The oxide layer, present between an organic coating and the substrate, guarantees adhesion of the coating and plays a determinating role in the delamination rate of the organic coating. The purpose of this study is to compare the resistive and semiconducting properties of thermal oxides formed on steel in two different atmospheres at 250 deg. C: an oxygen rich atmosphere, air, and an oxygen deficient atmosphere, N 2 . In N 2 , a magnetite layer grows while in air a duplex oxide film forms composed by an inner magnetite layer and a thin outer hematite scale. The heat treatment for different amounts of time at high temperature was used as method to sample the thickness variation and change in electronic and semiconducting properties of the thermal oxide layers. Firstly, linear voltammetric measurements were performed to have a first insight in the electrochemical behavior of the thermal oxides in a borate buffer solution. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the same buffer combined with the Mott-Schottky analysis were used to determine the semiconducting properties of the thermal oxides. By spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively, the thickness and roughness of the oxide layers were determined supporting the physical interpretation of the voltammetric and EIS data. These measurements clearly showed that oxide layers with different constitution, oxide resistance, flatband potential and doping concentration can be grown by changing the atmosphere

Fabrication of thick superconducting films by decantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julián Betancourt M.

1991-07-01

Full Text Available We have found superconducting behavior in thick films fabricated by decantation. In this paper we present the experimental method and results obtained using commercial copper substrates.

Properties of conductive thick-film inks

Science.gov (United States)

Holtze, R. F.

1972-01-01

Ten different conductive inks used in the fabrication of thick-film circuits were evaluated for their physical and handling properties. Viscosity, solid contents, and spectrographic analysis of the unfired inks were determined. Inks were screened on ceramic substrates and fired for varying times at specified temperatures. Selected substrates were given additional firings to simulate the heat exposure received if thick-film resistors were to be added to the same substrate. Data are presented covering the (1) printing characteristics, (2) solderability using Sn-63 and also a 4 percent silver solder, (3) leach resistance, (4) solder adhesion, and (5) wire bonding properties. Results obtained using different firing schedules were compared. A comparison was made between the various inks showing general results obtained for each ink. The changes in firing time or the application of a simulated resistor firing had little effect on the properties of most inks.

Effect of film thickness, type of buffer layer, and substrate temperature on the morphology of dicyanovinyl-substituted sexithiophene films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levin, Alexandr A., E-mail: alexander.levin@iapp.de [Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Technische Universitaet Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Levichkova, Marieta [Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Technische Universitaet Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Heliatek GmbH, 01187 Dresden (Germany); Hildebrandt, Dirk; Klisch, Marina; Weiss, Andre [Heliatek GmbH, 01187 Dresden (Germany); Wynands, David; Elschner, Chris [Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Technische Universitaet Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Pfeiffer, Martin [Heliatek GmbH, 01187 Dresden (Germany); Leo, Karl; Riede, Moritz [Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Technische Universitaet Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany)

2012-01-31

The influence of film thickness, type of buffer underlayer, and deposition substrate temperature on the crystal structure, microstructure, and morphology of the films of dicyanovinyl-substituted sexithiophene with four butyl-chains (DCV6T-Bu{sub 4}) is investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectivity methods. A neat Si wafer or a Si wafer covered by a 15 nm buffer underlayer of fullerene C{sub 60} or 9,9-Bis[4-(N,N-bis-biphenyl-4-yl-amino)phenyl]-9H-fluorene (BPAPF) is used as a substrate. The crystalline nature and ordered molecular arrangement of the films are recorded down to 6 nm film thickness. By using substrates heated up to 90 Degree-Sign C during the film deposition, the size of the DCV6T-Bu{sub 4} crystallites in direction perpendicular to the film surface increases up to value of the film thickness. With increasing deposition substrate temperature or film thickness, the DCV6T-Bu{sub 4} film relaxes, resulting in reducing the interplane distances closer to the bulk values. For the films of the same thickness deposited at the same substrate temperature, the DCV6T-Bu{sub 4} film relaxes for growth on Si to BPAPF to C{sub 60}. Thicker films grown at heated substrates are characterized by smaller density, higher roughness and crystallinity and better molecular ordering. A thin (up to about 6 nm-thick) intermediate layer with linear density-gradient is formed at the C{sub 60}/DCV6T-Bu{sub 4} interface for the films with buffer C{sub 60} layer. The XRD pattern of the DCV6T-Bu{sub 4} powder is indexed using triclinic unit cell parameters.

Pulsed Photoinitiated Fabrication of Inkjet Printed Titanium Dioxide/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Thin Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourgeois, Briley; Luo, Sijun; Riggs, Brian; Ji, Yaping; Adireddy, Shiva; Schroder, Kurt; Farnsworth, Stan; Chrisey, Douglas B; Escarra, Matthew

2018-05-08

This work reports a new technique for scalable and low temperature processing of nanostructured-TiO2 thin films, allowing for practical manufacturing of TiO2 based devices such as perovskite solar cells at low temperature or on flexible substrates. Dual layers of dense and mesoporous TiO2/graphitic oxide nanocomposite films are synthesized simultaneously using inkjet printing and pulsed photonic irradiation. Investigation of process parameters including precursor concentration (10-20 wt%) and exposure fluence (4.5-8.5 J/cm2) reveals control over crystalline quality, graphitic oxide phase, film thickness, dendrite density, and optical properties. Raman spectroscopy shows the E¬g peak, characteristic of anatase phase titania, increases in intensity with higher photonic irradiation fluence, suggesting increased crystallinity through higher fluence processing. Film thickness and dendrite density is shown to increase with precursor concentration in the printed ink. The dense base layer thickness was controlled between 20 nm to 80 nm. The refractive index of the films is determined by ellipsometry to be 1.92 +/- 0.08 at 650 nm. Films exhibit an energy weighted optical transparency of 91.1%, in comparison to 91.3% of a thermally processed film, when in situ carbon materials were removed. Transmission and diffuse reflectance are used to determine optical band gaps of the films ranging from 2.98 eV to 3.38 eV in accordance with the photonic irradiation fluence and suggests tunability of TiO2 phase composition. The sheet resistance of the synthesized films is measured to be 14.54 +/- 1.11 Ω/□ and 28.90 +/- 2.24 Ω/□ for films as-processed and after carbon removal, respectively, which is comparable to high temperature processed TiO2 thin films. The studied electrical and optical properties of the light processed films show comparable results to traditionally processed TiO2 while offering the distinct advantages of scalable manufacturing, low-temperature processing

Effect of the thickness reduction on the structural, surface and magnetic properties of α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aragón, Fermin F.H., E-mail: fherrera@fis.unb.br [Núcleo de Física Aplicada, Instituto de Física, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70910-900 (Brazil); Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, CDTN, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Ardisson, José D. [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, CDTN, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Aquino, Juan C.R. [Núcleo de Física Aplicada, Instituto de Física, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70910-900 (Brazil); Gonzalez, Ismael; Macedo, Waldemar A.A. [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, CDTN, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Coaquira, José A.H.; Mantilla, John; Silva, Sebastião W. da; Morais, Paulo C. [Núcleo de Física Aplicada, Instituto de Física, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70910-900 (Brazil)

2016-05-31

Hematite (α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) polycrystalline thin films of different thicknesses were produced by thermal oxidation in air atmosphere from Fe metallic thin-films deposited by radio frequency (RF) sputtering technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm the formation of hematite phase in all samples and indicate that the mean grain size decreases as the film thickness becomes thinner. Conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) spectra at room temperature show magnetic splitting (six line patterns). It is determined that the resonance peaks become broader and asymmetric as the film thickness decreases. This finding was associated with the structural disorder introduced by the thickness reduction. Magnetization as a function of the magnetic field curve obtained at 300 K shows the presence of a weak-ferromagnetic contribution, which was assigned to the large density of decompensated spins at the films surface. From the magnetization vs. temperature curves it has been determined that the Morin transition temperature (T{sub M}) is shifted from ~ 240 K to ~ 196 K, meanwhile it becomes more broadened as the film thickness decreases. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements show the presence of Fe{sup 2+} ions coexisting with Fe{sup 3+} ions whose population increases as the film becomes thinner. The density of chemisorbed oxygen increases as the film thickness is reduced in agreement with the results obtained from the other measurements in this work. - Highlights: • Hematite thin films with different thickness were deposited by RF sputtering technique. • X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the formation of hematite phase in all samples. • Hysteresis curve at 300 K shows the presence of a weak-ferromagnetic phase. • XPS show the presence of Fe{sup 2+} ions coexisting with Fe{sup 3+} ions.

Optimization of phantom backscatter thickness and lateral scatter volume for radiographic film dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivastava, R.P.; De Wagter, C.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the optimal backscatter thickness and lateral phantom dimension beyond the irradiated volume for the dosimetric verification with radiographic film when applying large field sizes. Polystyrene and Virtual Water™ phantoms were used to study the influence of the phantom backscatter thickness. EDR2 and XV films were used in 6 and 18 MV photon beams. The results show 11.4% and 6.4% over-response of the XV2 film when compared to the ion chamber for 6 MV 30×30 and 10×10 cm 2 field sizes, respectively, when the phantom backscatter thickness is 5 cm. For the same setup, measurements with EDR2 films indicate 8.5% and 1.7% over-response. The XV2 film response in the polystyrene phantom is about 2.0% higher than in the Virtual Water™ phantom for the 6 MV beam and 20 cm backscatter thickness. Similar results were obtained for EDR2 film. In the lateral scatter study, film response was nearly constant within 5 cm of lateral thickness and it increases when lateral thickness increases due to more multiple scatter of low energy photons. The backscatter thickness of the phantom should be kept below 7 cm for the accuracy of the film dosimetry. The lateral extension of the phantom should not be more than 5 cm from the field boundary in case of large irradiated volumes.

Synthesis and characterization of electrolyte-grade 10%Gd-doped ceria thin film/ceramic substrate structures for solid oxide fuel cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chourashiya, M. G.; Bharadwaj, S. R.; Jadhav, L. D.

2010-01-01

In the present research, spray pyrolysis technique is employed to synthesize 10%Gd-doped ceria (GDC) thin films on ceramic substrates with an intention to use the "film/substrate" structure in solid oxide fuel cells. GDC films deposited on GDC substrate showed enhanced crystallite formation....... In case of NiO-GDC composite substrate, the thickness of film was higher (∼ 13 μm) as compared to the film thickness on GDC substrate (∼ 2 μm). The relative density of the films deposited on both the substrates was of the order of 95%. The impedance measurements revealed that ionic conductivity of GDC...

The magnetic characteristics of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction with MgO and Al-O oxidation layers in various thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, T.-J.; Canizo-Cabrera, A.; Chang, C.-H.; Liao, K.-A.; Li, Simon C.; Hou, C.-K.; Wu Teho

2006-01-01

In this work we show the magnetic characteristics of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (pMTJ) with different oxidation layers. The pMTJs structures were made by RF and DC magnetron sputtering. Individual depositions of magnesium oxide layers and of aluminum oxide films were prepared by plasma oxidation. The experimental results showed that the initial switching field was decreased as the magnesium oxide thickness was increased. Further work of the aluminum oxide surface roughness and hysteresis loop influenced by different oxidation layers on pMTJs structures will be discussed as well

Persistent quantum-size effect in aluminum films up to twelve atoms thick

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boettger, J.C.

1996-01-01

Total energies and work functions have been calculated for unrelaxed, free-standing Al(111) films, 1 endash 12 layers thick, using the all-electron, full-potential linear combination of Gaussian-type orbitals endash fitting-function technique. The work function exhibits a significant quantum-size effect (at least 0.1 eV) over the entire range of thickness considered. This result contradicts an old prediction that the work function of an Al(111) N-layer film will converge to within a few hundredths of an eV by N=6. The present result, which is consistent with earlier jellium calculations, demonstrates the risk of mistaking an accidental coincidence of work functions for two films, differing in thickness by one layer, for a true convergence with respect to thickness. The implications for thin-film calculations of surface properties are discussed. A linear fit to the film binding energy vs thickness is used to extract the Al(111) surface energy (0.45 eV) and the binding energy of bulk Al (4.06 eV). copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Mems-based pzt/pzt bimorph thick film vibration energy harvester

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xu, Ruichao; Lei, Anders; Dahl-Petersen, Christian

2011-01-01

We describe fabrication and characterization of a significantly improved version of a MEMS-based PZT/PZT thick film bimorph vibration energy harvester with an integrated silicon proof mass. The main advantage of bimorph vibration energy harvesters is that strain energy is not lost in mechanical...... support materials since only PZT is strained, and thus it has a potential for significantly higher output power. An improved process scheme for the energy harvester resulted in a robust fabrication process with a record high fabrication yield of 98.6%. Moreover, the robust fabrication process allowed...... a high pressure treatment of the screen printed PZT thick films prior to sintering, improving the PZT thick film performance and harvester power output reaches 37.1 μW at 1 g....

Correlation of Gear Surface Fatigue Lives to Lambda Ratio (Specific Film Thickness)

Science.gov (United States)

Krantz, Timothy Lewis

2013-01-01

The effect of the lubrication regime on gear performance has been recognized, qualitatively, for decades. Often the lubrication regime is characterized by the specific film thickness being the ratio of lubricant film thickness to the composite surface roughness. Three studies done at NASA to investigate gearing pitting life are revisited in this work. All tests were done at a common load. In one study, ground gears were tested using a variety of lubricants that included a range of viscosities, and therefore the gears operated with differing film thicknesses. In a second and third study, the performance of gears with ground teeth and superfinished teeth were assessed. Thicker oil films provided longer lives as did improved surface finish. These datasets were combined into a common dataset using the concept of specific film thickness. This unique dataset of more 258 tests provides gear designers with some qualitative information to make gear design decisions.

The research of device for measuring film thickness of intelligent coating machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Wanjun

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Ion beam sputtering machine uses computer to real time monitor the change of film thickness in the preparation process of soft X ray multilayer element fabrication. It solves the problems of uneven film thickness and too thick film thickness and so on, which exist in the original preparation process. The high-precision quartz crystal converts film thickness measurement into frequency measurement. The equal precision frequency meter based on FPGA measures the frequency. It can reduce the signal delay and interference signal of discrete components, accordingly improving the accuracy of measurement. Then it sents the count value to the host computer through the single chip microcomputer serial port. It calculates and displays the value by the GUI of LabVIEW. The experimental results show that, the relative measurement error can be decreased to 1/10, i.e., the measurement accuracy can be improved by more than ten times.

Hydroxyapatite screen-printed thick films: optical and electrical properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, C.C.; Rocha, H.H.B.; Freire, F.N.A.; Santos, M.R.P.; Saboia, K.D.A.; Goes, J.C.; Sombra, A.S.B.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we did a study on the structural and electrical properties of bioceramic hydroxiapatite (HA) thick films. The films were prepared in two layers using the screen-printing technique on Al 2 O 3 substrates. Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of hydroxyapatite to be used in the films. We also look for the effect of the grain size of the HA in the final properties of the film. The samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy and electrical measurements. We did a study of the dielectric permittivity and the loss of the films in the radio-frequency of the spectra. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the films indicate that all the peaks associated to HA phase is present in the films. One can notice that, for all the films there is a decrease of the DC (dielectric constant) with the increase of the frequency. The values of the dielectric constant of the films are in between 4 and 9 (at 1 kHz), as a function of the flux concentration. The loss is decreasing as we increase the frequency for all the films. These results strongly suggest that the screen-printing HA thick films are good candidates for applications in biocompatible coatings of implant materials

Hydroxyapatite screen-printed thick films: optical and electrical properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, C.C. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Rocha, H.H.B. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Freire, F.N.A. [Departamento de Quimica Orga-circumflex nica e Inorga-circumflex nica-UFC, Caixa Postal 6030, CEP 60455-760, Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Santos, M.R.P. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Saboia, K.D.A. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Goes, J.C. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Sombra, A.S.B. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil)]. E-mail: sombra@fisica.ufc.br

2005-07-15

In this paper, we did a study on the structural and electrical properties of bioceramic hydroxiapatite (HA) thick films. The films were prepared in two layers using the screen-printing technique on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrates. Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of hydroxyapatite to be used in the films. We also look for the effect of the grain size of the HA in the final properties of the film. The samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy and electrical measurements. We did a study of the dielectric permittivity and the loss of the films in the radio-frequency of the spectra. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the films indicate that all the peaks associated to HA phase is present in the films. One can notice that, for all the films there is a decrease of the DC (dielectric constant) with the increase of the frequency. The values of the dielectric constant of the films are in between 4 and 9 (at 1 kHz), as a function of the flux concentration. The loss is decreasing as we increase the frequency for all the films. These results strongly suggest that the screen-printing HA thick films are good candidates for applications in biocompatible coatings of implant materials.

Thick-Film and LTCC Passive Components for High-Temperature Electronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Dziedzic

2013-04-01

Full Text Available At this very moment an increasing interest in the field of high-temperature electronics is observed. This is a result of development in the area of wide-band semiconductors’ engineering but this also generates needs for passives with appropriate characteristics. This paper presents fabrication as well as electrical and stability properties of passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors made in thick-film or Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC technologies fulfilling demands of high-temperature electronics. Passives with standard dimensions usually are prepared by screen-printing whereas combination of standard screen-printing with photolithography or laser shaping are recommenced for fabrication of micropassives. Attainment of proper characteristics versus temperature as well as satisfactory long-term high-temperature stability of micropassives is more difficult than for structures with typical dimensions for thick-film and LTCC technologies because of increase of interfacial processes’ importance. However it is shown that proper selection of thick-film inks together with proper deposition method permit to prepare thick-film micropassives (microresistors, air-cored microinductors and interdigital microcapacitors suitable for the temperature range between 150°C and 400°C.

Gas Sensing Performance of Pure and Modified BST Thick Film Resistor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. H. JAIN

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Barium Strontium Titanate (BST-(Ba0.87Sr0.13TiO3 ceramic powder was prepared by mechanochemical process. The thick films of different thicknesses of BST were prepared by screen-printing technique and gas-sensing performance of these films was tested for various gases. The films showed highest response and selectivity to ammonia gas. The pure BST film was surface modified by surfactant CrO3 by using dipping technique. The surface modified film suppresses the response to ammonia and enhances to H2S gas. The surface modification of films changes the adsorption-desorption relationship with the target gas and shifts its selectivity. The gas response, selectivity, response and recovery time of the pure and modified films were measured and presented.

Quantum confinement effect in Bi anti-dot thin films with tailored pore wall widths and thicknesses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Y.; Hirose, Y.; Fukumura, T.; Hasegawa, T.; Nakao, S.; Xu, J.

2014-01-01

We investigated quantum confinement effects in Bi anti-dot thin films grown on anodized aluminium oxide templates. The pore wall widths (w Bi ) and thickness (t) of the films were tailored to have values longer or shorter than Fermi wavelength of Bi (λ F  = ∼40 nm). Magnetoresistance measurements revealed a well-defined weak antilocalization effect below 10 K. Coherence lengths (L ϕ ) as functions of temperature were derived from the magnetoresistance vs field curves by assuming the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka model. The anti-dot thin film with w Bi and t smaller than λ F showed low dimensional electronic behavior at low temperatures where L ϕ (T) exceed w Bi or t

Electrical properties and conduction mechanisms of Ru-based thick-film (cermet) resistors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pike, G.E.; Seager, C.H.

1977-01-01

This paper presents an experimental study of the electrical conduction mechanisms in thick-film (cermet) resistor. The resistors were made from one custom and three commercially formulated inks with sheet resistivities ranging from 10 2 to 10 6 Ω/D 7 Alembertian in decade increments. Their microstructure and composition have been examined using optical and scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis, x-ray diffraction, and various chemical analyses. This portion of our study shows that the resistors are heterogeneous mixtures of metallic metal oxide particles (approx.4 x 10 -5 cm in diameter) and a lead silicate glass. The metal oxide particles are ruthenium containing pyrochlores, and are joined to form a continuous three-dimensional network of chain segments. The principal experimental work reported here is an extensive study of the electrical transport properties of the resistors. The temperature dependence of conductance has been measured from 1.2 to 400 K, and two features common to all resistors are found. There is a pronounced decrease in conductance at low temperatures and a shallow maximum at several hundred Kelvin. Within the same range of temperatures the reversible conductance as a function of electric field from 0 to 28 kV/cm has been studied. The resistors are non-Ohmic at all temperatures, but particularly at cryogenic temperatures for low fields. At higher fields the conductance shows a linear variation with electric field. The thick-film resistors are found to have a small dielectric constant and a (nearly) frequency-independent conductance from dc to 50 MHz. The magnetoresistance to 100 kG, the Hall mobility, and the Seebeck coefficient of most of the resistors have been measured and discovered to be quite small. Many of the electrical transport properties have also been determined for the metal oxide particles which were extracted from the fired resistors

Effect of the chemistry and structure of the native oxide surface film on the corrosion properties of commercial AZ31 and AZ61 alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feliu, Sebastian, E-mail: sfeliu@cenim.csic.es [Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalurgicas CSIC, Avda. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Maffiotte, C. [CIEMAT-DT edificio 30, Avda. Complutense, 22, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Samaniego, A.; Galvan, Juan Carlos [Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalurgicas CSIC, Avda. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Barranco, Violeta [Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalurgicas CSIC, Avda. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Madrid, ICMM, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, CSIC, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, 3, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid (Spain)

2011-08-01

The purpose of this study has been to advance in knowledge of the chemical composition, structure and thickness of the thin native oxide film formed spontaneously in contact with the laboratory atmosphere on the surface of freshly polished commercial AZ31 and AZ61 alloys with a view to furthering the understanding of protection mechanisms. For comparative purposes, and to more fully describe the behaviour of the native oxide film, the external oxide films formed as a result of the manufacturing process (as-received condition) have been characterised. The technique applied in this research to study the thin oxide films (thickness of just a few nanometres) present on the surface of the alloys has basically been XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) in combination with ion sputtering. Corrosion properties of the alloys were studied in 0.6 M NaCl by measuring charge transfer resistance values, which are deduced from EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) measurements after 1 h of exposure. Alloy AZ61 generally showed better corrosion resistance than AZ31, and the freshly polished alloys showed better corrosion resistance than the alloys in as-received condition. This is attributed to a combination of (1) higher thickness of the native oxide film on the AZ61 alloy and (2) greater uniformity of the oxide film in the polished condition. The formation of an additional oxide layer composed by a mixture of spinel (MgAl{sub 2}O{sub 4}) and MgO seems to diminish the protective properties of the passive layer on the surface of the alloys in as-received condition.

Effect of the chemistry and structure of the native oxide surface film on the corrosion properties of commercial AZ31 and AZ61 alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feliu, Sebastian; Maffiotte, C.; Samaniego, A.; Galvan, Juan Carlos; Barranco, Violeta

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study has been to advance in knowledge of the chemical composition, structure and thickness of the thin native oxide film formed spontaneously in contact with the laboratory atmosphere on the surface of freshly polished commercial AZ31 and AZ61 alloys with a view to furthering the understanding of protection mechanisms. For comparative purposes, and to more fully describe the behaviour of the native oxide film, the external oxide films formed as a result of the manufacturing process (as-received condition) have been characterised. The technique applied in this research to study the thin oxide films (thickness of just a few nanometres) present on the surface of the alloys has basically been XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) in combination with ion sputtering. Corrosion properties of the alloys were studied in 0.6 M NaCl by measuring charge transfer resistance values, which are deduced from EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) measurements after 1 h of exposure. Alloy AZ61 generally showed better corrosion resistance than AZ31, and the freshly polished alloys showed better corrosion resistance than the alloys in as-received condition. This is attributed to a combination of (1) higher thickness of the native oxide film on the AZ61 alloy and (2) greater uniformity of the oxide film in the polished condition. The formation of an additional oxide layer composed by a mixture of spinel (MgAl 2 O 4 ) and MgO seems to diminish the protective properties of the passive layer on the surface of the alloys in as-received condition.

Thin dielectric film thickness determination by advanced transmission electron microscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diebold, A.C.; Foran, B.; Kisielowski, C.; Muller, D.; Pennycook, S.; Principe, E.; Stemmer, S.

2003-09-01

High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) has been used as the ultimate method of thickness measurement for thin films. The appearance of phase contrast interference patterns in HR-TEM images has long been confused as the appearance of a crystal lattice by non-specialists. Relatively easy to interpret crystal lattice images are now directly observed with the introduction of annular dark field detectors for scanning TEM (STEM). With the recent development of reliable lattice image processing software that creates crystal structure images from phase contrast data, HR-TEM can also provide crystal lattice images. The resolution of both methods was steadily improved reaching now into the sub Angstrom region. Improvements in electron lens and image analysis software are increasing the spatial resolution of both methods. Optimum resolution for STEM requires that the probe beam be highly localized. In STEM, beam localization is enhanced by selection of the correct aperture. When STEM measurement is done using a highly localized probe beam, HR-TEM and STEM measurement of the thickness of silicon oxynitride films agree within experimental error. In this paper, the optimum conditions for HR-TEM and STEM measurement are discussed along with a method for repeatable film thickness determination. The impact of sample thickness is also discussed. The key result in this paper is the proposal of a reproducible method for film thickness determination.

Misfit strain-film thickness phase diagrams and related electromechanical properties of epitaxial ultra-thin lead zirconate titanate films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qiu, Q.Y.; Mahjoub, R. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia); Alpay, S.P. [Materials Science and Engineering Program and Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269 (United States); Nagarajan, V., E-mail: nagarajan@unsw.edu.au [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia)

2010-02-15

The phase stability of ultra-thin (0 0 1) oriented ferroelectric PbZr{sub 1-x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} (PZT) epitaxial thin films as a function of the film composition, film thickness, and the misfit strain is analyzed using a non-linear Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire thermodynamic model taking into account the electrical and mechanical boundary conditions. The theoretical formalism incorporates the role of the depolarization field as well as the possibility of the relaxation of in-plane strains via the formation of microstructural features such as misfit dislocations at the growth temperature and ferroelastic polydomain patterns below the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transformation temperature. Film thickness-misfit strain phase diagrams are developed for PZT films with four different compositions (x = 1, 0.9, 0.8 and 0.7) as a function of the film thickness. The results show that the so-called rotational r-phase appears in a very narrow range of misfit strain and thickness of the film. Furthermore, the in-plane and out-of-plane dielectric permittivities {epsilon}{sub 11} and {epsilon}{sub 33}, as well as the out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficients d{sub 33} for the PZT thin films, are computed as a function of misfit strain, taking into account substrate-induced clamping. The model reveals that previously predicted ultrahigh piezoelectric coefficients due to misfit-strain-induced phase transitions are practically achievable only in an extremely narrow range of film thickness, composition and misfit strain parameter space. We also show that the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of epitaxial ferroelectric films can be tailored through strain engineering and microstructural optimization.

Formation process of graphite film on Ni substrate with improved thickness uniformity through precipitation control

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seul-Gi; Hu, Qicheng; Nam, Ki-Bong; Kim, Mun Ja; Yoo, Ji-Beom

2018-04-01

Large-scale graphitic thin film with high thickness uniformity needs to be developed for industrial applications. Graphitic films with thicknesses ranging from 3 to 20 nm have rarely been reported, and achieving the thickness uniformity in that range is a challenging task. In this study, a process for growing 20 nm-thick graphite films on Ni with improved thickness uniformity is demonstrated and compared with the conventional growth process. In the film grown by the process, the surface roughness and coverage were improved and no wrinkles were observed. Observations of the film structure reveal the reasons for the improvements and growth mechanisms.

Flexoelectricity induced increase of critical thickness in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Hao; Hong Jiawang; Zhang Yihui; Li Faxin; Pei Yongmao; Fang Daining

2012-01-01

Flexoelectricity describes the coupling between polarization and strain/stress gradients in insulating crystals. In this paper, using the Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach, we found that flexoelectricity could increase the theoretical critical thickness in epitaxial BaTiO 3 thin films, below which the switchable spontaneous polarization vanishes. This increase is remarkable in tensile films while trivial in compressive films due to the electrostriction caused decrease of potential barrier, which can be easily destroyed by the flexoelectricity, between the ferroelectric state and the paraelectric state in tensile films. In addition, the films are still in a uni-polar state even below the critical thickness due to the flexoelectric effect.

Flexoelectricity induced increase of critical thickness in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou Hao [State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Hong Jiawang; Zhang Yihui [Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Li Faxin [State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Pei Yongmao, E-mail: peiym@pku.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Fang Daining, E-mail: fangdn@pku.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

2012-09-01

Flexoelectricity describes the coupling between polarization and strain/stress gradients in insulating crystals. In this paper, using the Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach, we found that flexoelectricity could increase the theoretical critical thickness in epitaxial BaTiO{sub 3} thin films, below which the switchable spontaneous polarization vanishes. This increase is remarkable in tensile films while trivial in compressive films due to the electrostriction caused decrease of potential barrier, which can be easily destroyed by the flexoelectricity, between the ferroelectric state and the paraelectric state in tensile films. In addition, the films are still in a uni-polar state even below the critical thickness due to the flexoelectric effect.

Ethanol vapour sensing properties of screen printed WO 3 thick films

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The ethanol vapour sensing properties of these thick films were investigated at different operating temperatures and ethanol vapour concentrations. The WO3 thick films exhibit excellent ethanol vapour sensing properties with a maximum sensitivity of ∼1424.6% at 400°C in air atmosphere with fast response and recovery ...

Towards a new thickness-independent gamma radiation plastic film dosimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vieira, Marli Barbosa; Araujo, Patricia L.; Araujo, Elma S.

2013-01-01

A 100% national single-use gamma radiation plastic film dosimeter is presented in this work. A new approach for the development of this material allowed a step forward in the performance of poly (methyl metacrylate) films (PMMA) colored with bromothymol blue (BTB) acid-base indicator. We manage to improve dosimeter performance by introducing a gamma radiation insensitive dye to compensate film thickness variations. By doing so, we were able to obtain consistent dose-response correlations within a set of samples presenting 46 to 110 micrometers in thickness. Hence, our PMMA/BTB-P film dosimeter is suitable to measure absorbed dose in the 2-100kGy range even when film thickness undergoes more than 100% of variation. In addition, dose response data remain practically unaltered for four months after the exposure, when dosimeter films are kept in dark conditions and under refrigeration. The radiation effects on the optical properties were evaluated for Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometric analysis. Data of characteristic dose-response correlation in terms of changes in the maximum UV-Vis absorption due to radiation, and stability in time are also described. This potential new product is a promising tool for industrial radiation facilities, especially in gamma sterilization of medical supplies. (author)

Thickness Dependence of Magnetic Relaxation and E-J Characteristics in Superconducting (Gd-Y)-Ba-Cu-O Films with Strong Vortex Pinning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Polat, Ozgur [ORNL; Sinclair IV, John W [ORNL; Zuev, Yuri L [ORNL; Thompson, James R [ORNL; Christen, David K [ORNL; Cook, Sylvester W [ORNL; Kumar, Dhananjay [ORNL; Chen, Y [SuperPower Incorporated, Schenectady, New York; Selvamanickam, V. [SuperPower Incorporated, Schenectady, New York

2011-01-01

The dependence of the critical current density Jc on temperature, magnetic field, and film thickness has been investigated in (Gd-Y)BaCu-oxide materials of 0.7, 1.4, and 2.8 m thickness. Generally, the Jc decreases with film thickness at investigated temperatures and magnetic fields. The nature and strength of the pinning centers for vortices have been identified through angular and temperature measurements, respectively. These films do not exhibit c-axis correlated vortex pinning, but do have correlated defects oriented near the ab-planes. For all film thicknesses studied, strong pinning dominates at most temperatures. The vortex dynamics were investigated through magnetic relaxation studies in the temperature range of 5 77 K in 1 T and 3 T applied magnetic fields, H || surface-normal. The creep rate S is thickness dependent at high temperatures, implying that the pinning energy is also thickness dependent. Maley analyses of the relaxation data show an inverse power law variation for the effective pinning energy Ueff ~ (J0/J) . Finally, the electric field-current density (E-J) characteristics were determined over a wide range of dissipation by combining experimental results from transport, swept field magnetometry (VSM), and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry. We develop a self-consistent model of the combined experimental results, leading to an estimation of the critical current density Jc0(T) in the absence of flux creep.

Electro-physical properties of superconducting ceramic thick film prepared by partial melting method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang Heon

2013-05-01

BiSrCaCuO superconductor thick films were prepared at several curing temperatures, and their electro-physical properties were determined to find an optimum fabrication conditions. Critical temperatures of the superconductors were decreased with increasing melting temperature, which was related to the amount of equilibrium phases of the superconducting materials with temperature. The critical temperature of BiSrCaCuO bulk and thick film superconductors were 107 K and 96 K, respectively. The variation of susceptibility of the superconductor thick film formed at 950 degrees C had multi-step-type curve for 70 G externally applied field, whereas, a superconductor thick film formed at 885 degrees C had a single step-type curve like a bulk BiSrCaCuO ceramic superconductor in the temperature-susceptibility curves. A partial melting at 865 degrees C is one of optimum conditions for making a superconductor thick film with a relatively homogeneous phase.

Thickness control in electrophoretic deposition of WO3 nanofiber thin films for solar water splitting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang, Yuanxing; Lee, Wei Cheat; Canciani, Giacomo E.; Draper, Thomas C.; Al-Bawi, Zainab F.; Bedi, Jasbir S.; Perry, Christopher C.; Chen, Qiao

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A novel method combining electrospinning and electrophoretic deposition was established for the creation of nanostructured semiconductor thin films. • The created thin films displayed a high chemical stability with a controllable thickness. • The PEC water splitting performance of the thin films was optimized by fine-tuning the thickness of the films. • A maximum photoconversion efficiency was achieved by 18 μm nanofibrous thin films. - Abstract: Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of ground electrospun WO 3 nanofibers was applied to create photoanodes with controlled morphology for the application of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The correlations between deposition parameters and film thicknesses were investigated with theoretical models to precisely control the morphology of the nanostructured porous thin film. The photoconversion efficiency was further optimized as a function of film thickness. A maximum photoconversion efficiency of 0.924% from electrospun WO 3 nanofibers that EPD deposited on a substrate was achieved at a film thickness of 18 μm.

High-performance piezoelectric thick film based energy harvesting micro-generators for MEMS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zawada, Tomasz; Hansen, Karsten; Lou-Moeller, Rasmus

2010-01-01

and are transformed by the energy harvesting micro-generator into usable electrical signal. The micro-generator comprises a silicon cantilever with integrated InSensor® TF2100 PZT thick film deposited using screen-printing. The output power versus frequency and electrical load has been investigated. Furthermore......, devices based on modified, pressure treated thick film materials have been tested and compared with the commercial InSensor® TF2100 PZT thick films. It has been found that the structures based on the pressure treated materials exhibit superior properties in terms of energy output....

Wrinkle-free graphene electrodes in zinc tin oxide thin-film transistors for large area applications

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Se-Hee; Kim, Jae-Hee; Park, Byeong-Ju; Park, Jozeph; Kim, Hyun-Suk; Yoon, Soon-Gil

2017-02-01

Wrinkle-free graphene was used to form the source-drain electrodes in thin film transistors based on a zinc tin oxide (ZTO) semiconductor. A 10 nm thick titanium adhesion layer was applied prior to transferring a conductive graphene film on top of it by chemical detachment. The formation of an interlayer oxide between titanium and graphene allows the achievement of uniform surface roughness over the entire substrate area. The resulting devices were thermally treated in ambient air, and a substantial decrease in field effect mobility is observed with increasing annealing temperature. The increase in electrical resistivity of the graphene film at higher annealing temperatures may have some influence, however the growth of the oxide interlayer at the ZTO/Ti boundary is suggested to be most influential, thereby inducing relatively high contact resistance.

Porous Aluminum Oxide and Magnesium Oxide Films Using Organic Hydrogels as Structure Matrices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zimei Chen

2018-03-01

Full Text Available We describe the synthesis of mesoporous Al2O3 and MgO layers on silicon wafer substrates by using poly(dimethylacrylamide hydrogels as porogenic matrices. Hydrogel films are prepared by spreading the polymer through spin-coating, followed by photo-cross-linking and anchoring to the substrate surface. The metal oxides are obtained by swelling the hydrogels in the respective metal nitrate solutions and subsequent thermal conversion. Combustion of the hydrogel results in mesoporous metal oxide layers with thicknesses in the μm range and high specific surface areas up to 558 m2∙g−1. Materials are characterized by SEM, FIB ablation, EDX, and Kr physisorption porosimetry.

Effect of Deposition Time on the Photoelectrochemical Properties of Cupric Oxide Thin Films Synthesized via Electrodeposition Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaw Chong Siang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of deposition time on the physicochemical and photoelectrochemical properties of cupric oxide (CuO thin films synthesized via electrodeposition method. Firstly, the electrodeposition of amorphous CuO films on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO working electrodes with varying deposition time between 5 and 30 min was carried out, followed by annealing treatment at 500 °C. Resultant nanocrystalline CuO thin films were characterised using field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, photocurrent density, and photoluminescence measurements. Through FE-SEM analysis, it was observed that the surface of thin films was composed of irregular-sized CuO nanocrystals. A smaller CuO nanocrystals size will lead to a higher photoactivity due to the increase in overall catalytic surface area. In addition, the smaller CuO nanocrystals size will prolongs the electron-hole recombination rate due to the increase in copious amount of surface defects. From this study, it was revealed that the relationship between deposition time and CuO film thickness was non-linear. This could be due to the detachment of CuO thin films from the FTO surface at an increasing amount of CuO mass being deposited. It was observed that the amount of light absorbed by CuO thin films increased with film thickness until a certain extent whereby, any further increase in the film thickness will result in a reduction of light photon penetration. Therefore, the CuO nanocrystals size and film thickness have to be compromised in order to yield a higher catalytic surface area and a lower rate of surface charge recombination. Finally, it was found that the deposition time of 15 min resulted in an average CuO nanocrystals size of 73.7 nm, optimum film thickness of 0.73 μm, and corresponding photocurrent density of 0.23 mA/cm2 at the potential bias of - 0.3 V (versus Ag/AgCl. The PL spectra for the deposition time of 15 min has the lowest

BaF2 POST-DEPOSITION REACTION PROCESS FOR THICK YBCO FILMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

SUENAGA, M.; SOLOVYOV, V.F.; WU, L.; WIESMANN, H.J.; ZHU, Y.

2001-01-01

The basic processes of the so-called BaF 2 process for the formation of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 , YBCO, films as well as its advantages over the in situ formation processes are discussed in the previous chapter. The process and the properties of YBCO films by this process were also nicely described in earlier articles by R. Feenstra, (et al.) Here, we will discuss two pertinent subjects related to fabrication of technologically viable YBCO conductors using this process. These are (1) the growth of thick (>> 1 microm) c-axis-oriented YBCO films and (2) their growth rates. Before the detail discussions of these subjects are given, we first briefly discuss what geometrical structure a YBCO-coated conductor should be. Then, we will provide examples of simple arguments for how thick the YBCO films and how fast their growth rates need to be. Then, the discussions in the following two sections are devoted to: (1) the present understanding of the nucleation and the growth process for YBCO, and why it is so difficult to grow thick c-axis-oriented films (> 3 microm), and (2) our present understanding of the YBCO growth-limiting mechanism and methods to increase the growth rates. The values of critical-current densities J c in these films are of primary importance for the applications,. and the above two subjects are intimately related to the control of J c of the films. In general, the lower the temperatures of the YBCO formation are the higher the values of J c of the films. Thus, the present discussion is limited to those films which are reacted at ∼735 C. This is the lowest temperature at which c-axis-oriented YBCO films (1-3 microm thick) are comfortably grown. It is also well known that the non-c-axis oriented YBCO platelets are extremely detrimental to the values of J c such that their effects on J c dwarf essentially all of other microstructural effects which control J c . Hence, the discussion given below is mainly focused on how to avoid the growth of these crystallites

Study of lead free ferroelectrics using overlay technique on thick film microstrip ring resonator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shridhar N. Mathad

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The lead free ferroelectrics, strontium barium niobates, were synthesized via the low cost solid state reaction method and their fritless thick films were fabricated by screen printing technique on alumina substrate. The X band response (complex permittivity at very high frequencies of Ag thick film microstrip ring resonator perturbed with strontium barium niobates (SrxBa1-xNb2O6 in form of bulk and thick film was measured. A new approach for determination of complex permittivity (ε′ and ε′′ in the frequency range 8–12 GHz, using perturbation of Ag thick film microstrip ring resonator (MSRR, was applied for both bulk and thick film of strontium barium niobates (SrxBa1-xNb2O6. The microwave conductivity of the bulk and thick film lie in the range from 1.779 S/cm to 2.874 S/cm and 1.364 S/cm to 2.296 S/cm, respectively. The penetration depth of microwave in strontium barium niobates is also reported.

Interfacial interactions between some La-based perovskite thick films and ferritic steel substrate with regard to the operating conditions of SOFC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Przybylski, K.; Brylewski, T.; Morgiel, J.

2004-01-01

An overview is presented on the oxidation kinetics, electrical properties and microstructure investigations of the oxide products formed on Fe-25 wt.-%Cr steel uncoated and coated with electrical conducting films of (La,Ca)CrO 3 or (La,Sr)CoO 3 in air and H 2 /H 2 O gas mixture at 1023-1173 K for up to 480 hrs with regard to their application as the SOFC metallic interconnect. The application of the Fe-25Cr steel in SOFC operating at 1073 K requires its surface modification to improve the electrical conductivity of chromia scale forming on the uncoated steel surface. The thick films of (La,Ca)CrO 3 and (La,Sr)CoO 3 with the thickness range of 20-100 μm, coated on the Fe-25Cr steel by screen-printing method helped solve this problem. TEM-SAD, SEM-EDS and impedance spectroscopy investigations have shown significant influence of the multilayer products formation at the substrate steel/coating films interfacial zone on the electrical properties of the metallic interconnect. (orig.)

Attempt to produce both thick and thinned flowing superfluid films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwoh, D.S.W.; Goodstein, D.L.

1977-01-01

As discussed in the preceding paper by Graham, a controversy has arisen over conflicting reports of whether a superfluid film becomes thinned when it is set into motion. We have performed an experiment designed to reproduce as nearly as possible two previous measurements giving opposite results. Our experiment is also designed to test directly a theory proposed by Goodstein and Saffman which would have reconciled the apparently contradictory observations. We are unable to reproduce the thick-film result, finding kinetic thinning in all cases, even where the Goodstein--Saffman theory would lead us to expect a thick film. We conclude, in agreement with Graham, that the film is always thinned when it flows, and that the theory is therefore unnecessary

Laser Cutting of Thick Diamond Films Using Low-Power Laser

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Y.J.; Baik, Y.J. [Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea)

2000-02-01

Laser cutting of thick diamond films is studied rising a low-power(10 W) copper vapor laser. Due to the existence of the saturation depth in laser cutting, thick diamond films are not easily cut by low-power lasers. In this study, we have adopted a low thermal- conductivity underlayer of alumina and a heating stage (up to 500 deg. C in air) to prevent the laser energy from consuming-out and, in turn, enhance the cutting efficiency. Aspect ratio increases twice from 3.5 to 7 when the alumina underlayer used. Adopting a heating stage also increases aspect ratio and more than 10 is obtained at higher temperatures than 400 deg. C. These results show that thick diamond films can be cut, with low-power lasers, simply by modifying the thermal property of underlayer. (author). 13 refs., 5 figs.

Effect of substrates and thickness on optical properties in atomic layer deposition grown ZnO thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Pal, Dipayan; Singhal, Jaya; Mathur, Aakash; Singh, Ajaib; Dutta, Surjendu; Zollner, Stefan; Chattopadhyay, Sudeshna

2017-11-01

Atomic Layer Deposition technique was used to grow high quality, very low roughness, crystalline, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films on silicon (Si) and fused quartz (SiO2) substrates to study the optical properties. Spectroscopic ellipsometry results of ZnO/Si system, staggered type-II quantum well, demonstrate that there is a significant drop in the magnitudes of both the real and imaginary parts of complex dielectric constants and in near-band gap absorption along with a blue shift of the absorption edge with decreasing film thickness at and below ∼20 nm. Conversely, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy of ZnO/SiO2, thin type-I quantum well, consisting of a narrower-band gap semiconductor grown on a wider-band gap (insulator) substrate, shows the similar thickness dependent blue-shift of the absorption edge but with an increase in the magnitude of near-band gap absorption with decreasing film thickness. Thickness dependent blue shift, energy vs. 1/d2, in two different systems, ZnO/Si and ZnO/SiO2, show a difference in their slopes. The observed phenomena can be consistently explained by the corresponding exciton (or carrier/s) deconfinement and confinement effects at the ZnO/Si and ZnO/SiO2 interface respectively, where Tanguy-Elliott amplitude pre-factor plays the key role through the electron-hole overlap factor at the interface.

Surface functionalization by fine ultraviolet-patterning of nanometer-thick liquid lubricant films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Renguo; Zhang, Hedong; Komada, Suguru; Mitsuya, Yasunaga; Fukuzawa, Kenji; Itoh, Shintaro

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We present fine UV-patterning of nm-thick liquid films for surface functionalization. • The patterned films exhibit both a morphological pattern and a functional pattern of different surface properties. • The finest pattern linewidth was 0.5 μm. • Fine patterning is crucial for improving surface and tribological properties. - Abstract: For micro/nanoscale devices, surface functionalization is essential to achieve function and performance superior to those that originate from the inherent bulk material properties. As a method of surface functionalization, we dip-coated nanometer-thick liquid lubricant films onto solid surfaces and then patterned the lubricant films with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation through a photomask. Surface topography, adhesion, and friction measurements demonstrated that the patterned films feature a concave–convex thickness distribution with thicker lubricant in the irradiated regions and a functional distribution with lower adhesion and friction in the irradiated convex regions. The pattern linewidth ranged from 100 to as fine as 0.5 μm. The surface functionalization effect of UV-patterning was investigated by measuring the water contact angles, surface energies, friction forces, and depletion of the patterned, as-dipped, and full UV-irradiated lubricant films. The full UV-irradiated lubricant film was hydrophobic with a water contact angle of 102.1°, and had lower surface energy, friction, and depletion than the as-dipped film, which was hydrophilic with a water contact angle of 80.7°. This demonstrates that UV irradiation substantially improves the surface and tribological properties of the nanometer-thick liquid lubricant films. The UV-patterned lubricant films exhibited superior surface and tribological properties than the as-dipped film. The water contact angle increased and the surface energy, friction, and depletion decreased as the pattern linewidth decreased. In particular, the 0.5-μm patterned lubricant

Magnetron sputtered transparent conductive zinc-oxide stabilized amorphous indium oxide thin films on polyethylene terephthalate substrates at ambient temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Y.; Zhang, X.-F.; Ding, Y.-T.

2013-01-01

Amorphous transparent conducting zinc-oxide stabilized indium oxide thin films, named amorphous indium zinc oxide (a-IZO), were deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering at ambient temperature on flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrates. It has been demonstrated that the electrical resistivity could attain as low as ∼ 5 × 10 −4 Ω cm, which was noticeably lower than amorphous indium tin oxide films prepared at the same condition, while the visible transmittance exceeded 84% with the refractive index of 1.85–2.00. In our experiments, introduction of oxygen gas appeared to be beneficial to the improvement of the transparency and electrical conductivity. Both free carrier absorption and indirect transition were observed and Burstein–Moss effect proved a-IZO to be a degenerated amorphous semiconductor. However, the linear relation between the optical band gap and the band tail width which usually observed in covalent amorphous semiconductor such as a-Si:H was not conserved. Besides, porosity could greatly determine the resistivity and optical constants for the thickness variation at this deposition condition. Furthermore, a broad photoluminescence peak around 510 nm was identified when more than 1.5 sccm oxygen was introduced. - Highlights: ► Highly conducting amorphous zinc-oxide stabilized indium oxide thin films were prepared. ► The films were fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate at ambient temperature. ► Introduction of oxygen can improve the transparency and electrical conductivity. ► The linear relation between optical band gap and band tail width was not conserved

Effect of Temperature on Film Thickness of Two Types of Commonly used Luting Cements.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, M Praveen; Priyadarshini, Reddy; Kumar, Yasangi M; Priya, K Shanthi; Chunchuvyshnavi, Chunchuvyshnavi; Yerrapragada, Harika

2017-12-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of temperature change on film thickness of both types of cements. Totally, 60 samples were prepared with 10 in each subgroup, thus comprising 30 in each group. Materials tested were glass ionomer cement (GIC) type I and zinc phosphate type I. Samples were manipulated with manufacturer's instructions and tested according to American Dental Association (ADA) guidelines. The mean values of film thickness were recorded for both groups I and II. In intragroup comparison of group 1, subgroup III (26.560 ± 0.489 urn) was found to have the highest film thickness followed by subgroup II (24.182 ± 0.576 urn) and the lowest in subgroup I (20.209 ± 0.493 urn). In intragroup comparison of group II, the film thickness recorded in subgroup III (25.215 ± 0.661 urn) was the highest followed by subgroup II (21.471 ± 0.771 urn) and the least in subgroup I (17.951 ± 0.654 urn; p film thickness than group I (23.650 ± 0.271). The results were found to be statistically significant (p film thickness. Zinc phosphate has less film thickness than GIC. Zinc phosphate should be preferred over GIC in clinical practice, and more stress should be given in mechanical preparation of crowns for better retentive quality of prosthesis.

Quantum confinement effect in Bi anti-dot thin films with tailored pore wall widths and thicknesses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Y., E-mail: youngok@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Hirose, Y.; Fukumura, T.; Hasegawa, T. [Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan); CREST, JST, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Nakao, S. [Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan); CREST, JST, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Xu, J. [School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 (United States)

2014-01-13

We investigated quantum confinement effects in Bi anti-dot thin films grown on anodized aluminium oxide templates. The pore wall widths (w{sub Bi}) and thickness (t) of the films were tailored to have values longer or shorter than Fermi wavelength of Bi (λ{sub F} = ∼40 nm). Magnetoresistance measurements revealed a well-defined weak antilocalization effect below 10 K. Coherence lengths (L{sub ϕ}) as functions of temperature were derived from the magnetoresistance vs field curves by assuming the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka model. The anti-dot thin film with w{sub Bi} and t smaller than λ{sub F} showed low dimensional electronic behavior at low temperatures where L{sub ϕ}(T) exceed w{sub Bi} or t.

Characteristics of low-resistivity aluminum-doped zinc oxide films deposited at room temperature by off-axis radio-frequency sputtering on flexible plastic substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Li-Min; Wang, Chih-Yi; Jheng, Ciao-Ren; Wu, Syu-Jhan; Sai, Chen-Kai; Lee, Ya-Ju; Chiang, Ching-Yu; Shew, Bor-Yuan

2016-08-01

The crystalline structure, morphology, composition, electrical transport, and optical properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films are studied for applications in transparent electronics and optoelectronic devices. AZO thin films of c-axis-oriented growth and with different thickness were deposited on PET flexible plastic substrates at room temperature by rf magnetron sputtering. A larger grain size with a decreased strain ɛ value is observed in a thicker film, while changes in composition for films with different thicknesses are insignificant. Moreover, the resistivity of film decreases with increasing thickness, and the low-temperature electrical transport properties can be described by the scenario of quantum corrections to conductivity. With the room-temperature growth conditions, the resistivity of 4.5 × 10-4 Ω cm, carrier concentration of 6.4 × 1020 cm-3, and transmittance of 80 % for the 1100-nm-thick film are obtained. In addition, the optical bandgap energy decreases with increasing film thickness, which can be attributed to the bandgap renormalization and crystallite size effects.

Effect of thickness on electrical properties of SILAR deposited SnS thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Akaltun, Yunus; Astam, Aykut; Cerhan, Asena; ćayir, Tuba

2016-03-01

Tin sulfide (SnS) thin films of different thickness were prepared on glass substrates by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method at room temperature using tin (II) chloride and sodium sulfide aqueous solutions. The thicknesses of the films were determined using spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements and found to be 47.2, 65.8, 111.0, and 128.7nm for 20, 25, 30 and 35 deposition cycles respectively. The electrical properties of the films were investigated using d.c. two-point probe method at room temperature and the results showed that the resistivity was found to decrease with increasing film thickness.

The critical oxide thickness for Pb-free reflow soldering on Cu substrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, C. Key [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan (China); Assembly Test Global Materials, Intel Microelectronics Asia Ltd, B1, No. 205, Tun-Hwa North Road, 10595 Taipei, Taiwan (China); Chen, Y.J.; Li, C.C. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan (China); Kao, C.R., E-mail: crkao@ntu.edu.tw [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan (China)

2012-06-01

Oxidation is an undesirable effect of reflow soldering. Non-wetting occurs when the oxide layer grows above the critical thickness. Characterizing the critical oxide thickness for soldering is challenging due to oxide's nano-scale thickness and irregular topographic surface. In this paper, the critical copper oxide thickness was characterized by Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Copper substrates were coated with an Organic-Solderable-Preservative (OSP) layer and baked at 150 Degree-Sign C and 85% Relative Humidity for different amounts of time. The onset of the non-wetting phenomenon occurred when the oxide thickness reached 18 {+-} 5 nm. As the oxide grew beyond this critical thickness, the percentage of non-wetting solder joint increased exponentially. The growth of the oxide thickness followed a parabolic rate law. The rate constant of oxidation was 0.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -15} cm{sup 2} min{sup -1}. Oxidation resulted from interdiffusion of copper and oxygen atoms through the OSP and oxide layers. The oxidation mechanism will be presented and discussed. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Critical oxide thickness for Pb free solder on Cu substrate is 18 {+-} 5 nm. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Above the critical oxide, non-wet solder joint increases exponentially. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A maximum 13-nm oxide thickness is suggested for good solder joint. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Initial growth of oxide thickness is logarithmic and then parabolic after 12 nm. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Thick oxide (360-560 nm) is formed as pores shorten the oxidation path.

Study of Room Temperature H2S Gas Sensing Behavior of CuO-modified BSST Thick Film Resistors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. M. Baviskar

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Thick films of (Ba0.1Sr0.9(Sn0.5Ti0.5O3 referred as BSST, were prepared by screen-printing technique. The preparation, characterization and gas sensing properties of pure and CuO-BSST mixed oxide semiconductors have been investigated. The mixed oxides were obtained by dipping the pure BSST thick films into 0.01 M aqueous solution of CuCl2, for different intervals of time. Pure BSST was observed to be less sensitive to H2S gas. However, mixed oxides of CuO and BSST were observed to be highly sensitive to H2S gas. Upon exposure to H2S gas, the barrier height of CuO-BSST intergranular regions decreases markedly due to the chemical transformation of CuO into well conducting CuS leading to a drastic decrease in resistance. The crucial gas response was found to H2S gas at room temperature and no cross sensitivity was observed to other hazardous and polluting gases. The effects of microstructure and doping concentration on the gas response, selectivity, response and recovery of the sensor in the presence of H2S gas were studied and discussed.

Thick film heater for sensor application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milewski, J; Borecki, M; Kalenik, J; Król, K

2014-01-01

A thick film microheater was elaborated. The microheater is intended for fast heating of small volume samples under measurement in optical based system. Thermal analysis of microheater was carried out using finite element method (FEM) for heat transfer calculation as a function of time and space. A nodal heat transfer function was calculated in classical form including all basics mechanisms of heat exchange – heat conduction, convection and radiation were considered. Work focuses on the influence of some construction parameters (ex. length, thermal conductivity of substrate, substrate thickness) on microheater performance. The results show that application of thin substrate of low thermal conductivity and low thickness for miroheater construction and resistor of optimum dimensions leads to significant power consumption decrease and increase of overall optical measurement system performance.

Screen printed nanosized ZnO thick film

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

The ex- tracted powder was screen printed on glass substrates using ethyl cellulose as binder and turpinol as solvent. ... racterized and a thick film paste is prepared by adding suitable .... UV peak and a broad green emission which is usually.

Multifunctional thick-film structures based on spinel ceramics for environment sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vakiv, M; Hadzaman, I; Klym, H; Shpotyuk, O; Brunner, M

2011-01-01

Temperature sensitive thick films based on spinel-type NiMn 2 O 4 -CuMn 2 O 4 -MnCo 2 O 4 manganites with p- and p + -types of electrical conductivity and their multilayer p + -p structures were studied. These thick-film elements possess good electrophysical characteristics before and after long-term ageing test at 170 deg. C. It is shown that degradation processes connected with diffusion of metallic Ag into film grain boundaries occur in one-layer p-and p + -conductive films. Some part of the p + -p structures were of high stability, the relative electrical drift being no more than 1 %.

Channel layer thickness dependence of In-Ti-Zn-O thin-film transistors fabricated using pulsed laser deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Q.; Shan, F. K.; Liu, G. X.; Liu, A.; Lee, W. J.; Shin, B. C.

2014-01-01

Amorphous indium-titanium-zinc-oxide (ITZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with various channel thicknesses were fabricated at room temperature by using pulsed laser deposition. The channel layer thickness (CLT) dependence of the TFTs was investigated. All the ITZO thin films were amorphous, and the surface roughnesses decreased slightly first and then increased with increasing CLT. With increasing CLT from 35 to 140 nm, the on/off current ratio and the field-effect mobility increased, and the subthreshold swing decreased. The TFT with a CLT of 210 nm exhibited the worst performance, while the ITZO TFT with a CLT of 140 nm exhibited the best performance with a subthreshold voltage of 2.86 V, a mobility of 53.9 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , a subthreshold swing of 0.29 V/decade and an on/off current ratio of 10 9 .

A wrinkling-based method for investigating glassy polymer film relaxation as a function of film thickness and temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Jun Young; Douglas, Jack F; Stafford, Christopher M

2017-10-21

We investigate the relaxation dynamics of thin polymer films at temperatures below the bulk glass transition T g by first compressing polystyrene films supported on a polydimethylsiloxane substrate to create wrinkling patterns and then observing the slow relaxation of the wrinkled films back to their final equilibrium flat state by small angle light scattering. As with recent relaxation measurements on thin glassy films reported by Fakhraai and co-workers, we find the relaxation time of our wrinkled films to be strongly dependent on film thickness below an onset thickness on the order of 100 nm. By varying the temperature between room temperature and T g (≈100 °C), we find that the relaxation time follows an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence to a good approximation at all film thicknesses investigated, where both the activation energy and the relaxation time pre-factor depend appreciably on film thickness. The wrinkling relaxation curves tend to cross at a common temperature somewhat below T g , indicating an entropy-enthalpy compensation relation between the activation free energy parameters. This compensation effect has also been observed recently in simulated supported polymer films in the high temperature Arrhenius relaxation regime rather than the glassy state. In addition, we find that the film stress relaxation function, as well as the height of the wrinkle ridges, follows a stretched exponential time dependence and the short-time effective Young's modulus derived from our modeling decreases sigmoidally with increasing temperature-both characteristic features of glassy materials. The relatively facile nature of the wrinkling-based measurements in comparison to other film relaxation measurements makes our method attractive for practical materials development, as well as fundamental studies of glass formation.

Residual stress analysis in thick uranium films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hodge, A.M.; Foreman, R.J.; Gallegos, G.F.

2005-01-01

Residual stress analysis was performed on thick, 1-25 μm, depleted uranium (DU) films deposited on an Al substrate by magnetron sputtering. Two distinct characterization techniques were used to measure substrate curvature before and after deposition. Stress evaluation was performed using the Benabdi/Roche equation, which is based on beam theory of a bi-layer material. The residual stress evolution was studied as a function of coating thickness and applied negative bias voltage (0, -200, -300 V). The stresses developed were always compressive; however, increasing the coating thickness and applying a bias voltage presented a trend towards more tensile stresses and thus an overall reduction of residual stresses

The effect of substrate orientation on the kinetics and thermodynamics of initial oxide-film growth on metals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reichel, Friederike

2007-11-19

This thesis addresses the effect of the parent metal-substrate orientation on the thermodynamics and kinetics of ultra-thin oxide-film growth on bare metals upon their exposure to oxygen gas at low temperatures (up to 650 K). A model description has been developed to predict the thermodynamically stable microstructure of a thin oxide film grown on its bare metal substrate as function of the oxidation conditions and the substrate orientation. For Mg and Ni, the critical oxide-film thickness is less than 1 oxide monolayer and therefore the initial development of an amorphous oxide phase on these metal substrates is unlikely. Finally, for Cu and densely packed Cr and Fe metal surfaces, oxide overgrowth is predicted to proceed by the direct formation and growth of a crystalline oxide phase. Further, polished Al single-crystals with {l_brace}111{r_brace}, {l_brace}100{r_brace} and {l_brace}110{r_brace} surface orientations were introduced in an ultra-high vacuum system for specimen processing and analysis. After surface cleaning and annealing, the bare Al substrates have been oxidized by exposure to pure oxygen gas. During the oxidation, the oxide-film growth kinetics has been established by real-time in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. After the oxidation, the oxide-film microstructures were investigated by angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction. Finally, high-resolution transmission electron microscopic analysis was applied to study the microstructure and morphology of the grown oxide films on an atomic scale. (orig.)

The film thickness dependent thermal stability of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films as high-temperature solar selective absorbers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xiao Xiudi; Xu Gang, E-mail: xiudixiao@163.com; Xiong Bin; Chen Deming; Miao Lei [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrates, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (China)

2012-03-15

The monolayer Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films were prepared by magnetron sputtering. The microstructure and optical properties of thin film after annealing at 700 Degree-Sign C in air were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectrophotometer. It revealed that the particle shape, size, and distribution across the film were greatly changed before and after annealing. The surface plasmon resonance absorption and thermal stability of the film were found to be strongly dependent on the film thickness, which was believed to be associated with the evolution process of particle diffusion, agglomeration, and evaporation during annealing at high temperature. When the film thickness was smaller than 90 nm, the film SPR absorption can be attenuated until extinct with increasing annealing time due to the evaporation of Ag particles. While the film thickness was larger than 120 nm, the absorption can keep constant even after annealing for 64 h due to the agglomeration of Ag particles. On the base of film thickness results, the multilayer Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag solar selective thin films were prepared and the thermal stability test illustrated that the solar selectivity of multilayer films with absorbing layer thickness larger than 120 nm did not degrade after annealing at 500 Degree-Sign C for 70 h in air. It can be concluded that film thickness is an important factor to control the thermal stability of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films as high-temperature solar selective absorbers.

An anode with aluminum doped on zinc oxide thin films for organic light emitting devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Denghui; Deng Zhenbo; Xu Ying; Xiao Jing; Liang Chunjun; Pei Zhiliang; Sun Chao

2005-01-01

Doped zinc oxides are attractive alternative materials as transparent conducting electrode because they are nontoxic and inexpensive compared with indium tin oxide (ITO). Transparent conducting aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering method. Films were deposited at a substrate temperature of 150-bar o C in 0.03 Pa of oxygen pressure. The electrical and optical properties of the film with the Al-doping amount of 2 wt% in the target were investigated. For the 300-nm thick AZO film deposited using a ZnO target with an Al content of 2 wt%, the lowest electrical resistivity was 4x10 -4 Ωcm and the average transmission in the visible range 400-700 nm was more than 90%. The AZO film was used as an anode contact to fabricate organic light-emitting diodes. The device performance was measured and the current efficiency of 2.9 cd/A was measured at a current density of 100 mA/cm 2

Thickness, morphology, and optoelectronic characteristics of pristine and surfactant-modified DNA thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arasu, Velu; Reddy Dugasani, Sreekantha; Son, Junyoung; Gnapareddy, Bramaramba; Ha Park, Sung; Jeon, Sohee; Jeong, Jun-Ho

2017-01-01

Although the preparation of DNA thin films with well-defined thicknesses controlled by simple physical parameters is crucial for constructing efficient, stable, and reliable DNA-based optoelectronic devices and sensors, it has not been comprehensively studied yet. Here, we construct DNA and surfactant-modified DNA thin films by drop-casting and spin-coating techniques. The DNA thin films formed with different control parameters, such as drop-volume and spin-speed at given DNA concentrations, exhibit characteristic thickness, surface roughness, surface potential, and absorbance, which are measured by a field emission scanning electron microscope, a surface profilometer, an ellipsometer, an atomic force microscope, a Kelvin probe force microscope, and an UV–visible spectroscope. From the observations, we realized that thickness significantly affects the physical properties of DNA thin films. This comprehensive study of thickness-dependent characteristics of DNA and surfactant-modified DNA thin films provides insight into the choice of fabrication techniques in order for the DNA thin films to have desired physical characteristics in further applications, such as optoelectronic devices and sensors. (paper)

Thickness-Dependent Surfactant Behavior in Trilayer Polymer Films

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yan; Shull, Kenneth; Wang, Jin

2010-03-01

The ability for thin liquid films to wet and remain thermodynamically stable on top of one another is a fundamental challenge in developing high quality paints, coatings, adhesives, and other industrial products. Since intermolecular interactions and interfacial energies dominate in the film thickness regime from tens to hundreds of nanometers, it is desirable to tune these long-range and short-range forces in a simple, controllable manner. Starting from an unstable model homopolymer bilayer (poly(styrene)/poly(4-vinylpyridine)), we demonstrate that sandwiching an additional homopolymer layer (poly(4-bromostyrene)) between the two layers can provide needed surfactancy. As the thickness of this center layer is increased, the full trilayer transitions from unstable (thin) to stable (moderate) to unstable (thick). We experimentally show using x-ray standing waves generated via total external reflection (TER-XSW), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) that this behavior can be directly attributed to the autophobic dewetting phenomenon, in which the surfactant layer is thin enough to remain stable but thick enough to shield the neighboring layers, highlighting a general approach to stabilizing multilayer systems.

Kinetics of sub-spinodal dewetting of thin films of thickness dependent viscosity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotni, Tirumala Rao; Khanna, Rajesh; Sarkar, Jayati

2017-05-04

An alternative explanation of the time varying and very low growth exponents in dewetting of polymer films like polystyrene films is presented based on non-linear simulations. The kinetics of these films is explored within the framework of experimentally observed thickness dependent viscosity. These films exhibit sub-spinodal dewetting via formation of satellite holes in between primary dewetted holes under favorable conditions of excess intermolecular forces and film thicknesses. We find that conditions responsible for sub-spinodal dewetting concurrently lead to remarkable changes in the kinetics of dewetting of even primary holes. For example, the radius of the hole grows in time with a power-law growth exponent sequence of [Formula: see text], in contrast to the usual  ∼4/5. This is due to the cumulative effect of reduced rim mobility due to thickness dependent viscosity and hindrance created by satellite holes.

Effect of anionic dopants on thickness, morphology and electrical properties of polypyrrole ultra-thin films prepared by in situ chemical polymerization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahmoodian, Mehrnoosh [Dep. of Polymer Engineering, Nanostructured Materials Research Center, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz 51335-1996 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Pourabbas, Behzad, E-mail: pourabas@sut.ac.ir [Dep. of Polymer Engineering, Nanostructured Materials Research Center, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz 51335-1996 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Mohajerzadeh, Shams [Nano-Electronics and Thin Film Lab, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14395/515, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2015-05-29

The effect of different dopant anions on deposition and characteristics of polypyrrole (PPy) thin film has been studied in this work. Ultra-thin films of conducting PPy were deposited on insulating surfaces of glass and oxidized silicon wafer by in situ chemical polymerization in the presence of different anionic dopants including sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, α-naphthalene sulfonic acid, anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid sodium salt monohydrate/5-sulfosalicylic acid dehydrate, and camphor sulfonic acid. Hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties and morphology of the self-assembled monolayer of N-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)pyrrole, the surface modifying agent in this work, and PPy thin films were characterized before and after deposition by contact angle measurements, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Chemical structure, thickness, and conductivity of the thin films were also studied by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, ellipsometry, and four-point probe measurements. The results showed deposition of thin films of conducting PPy with comparable thickness in the range of 6-31 nm and different morphologies, uniformity, and smoothness with average roughness in the range of 0.3-6 nm and relatively high range of conductivity on the modified surfaces. - Highlights: • Conducting thin films of polypyrrole were deposited on glass and SiO{sub 2} substrates. • Surface modification using pyrrole-silane was employed prior to polymerization. • Films as thin as ≈ 7 nm were deposited using different surfactant/counter ions. • Chemistry of the counter ion affects thickness, conductivity and morphology. • Lower thickness/higher conductivity were obtained by structurally flexible dopants.

Improvement of Self-Heating of Indium Gallium Zinc Aluminum Oxide Thin-Film Transistors Using Al2O3 Barrier Layer

Science.gov (United States)

Jian, Li-Yi; Lee, Hsin-Ying; Lin, Yung-Hao; Lee, Ching-Ting

2018-02-01

To study the self-heating effect, aluminum oxide (Al2O3) barrier layers of various thicknesses have been inserted between the channel layer and insulator layer in bottom-gate-type indium gallium zinc aluminum oxide (IGZAO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Each IGZAO channel layer was deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate by using a magnetron radiofrequency cosputtering system with dual targets composed of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) and Al. The 3 s orbital of Al cation provided an extra transport pathway and widened the conduction-band bottom, thus increasing the electron mobility of the IGZAO films. The Al-O bonds were able to sustain the oxygen stability of the IGZAO films. The self-heating behavior of the resulting IGZAO TFTs was studied by Hall measurements on the IGZAO films as well as the electrical performance of the IGZAO TFTs with Al2O3 barrier layers of various thicknesses at different temperatures. IGZAO TFTs with 50-nm-thick Al2O3 barrier layer were stressed by positive gate bias stress (PGBS, at gate-source voltage V GS = 5 V and drain-source voltage V DS = 0 V); at V GS = 5 V and V DS = 10 V, the threshold voltage shifts were 0.04 V and 0.2 V, respectively, much smaller than for the other IGZAO TFTs without Al2O3 barrier layer, which shifted by 0.2 V and 1.0 V when stressed under the same conditions.

Development of examination technique for oxide layer thickness measurement of irradiated fuel rods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, D. S.; Park, S. W.; Kim, J. H.; Seo, H. S.; Min, D. K.; Kim, E. K.; Chun, Y. B.; Bang, K. S.

1999-06-01

Technique for oxide layer thickness measurement of irradiated fuel rods was developed to measure oxide layer thickness and study characteristic of fuel rods. Oxide layer thickness of irradiated fuels were measured, analyzed. Outer oxide layer thickness of 3 cycle-irradiated fuel rods were 20 - 30 μm, inner oxide layer thickness 0 - 10 μm and inner oxide layer thickness on cracked cladding about 30 μm. Oxide layer thickness of 4 cycle-irradiated fuel rods were about 2 times as thick as those of 1 cycle-irradiated fuel rods. Oxide layer on lower region of irradiated fuel rods was thin and oxide layer from lower region to upper region indicated gradual increase in thickness. Oxide layer thickness from 2500 to 3000 mm showed maximum and oxide layer thickness from 3000 to top region of irradiated fuel rods showed decreasing trend. Inner oxide layer thicknesses of 4 cycle-irradiated fuel rod were about 8 μm at 750 - 3500 mm from the bottom end of fuel rod. Outer oxide layer thickness were about 8 μm at 750 - 1000 mm from the bottom end of fuel rod. These indicated gradual increase up to upper region from the bottom end of fuel rod. These indicated gradual increase up to upper region from the bottom end of fuel. Oxide layer thickness technique will apply safety evaluation and study of reactor fuels. (author). 6 refs., 14 figs

Ceramic thick film humidity sensor based on MgTiO3 + LiF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kassas, Ahmad; Bernard, Jérôme; Lelièvre, Céline; Besq, Anthony; Guhel, Yannick; Houivet, David; Boudart, Bertrand; Lakiss, Hassan; Hamieh, Tayssir

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • The fabricated sensor based on MgTiO 3 + LiF materials used the spin coating technology. • The response time is 70 s to detect variation between 5 and 95% relative humidity. • The addition of Scleroglucan controls the viscosity and decreases the roughness of thick film surface. • This humidity sensor is a promising, low-cost, high-quality, reliable ceramic films, that is highly sensitive to humidity. - Abstract: The feasibility of humidity sensor, consisting of a thick layer of MgTiO 3 /LiF materials on alumina substrate, was studied. The thermal analysis TGA-DTGA and dilatometric analysis worked out to confirm the sintering temperature. An experimental plan was applied to describe the effects of different parameters in the development of the thick film sensor. Structural and microstructural characterizations of the developed thick film were made. Rheological study with different amounts of a thickener (scleroglucan “sclg”), showing the behavior variation, as a function of sclg weight % was illustrated and rapprochement with the results of thickness variation as a function of angular velocity applied in the spin coater. The electrical and dielectric measurements confirmed the sensitivity of the elaborated thick film against moisture, along with low response time

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and magnetization dynamics in oxidized CoFeAl films

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Di; Zhang, Zhe; Li, Le; Zhang, Zongzhi; Zhao, H. B.; Wang, J.; Ma, B.; Jin, Q. Y.

2015-07-01

Half-metallic Co-based full-Heusler alloys with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), such as Co2FeAl in contact with MgO, are receiving increased attention recently due to its full spin polarization for high density memory applications. However, the PMA induced by MgO interface can only be realized for very thin magnetic layers (usually below 1.3 nm), which would have strong adverse effects on the material properties of spin polarization, Gilbert damping parameter, and magnetic stability. In order to solve this issue, we fabricated oxidized Co50Fe25Al25 (CFAO) films with proper thicknesses without employing the MgO layer. The samples show controllable PMA by tuning the oxygen pressure (PO2) and CFAO thickness (tCFAO), large perpendicular anisotropy field of ~8.0 kOe can be achieved at PO2 = 12% for the sample of tCFAO = 2.1 nm or at PO2 = 7% for tCFAO = 2.8 nm. The loss of PMA at thick tCFAO or high PO2 results mainly from the formation of large amount of CoFe oxides, which are superparamagnetic at room temperature but become hard magnetic at low temperatures. The magnetic CFAO films, with strong PMA in a relatively wide thickness range and small intrinsic damping parameter below 0.028, would find great applications in developing advanced spintronic devices.

Influence of Liquid Petroleum Gas on the Electrical Parameters of the WO3 Thick Film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. S. KHADAYATE

2007-02-01

Full Text Available In this work, the WO3 thick films were prepared by standard screen-printing technology. These films were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD measurements and scanning electron microscopy (SEM. Influence of LPG on the electrical properties of the prepared WO3 thick film is reported. It was observed that the slope of the Arrhenius curves of the WO3 thick film decreased as the medium changed from pure air to 100 ppm LPG in air. From I-V characteristics, it was observed that the WO3 thick film exhibit highest sensitivity to 50 ppm LPG in air at 400oC.

A method for reducing the sloughing of thick blood films for malaria diagnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Norgan, Andrew P; Arguello, Heather E; Sloan, Lynne M; Fernholz, Emily C; Pritt, Bobbi S

2013-07-08

The gold standard for malaria diagnosis is the examination of thick and thin blood films. Thick films contain 10 to 20 times more blood than thin films, correspondingly providing increased sensitivity for malaria screening. A potential complication of thick film preparations is sloughing of the blood droplet from the slide during staining or rinsing, resulting in the loss of sample. In this work, two methods for improving thick film slide adherence ('scratch' (SCM) and 'acetone dip' (ADM) methods) were compared to the 'standard method' (SM) of thick film preparation. Standardized blood droplets from 26 previously examined EDTA whole blood specimens (22 positive and four negative) were concurrently spread on glass slides using the SM, ADM, and SCM. For the SM and ADM prepared slides, the droplet was gently spread to an approximate 22 millimeters in diameter spot on the slide using the edge of a second glass slide. For the SCM, the droplet was spread by carefully grinding (or scratching) it into the slide with the point of a second glass slide. Slides were dried for one hour in a laminar flow hood. For the ADM, slides were dipped once in an acetone filled Coplin jar and allowed to air dry. All slides were then Giemsa-stained and examined in a blinded manner. Adherence was assessed by blinded reviewers. No significant or severe defects were observed for slides prepared with the SCM. In contrast, 8 slides prepared by the ADM and 3 prepared using the SM displayed significant or severe defects. Thick films prepared by the three methods were microscopically indistinguishable and concordant results (positive or negative) were obtained for the three methods. Estimated parasitaemia of the blood samples ranged from 25 to 429,169 parasites/μL of blood. The SCM is an inexpensive, rapid, and simple method that improves the adherence of thick blood films to standard glass slides without altering general slide preparation, microscopic appearance or interpretability. Using the SCM

Preparation of transparent conductive indium tin oxide thin films from nanocrystalline indium tin hydroxide by dip-coating method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koroesi, Laszlo; Papp, Szilvia; Dekany, Imre

2011-01-01

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films with well-controlled layer thickness were produced by dip-coating method. The ITO was synthesized by a sol-gel technique involving the use of aqueous InCl 3 , SnCl 4 and NH 3 solutions. To obtain stable sols for thin film preparation, as-prepared Sn-doped indium hydroxide was dialyzed, aged, and dispersed in ethanol. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was applied to enhance the stability of the resulting ethanolic sols. The transparent, conductive ITO films on glass substrates were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The ITO layer thickness increased linearly during the dipping cycles, which permits excellent controllability of the film thickness in the range ∼ 40-1160 nm. After calcination at 550 o C, the initial indium tin hydroxide films were transformed completely to nanocrystalline ITO with cubic and rhombohedral structure. The effects of PVP on the optical, morphological and electrical properties of ITO are discussed.

Simultaneous reflectometry and interferometry for measuring thin-film thickness and curvature

Science.gov (United States)

Arends, A. A.; Germain, T. M.; Owens, J. F.; Putnam, S. A.

2018-05-01

A coupled reflectometer-interferometer apparatus is described for thin-film thickness and curvature characterization in the three-phase contact line region of evaporating fluids. Validation reflectometry studies are provided for Au, Ge, and Si substrates and thin-film coatings of SiO2 and hydrogel/Ti/SiO2. For interferometry, liquid/air and solid/air interferences are studied, where the solid/air samples consisted of glass/air/glass wedges, cylindrical lenses, and molded polydimethylsiloxane lenses. The liquid/air studies are based on steady-state evaporation experiments of water and isooctane on Si and SiO2/Ti/SiO2 wafers. The liquid thin-films facilitate characterization of both (i) the nano-scale thickness of the absorbed fluid layer and (ii) the macro-scale liquid meniscus thickness, curvature, and curvature gradient profiles. For our validation studies with commercial lenses, the apparatus is shown to measure thickness profiles within 4.1%-10.8% error.

Characterization and comparison of thermistor thick films. Topical report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehman, R.W.

1981-09-01

Four thermistor thick film inks were evaluated for HMC production use. The physical, chemical and electrical properties of the wet inks and fired films were measured. Variations in the physical and chemical properties of the inks were used to explain variations in thermistor electrical resistance and temperature coefficient of resistance

Thickness control in electrophoretic deposition of WO{sub 3} nanofiber thin films for solar water splitting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang, Yuanxing; Lee, Wei Cheat; Canciani, Giacomo E.; Draper, Thomas C.; Al-Bawi, Zainab F. [Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ (United Kingdom); Bedi, Jasbir S. [School of Public Health & Zoonoses, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana 141004 Punjab (India); Perry, Christopher C. [Division of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350 (United States); Chen, Qiao, E-mail: qiao.chen@sussex.ac.uk [Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ (United Kingdom)

2015-12-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A novel method combining electrospinning and electrophoretic deposition was established for the creation of nanostructured semiconductor thin films. • The created thin films displayed a high chemical stability with a controllable thickness. • The PEC water splitting performance of the thin films was optimized by fine-tuning the thickness of the films. • A maximum photoconversion efficiency was achieved by 18 μm nanofibrous thin films. - Abstract: Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of ground electrospun WO{sub 3} nanofibers was applied to create photoanodes with controlled morphology for the application of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The correlations between deposition parameters and film thicknesses were investigated with theoretical models to precisely control the morphology of the nanostructured porous thin film. The photoconversion efficiency was further optimized as a function of film thickness. A maximum photoconversion efficiency of 0.924% from electrospun WO{sub 3} nanofibers that EPD deposited on a substrate was achieved at a film thickness of 18 μm.

Titanium dioxide-coated fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films for improving overall photoelectric property

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Bao-jia; Huang, Li-jing; Ren, Nai-fei; Zhou, Ming

2014-01-01

Titanium (Ti) layers were deposited by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering on commercial fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glasses, followed by simultaneous oxidation and annealing treatment in a tubular furnace to prepare titanium dioxide (TiO 2 )/FTO bilayer films. Large and densely arranged grains were observed on all TiO 2 /FTO bilayer films. The presence of TiO 2 tetragonal rutile phase in the TiO 2 /FTO bilayer films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results of parameter optimization indicated that the TiO 2 /FTO bilayer film, which was formed by adopting a temperature of 400 °C and an oxygen flow rate of 15 sccm, had the optimal overall photoelectric property with a figure of merit of 2.30 × 10 −2 Ω −1 , higher than 1.78 × 10 −2 Ω −1 for the FTO single-layer film. After coating a 500 nm-thick AZO layer by DC magnetron sputtering on this TiO 2 /FTO bilayer film, the figure of merit of the trilayer film achieved to a higher figure of merit of 3.12 × 10 −2 Ω −1 , indicating further improvement of the overall photoelectric property. This work may provide a scientific basis and reference for improving overall photoelectric property of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films.

Multifunctional thick-film structures based on spinel ceramics for environment sensors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vakiv, M; Hadzaman, I; Klym, H; Shpotyuk, O [Institute of Materials of SRC ' Carat' , 202 Stryjska str., Lviv, 79031 (Ukraine); Brunner, M, E-mail: shpotyuk@novas.lviv.ua, E-mail: klymha@yahoo.com [Fachhochschule Koeln/University of Applied Sciences, 2 Betzdorfer str., Koeln, 50679 (Germany)

2011-04-01

Temperature sensitive thick films based on spinel-type NiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4}-CuMn{sub 2}O{sub 4}-MnCo{sub 2}O{sub 4} manganites with p- and p{sup +}-types of electrical conductivity and their multilayer p{sup +}-p structures were studied. These thick-film elements possess good electrophysical characteristics before and after long-term ageing test at 170 deg. C. It is shown that degradation processes connected with diffusion of metallic Ag into film grain boundaries occur in one-layer p-and p{sup +}-conductive films. Some part of the p{sup +}-p structures were of high stability, the relative electrical drift being no more than 1 %.

Thickness determination of large-area films of yttria-stabilized zirconia produced by pulsed laser deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pryds, N. [Materials Research Department, Riso National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark)]. E-mail: nini.pryds@risoe.dk; Toftmann, B. [Department of Optics and Plasma Research, Riso National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Bilde-Sorensen, J.B. [Materials Research Department, Riso National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Schou, J. [Department of Optics and Plasma Research, Riso National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Linderoth, S. [Materials Research Department, Riso National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark)

2006-04-30

Films of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) on a polished silicon substrate of diameter up to 125 mm have been produced in a large-area pulsed laser deposition (PLD) setup under typical PLD conditions. The film thickness over the full film area has been determined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with use of a method similar to one described by Bishop and Poole. The attenuation of the electron-induced X-rays from the Si wafer by the film was monitored at a number of points along a diameter and the thickness was determined by Monte Carlo simulations of the attenuation for various values of film thickness with the program CASINO. These results have been compared with direct measurements in the SEM of the film thickness on a cross-section on one of the wafers. The results of these measurements demonstrate the ability of this technique to accurately determine the thickness of a large film, i.e. up to diameters of 125 mm, in a relatively short time, without destroying the substrate, without the need of a standard sample and without the need of a flat substrate. We have also demonstrated that by controlling the deposition parameters large-area YSZ films with uniform thickness can be produced.