High dielectric constant nickel-doped titanium oxide films prepared by liquid-phase deposition

The electrical characteristics of nickel-doped titanium oxide films prepared by liquid-phase deposition on p-type (100) silicon substrate were investigated. The aqueous solutions of ammonium hexafluorotitanate and boric acid were used as precursors for the growth of titanium oxide films and the dielectric constant is 29. The dielectric constant can be improved to 94 by nickel doping at the thermal annealing at 700 °C in nitrous oxide.     

Thin TiO2 grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition on (NH4)2S x -treated InP

The electrical characteristics of thin TiO₂ films prepared by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition grown on a p-type InP substrate were studied. For a TiO₂ film of 4.7 nm on InP without and with ammonium sulfide treatment, the leakage currents are 8.8×10⁻² and 1.1×10⁻⁴ A/cm² at +2 V bias and 1.6×10⁻¹ and 8.3×10⁻⁴ A/cm² at −2 V bias. The lower leakage currents of TiO₂ with ammonium sulfide treatment arise from the improvement of interface quality. The dielectric constant and effective oxide charge number density are 33 and 2.5×10¹³ cm², respectively. The lowest mid-gap interface state density is around 7.6×10¹¹ cm⁻² eV⁻¹. The equivalent oxide thickness is 0.52 nm. The breakdown electric field increases with decreasing thickness in the range of 2.5 to 7.6 nm and reaches 9.3 MV/cm at 2.5 nm.     

Ultraviolet-durable superhydrophobic zinc oxide-coated mesh films for surface and underwater-oil capture and transportation

In this paper, we report a simple and an inexpensive method for fabricating superhydrophobic/superoleophilic mesh films from microstructured ZnO coatings. The microstructured ZnO coatings, which do not contain any fluorinated compounds, maintain their superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity after ultraviolet irradiation and display environmental stability. Furthermore, those microstructured ZnO-coated mesh films exhibit good selectivity (even underwater) and excellent recyclability, making them promising candidates for many potential applications, including liquid-liquid separation, water treatment, and liquid transportation.     

Electrical characteristics of GaAs MOS capacitor and field effect transistor with atomic layer-deposited TiO2/Al2O3 dielectrics

The (NH₄)₂S treatment can reduce native oxides and passivate GaAs. Atomic layer-deposited Al₂O₃ can further remove the residue native oxides by self-cleaning. Stacked with high dielectric constant TiO₂ prepared by atomic layer deposition on Al₂O₃/(NH₄)₂S-treated GaAs MOS capacitor, the leakage current densities can reach 4.5 × 10^?8 and 3.4 × 10^?6 A/cm² at ±2 MV/cm. The net effective dielectric constant of the entire stack is 18 and the interface state density is about 4.2 × 10¹¹/cm²/eV. The fabricated enhancement-mode n-channel GaAs MOSFET exhibited good electrical characteristics with a maximum g _m of 122 mS/mm and electron mobility of 226 cm²/V s.     

Characterization of patterned poly(methyl methacrylate) brushes under various structures upon solvent immersion

In this paper we describe a graft polymerization/solvent immersion method for generating various patterns of polymer brushes. We used a very-large-scale integration (VLSI) process and oxygen plasma system to generate well-defined patterns of polymerized methyl methacrylate (MMA) on patterned Si(1 0 0) surfaces through atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). After immersion of wafers presenting lines of these PMMA brushes in water and tetrahydrofuran, we observed mushroom- and brush-like regimes through grafting densities and surface coverages, respectively, for the PMMA brushes with various pattern resolutions. In the mushroom-like regime, the distance between lines of PMMA brushes was smaller than that of the lines patterned lithographically on the wafer; in the brush-like regime, this distance was approximately the same. This new strategy allows polymer brushes to be prepared through graft polymerization and then have their patterns varied through solvent immersion.     

Polybenzoxazine as a mold-release agent for nanoimprint lithography

One of the most important tasks remaining to be resolved in nanoimprint lithography is the elimination of the resist sticking to the mold during demolding. Previously, the main approach was to apply a thin layer of fluorinated alkyl silane mold-release agent on the surface on the mold; however, this involves complicated steps and high costs. The low surface free energy material polybenzoxazine provides an efficient mold-release agent for silicon molds that is easier to process, costs less, and has no side reactions.     

Tunable wettability of carbon nanotube/poly (?-caprolactone) hybrid films

We have realized a stable superhydrophobic surface, a thermally tunable superhydrophobic surface, and a thermally tunable hydrophobic surface by combining the crystalline/amorphous phase transition of the poly(?-caprolactone) (PCL) with the optimized surface roughness of the carbon nanotube/PCL hybrid films. The water droplet mobilities and wettabilities were reversibly thermally switched on the tunable superhydrophobic and the hydrophobic surfaces, respectively. These responsive surfaces have potential applications in microfluidic devices and microreactors and for liquid transportation.