Determination of Thermal Diffusivity of a Manganite Thin Film

Thermal diffusivity has been investigated in a manganite thin film La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 by means of transient grating （TG） technique at room temperature. A new method, which is generalized to two-layered samples of the thin film deposited on a semi-infinite substrate, is established to fit the TG signals. The thermal diffusivity of the Lao.6Sro.4MnO3 thin film with a thickness of 200nm on an MgO （100） substrate is determined to be 0.92mm^2/s, which is slightly smaller than that of the single crystal sample （1 mm^2/s）.     

Influence of LiB3O5 Structure on Microstructure and Optical Properties of ZrO2 Thin Films Prepared by Electron Beam Evaporation

ZrO2 thin films were deposited by using an electron beam evaporation technique on three kinds of lithium triborate (LIB3O5 or LBO) substrates with the surfaces at specified crystalline orientations. The influences of the LBO structure on the structural and optical properties of ZrO2 thin films are studied by spectrophotometer and x-ray diffraction. The results indicate that the substrate structure has obvious effects on the structural and optical properties of the film: namely, the ZrO2 thin film deposited on the X-LBO, Y-LBO and Z-LBO orients to m(-212), rn(021) and o(130) directions. It is also found that the ZrO2 thin film with m(021) has the highest refractive index and the least lattice misfit.     

Raman scattering of polycrystalline GaSb thin films grownby co-evapouration process

<正>This paper reports that GaSb thin films have been co-deposited on soda-lime glass substrates.The GaSb thin film structural properties are characterized by Raman spectroscopy.The Sb-A_1g/GaSb-TO ratio decreases rapidly with the increase of substrate temperature,which suggests a small amount of crystalline Sb in the GaSb thin film and suggests that Sb atoms in the thin film decrease.In Raman spectra,the transverse optical（TO） mode intensity is stronger than that of the longitudinal optical（LO） mode,which indicates that all the samples are disordered.The LO/TO intensity ratio increases with increasing substrate temperature which suggests the improved polycrystalline quality of the GaSb thin film.A downshift of the TO and LO frequencies of the polycrystalline GaSb thin film to single crystalline bulk GaSb Raman spectra is also observed.The uniaxial stress in GaSb thin film is calculated and the value is around 1.0 GPa.The uniaxial stress decreases with increasing substrate temperature.These results suggest that a higher substrate temperature is beneficial in relaxing the stress in GaSb thin film.     

Optical characteristics and mechanical properties of optical thin films on weathered substrates

Thin films used for optical components require improvements in their mechanical properties and long-term stability. We examine the influence of substrate weathering on optical thin films. The light scattering of TiO2 thin films increased as the substrate is weathered. The light scattering of the TiO2 thin film formed by ion-assisted deposition （IAD） is smaller than that of the TiO2 thin film formed by electron beam deposition （EBD）.     

Growth of Structured Non—crystalline Boron—Oxygen—Nitrogen Films and Measurement of Their Electrical Properties

The boron-oxygen-nitrogen(BON) films have been grown on Si wafer by the low-frequency rf-plasma-enhanced metal-organic chemical vapour deposition method.The homogeneous film structure of completely amorphous BON is first fabricated on a low-temperature-made buffer at 500℃ with N2 plasma and is observed with a highresolution-electron microscope by the transmission-electron diffraction.The results show that the interfaces among substrate/buffer/film are clear and straight in the structured film.A heterogeneous film containing nano-sized crystalline particles is also grown by a routine growth procedure as a referential structure,The C-V characteristic is measured on both the amprphous and crystal-containing films by using the metal-oxidesemiconductor structure,The dielectric constants of the films are,therefore,deduced to be 5.9 and 10.5 for the amorphous and crystal-containing films,respectively,The C-V results also indicate that more trapped charges exist in the amorphous film.The binding energy of the B,O.and N atoms in the amprphous film is higher than that in the crystal-containing one,and the N-content in the latter is found to be higher than that in the former by x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy.The different electrical Property of the films is thought to originate from the energy state of the covalent electrons.     

Structural and Electrical Properties of Single Crystalline Ga-Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

High-quality Ga-doped ZnO （ZnO：Ga） single crystalline films with various Ga concentrations are grown on a- plane sapphire substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy. The site configuration of doped Ga atoms is studied by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy. It is found that nearly all Ga can substitute into ZnO lattice as electrically active donors, a generating high density of free carriers with about one electron per Ga dopant when the Ga concentration is no more than 2%. However, further increasing the Ga doping concentration leads to a decrease of the conductivity due to partial segregation of Ga atoms to the minor phase of the spinel ZnGa2O4 or other intermediate phase. It seems that the maximum solubility of Ga in the ZnO single crystalline film is about 2at.% and the lowest resistivity can reach 1.92 ×10-4Ω·cm at room temperature, close to the best value reported. In contrast to ZnO：Ga thin film with 1% or 2% Ga doping, the film with 4% Ga doping exhibits a metal semiconductor transition at 80 K. The scattering mechanism of conducting electrons in single crystalline ZnO：Ga thin film is discussed.     

Refractive index inhomogeneity of LaF3 film at deep ultraviolet wavelength

It is well known that the optical property of an optical thin film can be influenced by even small inho- mogeneity of refractive index （RI）. In order to investigate the RI inhomogeneity of LaF3 single layer in deep ultraviolet （DUV） range, single-layer LaF3 samples deposited on fused silica and CaF2 substrates are prepared by resistive heating evaporation at different deposition temperatures. The reflectance and transmittance spectra of LaF3 film samples are measured with a spectrophotometer, and used to calculate the RI inhomogeneity. The experimental results show that no RI inhomogeneity of LaF3 film is observed when deposited on CaF2 substrate, while negative RI inhomogeneity is presented when deposited on fused silica substrate. The level of inhomogeneity is affected by the substrate temperature, which decreases with the increasing substrate temperature from 250 to 400 ℃.     

Effects of Substrate Temperature and Nitrogen Pressure on Growth of AIN Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Highly oriented aluminium nitride （AIN） films are grown on p-Si （100） substrates by pulsed laser deposition, and their characteristics of structure and composition are studied by x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the deposited films exhibit good crystalline properties with a sharp x-ray diffraction peak at 2θ= 33.15 ° corresponding to AIN h （100） crystalline orientation. The influences of substrate temperature and ambient nitrogen （N2） pressure on the crystallinity of A1N films are remarkable. At room temperature, when the ambient N2 pressure arises from 5 × 10^-6 Pa to 5 Pa, the crystallinity of the film becomes better. When the substrate temperature is 600℃, the film has the best crystallinity at 0.05 Pa. Furthermore, the effects of substrate temperature and ambient N2 pressure on the combination of A1-N bonds and surface morphology of AIN films are also studied.     

Epitaxial Properties of Co-Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Plasma Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

High quality Co-doped ZnO thin films are grown on single crystalline Al2O3（0001） and ZnO（0001） substrates by oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy at a relatively lower substrate temperature of 450℃. The epitaxial conditions are examined with in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction （RHEED） and ex-situ high resolution x-ray diffraction （HRXRD）. The epitaxial thin films are single crystal at film thickness smaller than 500nm and nominal concentration of Co dopant up to 20%. It is indicated that the Co cation is incorporated into the ZnO matrix as Co^2＋ substituting Zn^2＋ ions. Atomic force microscopy shows smooth surfaces with rms roughness of 1.9 nm. Room-temperature magnetization measurements reveal that the Co-doped ZnO thin films are ferromagnetic with Curie temperatures Tc above room temperature.     

Effect of Different Substrate Temperature on Phosphorus-Doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by PLD on Sapphire Substrates

Phosphorus-doped ZnO （ZnO：P） thin films are deposited on a c-plane sapphire in oxygen at 350℃, 450℃, 550℃ and 650℃, respectively, by pulsed laser deposition （PLD）, then all the ZnO：P samples are annealed at 650℃ in oxygen with a pressure of 1 × 10^5 Pa. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that the crystalline quality of the ZnO：P thin films is improved with the increasing substrate temperature from 350℃ to 550℃. With a further increase of the deposition temperature, the crystalline quality of the ZnO：P sample is degraded. The measurements of low-temperature photoluminescence spectra demonstrate that the samples deposited at the substrate temperatures of 350℃ and 450℃ show a strong acceptor-bound exciton （A^0X） emission. The electrical properties of ZnO：P films strongly depend on the deposition temperature. The ZnO：P samples deposited at 350℃ and 450℃ exhibit p-type conductivity. The p-type ZnO：P film deposited at 450℃ shows a resistivity of 1.846Ω·cm and a relatively high hole concentration of 5.100 × 10^17 cm^-3 at room temperature.     

Improvement of Field Emission Characteristics of Copper Nitride Films with Increasing Copper Content

A copper nitride （Cu3N） thin film is deposited on a Si substrate by the reactive magnetron sputtering method. The XPS measurements of the composite film indicate that the Cu content in the film is increased to 80.82 at. % and the value of the Cu/N ratio to 4.2：1 by introducing 4% 112 into the reactive gas. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the film is composed of Cu3N crystallites with an anti-ReO3 structure. The effects of the increase of copper content on the field emission characteristics of the Cu3N thin film are investigated. Significant improvement in emission current density and emission repeatability could be attributed to the geometric field enhancement, caused by numerous surface nanotips, and the decrease of resistivity of the film.     

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin film coating on microstructured silicon substrate

Photocatalytic TiO2 thin film is prepared by sol–gel technique on microstructured silicon substrate produced by femtosecond laser cumulative irradiation. The photocatalytic activity is evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. For 6-ml MB solution with initial concentration of 3.0×10~-5 mol/L, the degradation rate caused by TiO2 thin film of 2-cm~2 area is higher than 70% after 10-h UV irradiation. Microstructured silicon substrate is found to enhance photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 thin film remarkably. The femtosecond laser microstructured silicon substrate is suitable to support TiO2 thin film photocatalysts.     

The role of hydrogen in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon film and in deposition process with VHF-PECVD technique

The role of hydrogen in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) thin films in deposition processes with very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (VHF-PECVD) technique have been investigated in this paper. With \textit{in situ} optical emission spectroscopy (OES) diagnosis during the fabrication of $\mu $c-Si:H thin films under different plasma excitation frequency $\nu _{\rm e }$ (60MHz--90MHz), the characteristic peak intensities ($I_{{\rm SiH}^*}$, $I_{{\rm H}\alpha^*}$ and $I_{{\rm H}\beta ^*}$) in SiHVHF-PECVD技术 氢化微晶硅 光发射光谱 薄膜学VHF-PECVD technique, hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon, role of hydrogen, optical emission spectroscopyProject supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No 05300378), the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant Nos G2000028202 and G2000028203) and the Program on Natural Science of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China (Grant No 51204056).2005-11-252005-11-252006-01-05The role of hydrogen in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon （μc-Si：H） thin films in deposition processes with very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition （VHF-PECVD） technique have been investigated in this paper. With in situ optical emission spectroscopy （OES） diagnosis during the fabrication of μc-Si：H thin films under different plasma excitation frequency Ve （60MHz-90MHz）, the characteristic peak intensities （IsiH＊, IHα＊ and IHβ＊ ） in SiH4＋H2 plasma and the ratio of （IHα＊ ＋ IHβ＊ ） to IsiH＊ were measured; all the characteristic peak intensities and the ratio （IHα＊ ＋ IHβ＊ ）/IsiH＊ are increased with plasma excitation frequency. It is identified that high plasma excitation frequency is favourable to promote the decomposition of SiH4＋H2 to produce atomic hydrogen and SiHx radicals. The influences of atomic hydrogen on structural properties and that of SiHx radicals on deposition rate of μc-Si：H thin films have been studied through Raman spectra and thickness measurements, respectively. It can be concluded that both the crystalline volume fraction and deposition rate are enhanced with the increase of plasma excitation frequency, which is in good accord with the OES results. By means of FTIR measurements, hydrogen contents of μc-Si：H thin films deposited at different plasma excitation frequency have been evaluated from the integrated intensity of wagging mode near 640 cm^-1. The hydrogen contents vary from 4% to 5%, which are much lower than those of μc-Si：H films deposited with RF-PECVD technique. This implies that μc-Si：H thin films deposited with VHF-PECVD technique usually have good stability under light-soaking.     

MBE Growth of Highly Relaxed Si0.45 Ge0.55 Films with Very Low Misfit Dislocation Density on Si （001） Substrates

We investigate the molecular-beam-epitaxy growth of highly relaxed Si0.45 Ge0.55 films with very low dislocation densities. By using the Si3N4 film as the mask material, the Si0.45Ge0.55 film can be grown on a compositionally stepwise graded SiGe buffer layer in 3 μm× 3 μm windows on a Si （001） substrate. Raman scattering spectroscopy measurement shows that more than 90% strain of the Si0.45Ge0.55 film is relaxed, and almost neither misfit dislocation lines nor etch pits of thread dislocations could be observed when the sample is etched by the modified Schimmel etchant. We suggest that the results can be explained by influence of the edge-induced strain relaxation of the epitaxial film and the edge-induced stress of the mask material.     

Reversal transient laser-induced voltages in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 films

This paper reports that the transient laser-induced voltages have been observed in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films on MgO （001） in the absence of an applied current. A peak voltage of - 0.15 V was detected in response to 0.015J pulse of 308 nm laser. It is demonstrated that the signal polarity is reversed when the films are irradiated through the substrate rather than at the air/film interface. Off-diagonal thermoelectricity may support the inversion of the signal when the irradiation direction is reversed.     

Behaviour of Self-Standing CVD Diamond Film with Different Dominant Crystalline Surfaces in Thermal-Iron Plate Polishing

Self-standing CVD diamond films with different dominant crystalline surfaces are polished by the thermal-iron plate polishing method. The influence of the dominant crystalline surfaces on polishing etfficiency is investigated by measuring the removal rate and final roughness. The smallest rms roughness of 0.14 μm is measured with smallest removal rate in the films with the initial （220） dominant crystalline surface. Activation energy for the polishing is analysed by the Arrhenius relation. It is found that the values are 170kJ/mol, 222kJ/mol and 214kJ/mol for the film with three different dominant crystalline surfaces. Based on these values, the polishing cause is regarded as the graphitization-controlling process. In the experiment, we find that transformation of the dominant crystalline surfaces from （111） to （220） always appears in the polishing process when we polish the （111） dominant surface.     

The effect of annealing temperature and film thickness on the phase of pentacene on the p+-Si substrate

This paper investigates the morphology and crystallization properties of the two crystalline phases of pentacene grown by thermal evaporation on p^＋-Si substrates at room temperature by the methods of atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction. This kind of substrate induces a thin film phase and a triclinic phase which are formed directly onto p^＋-Si substrates and constitute a layer consisting of faceted grains with a step height between terraces of 15.8A（1A=0.1 nm） and 14.9A, respectively. Above the critical thickness of the thin film phase, lamellar structures are found with an increasing fraction with the increase of the film thickness. When the film thickness is fixed, the fraction of lamellar structures increases with the increase of annealing temperature. These lamellar structures are identified as the second phase with a interplanar distance of 14.9A corresponding to the pentacene triclinic phase. Furthermore, the thin film phase consisting of several micrometre sized uniformly oriented grains at an annealing temperature of less than 80℃ and a deposition rate of 0.6A/s is observed.     

Deposition of SiOx barrier films by O2/TMDSO RF-PECVD

This paper reports that the SiOx barrier films are deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrate by plasmaenhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD） for the application of transparent barrier packaging. The variations of 02/Tetramethyldisiloxane （TMDSO） ratio and input power in radio frequency （RF） plasma are carried out to optimize barrier properties of the SiOx coated film. The properties of the coatings are characterized by Fourier transform infrared, water vapour transmission rate （WVTR）, oxygen transmission rate （OTR）, and atomic force microscopy analysers. It is found that the 02/TMDSO ratio exceeding 2：1 and the input power over 200 W yield SiOx films with low carbon contents which can be good to the barrier （WVTR and OTR） properties of the SiOx coatings. Also, the film properties not only depend on oxygen concentration of the inlet gas mixtures and input power, but also relate to the surface morphology of the coating.     

Grain size and its distribution in NiTi thin films sputter-deposited on heated substrates

Grain size and its distribution in NiTi thin films sputter-deposited on a heated substrate have been investigated using the small angle x-ray scattering technique. The crystalline particles have a small size and are distributed over a small range of sizes for the films grown at substrate temperatures 370 and 420℃. The results show that the sizes of crystalline particles are about the same. From the x-ray diffraction profiles, the sizes of crystalline particles obtained were 2.40nm and 2.81nm at substrate temperatures of 350 and 420℃, respectively. The morphology of NiTi thin films deposited at different substrate temperatures has been studied by atomic force microscopy. The root mean square roughness calculated for the film deposited at ambient temperature and 420℃ are 1.42 and 2.75nm, respectively.     

Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon Films by Helicon Wave Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition

Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films have been prepared by a helicon-wave plasma chemical vapour deposition technique on glass-Si substrates. The structural properties and the surface morphology are characterized by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It is proven that the deposited films have the features of high crystalline fraction and large grain size compared with that in the normal plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition regime. The crystalline fraction of the deposited films varying from 0%to 72% can be obtained by adjusting the substrate temperature.