Textural properties of low-density xerogels

The extent of shrinkage during drying is controlled by the balance between the capillary pressure developed in the pore liquid and the modulus of the solid network. One first method to obtain low-density xerogels consists in strengthening TEOS-based alcogels by providing new monomers to the alcogel after gelation. In the second method, low-density xerogels are produced by surface modification (silylation) of the wet gel with trimethylchlorosilane. The capillary pressure is reduced and the presence of non-reactive species on the surface makes the shrinkage reversible. A reduction of the capillary pressure can be achieved by introduction of a substituted alkoxide 3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane (EDAS) to a TEOS-based alcogel, synthesised in a single base-catalysed step. This additive acts as a nucleation agent leading to big silica particles (20 nm) with a low EDAS/TEOS ratio (0.03). The pores between those particles are also large and the drying stress is reduced. The textural properties of those three materials are compared: bulk densities of the samples modelled on the first and third method are varying in the same range (0.25–0.35 g/cm³) while xerogels obtained by the surface modification process are less dense (0.1–0.15 g/cm³). The biggest pores are observed in the third method.     

Textural properties of synthetic nano-calcite produced by hydrothermal carbonation of calcium hydroxide

The hydrothermal carbonation of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂) at high pressure of CO₂ (initial P_CO2=55 bar) and moderate to high temperature (30 and 90 °C) was used to synthesize fine particles of calcite. This method allows a high carbonation efficiency (about 95% of Ca(OH)₂–CaCO₃ conversion), a significant production rate (48 kg/m³ h) and high purity of product (about 96%). However, the various initial physicochemical conditions have a strong influence on the crystal size and surface area of the synthesized calcite crystals. The present study is focused on the estimation of the textural properties of synthesized calcite (morphology, specific surface area, average particle size, particle size distribution and particle size evolution with reaction time), using Rietveld refinements of X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations. This study demonstrate that the pressure, the temperature and the dissolved quantity of CO₂ have a significant effect on the average particle size, specific surface area, initial rate of precipitation, and on the morphology of calcium carbonate crystals. In contrast, these PTx conditions used herein have an insignificant effect on the carbonation efficiency of Ca(OH)₂.

Finally, the results presented here demonstrate that nano-calcite crystals with high specific surface area (S_BET=6–10 m²/g) can be produced, with a high potential for industrial applications such as adsorbents and/or filler in papermaking industry.     

Photovoltaic properties of sputtered silicon films

The photovoltaic properties of several 1 μm thick films of rf-sputtered amorphous Si (a-Si) sandwiched between lower Al electrodes and upper semitransparent Mo or Al electrodes have been investigated. After fabrication, the Al–Si–Al samples were annealed in vacuum at temperatures between 100 and 450°C. The spectral variation of the photoresponse in the wavelength region between 300 nm and 2 μm was measured. The results indicate that the optical gap of a-Si is 1.5 eV and the Schottky barrier height at the Al–a-Si interface is 0.75 eV. the current-voltage characteristics of these Schottky-type devices were investigated under illumination. Photovoltaic energy conversion efficiencies of up to 0.03% were observed for the 100 mW/cm² white light of a tungsten-halogen lamp.     

Electrical properties of a-Ge-Se-In thin films

Steady state and transient photoconductivity has been measured on Ge₂₀Se_80−xIn_x (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20) vacuum evaporated thin films. Study of temperature dependent dark conductivity σ_d and photoconductivity σ_ph measurements in the temperature range 303-375 K, shows that the conduction in this glass is through an activated process having single activation energy. The activation energy value of photoconduction is smaller in comparison to activation energy in dark. The photosensitivity shows a maximum value at 10 at.% of In concentration. This is attributed to the decrease in the density of defect states of Ge-Se alloy with increase of In content. The results of intensity dependent steady state photoconductivity σ_ph follow a power law with intensity (F), i.e. σ_ph α F^γ where the value of power γ lies between 0.5 and 1.0, suggesting bimolecular recombination. Rise and decay of photocurrent for different concentration of In shows that photocurrent rises monotonically to the steady state value and the decay of photocurrent is also very fast. An attempt has been made to explain the results on the basis of defects and density of states.     

Photostimulated changes of properties of CdTe films

The effect of illumination during the close‐spaced sublimation (CSS) growth on composition, structural, electrical, optical and photovoltaic properties of CdTe films and CdTe/CdS solar cells were investigated. Data on comparative study by using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), absorption spectra and conductivity‐temperature measurements of CdTe films prepared by CSS method in dark (CSSD) and under illumination (CSSI) were presented. It is shown that the growth rate and the grain size of CdTe films grown under illumination is higher (by factor about of 1.5 and 3 respectively) than those for films prepared without illumination. The energy band gap of CdTe films fabricated by both technology, determined from absorption spectra, is same (about of 1.50 eV), however conductivity of the CdTe films produced by CSSI is considerably greater (by factor of 10⁷) than that of films prepared by CSSD. The photovoltaic parameters of pCdTe/nCdS solar cells fabricated by photostimulated CSSI technology (J_sc = 28 mA/cm², V_oc =0.63 V) are considerably larger than those for cells prepared by CSSD method (J_sc = 22 mA/cm², V_oc = 0.52 V). A mechanism of photostimulated changes of properties of CdTe films and improvement of photovoltaic parameters of CdTe/CdS solar cells is suggested. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electrooptic properties of polycrystalline SnSe thin films

It is observed from the studies of electrical resistivity of films of SnSe of different thicknesses and substrate temperatures that resistivity decreases with increase in thickness and substrate temperature. The study of variation in band gap with thickness shows a linear relationship between band gap and 1/t². Finally, band gap – substrate temperature studies show that the band gap increases with substrate temperature.     

Photodefinable carbon films: Electrical properties

Carbon images were prepared by the thermal decomposition of photodefined novalac resist (HPR-206) patterns. The electrical resistivity of the films decreased over 18 orders of magnitude as the pyrolysis temperature was increased to 1050°C. The electrical characteristics of the pyrolyzed photoresist patterns (carbon images) undergo a series of transitions over this temperature range; from insulating, to semiconducting, to semimetallic states. These properties may be understood in terms of the tunneling of charge carriers between isolated, conductive regions in the film where trigonal bonding dominates. This is the first example of the direct lithography of semiconducting and semimetallic features.     

Dielectric properties of fluorinated silicon dioxide films

Amorphous fluorinated Si dioxide (a-SiO₂:F) films were deposited at 300°C by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using SiH₄–O₂–CF₄ mixtures with different RF power and deposition temperatures T_d. Their bonding and dielectric properties were investigated. The F content, deposition rate and dielectric constant, _s, decreased and water resistance improved as either RF power or T_d increased. However, for obtaining a film with both small _s and high water resistance, the value of _s was limited to _s ≈ 3. It is proposed that increased water absorption could be caused by occurrence of high tensile stress in the films, and that high-decomposition rates of CF₄, high-energy ion bombardment and/or easier surface migration of adsorbates during film growth, caused by increasing RF power or T_d, act to remove weak Si–O and Si–F bonds, resulting in films with low _s and high water resistivity.     

Electrical properties of TiO2 thin films

The electrical properties of n-type titanium dioxide thin films deposited by magnetron-sputtering method have been investigated by temperature-dependent conductivity. We observed that the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of titanium dioxide films exhibits a crossover from T^?1/4 to T^?1/2 dependence in the temperature range between 80 and 110 K. Characteristic parameters describing conductivity, such as the characteristic temperature (T₀), hopping distance (R_hop), average hopping energy (Δ_hop), Coulomb gap (Δ_C), localization length (ξ) and density of states (N(E_F)), were determined, and their values were discussed within the models describing conductivity in TiO₂ thin films.     

Electrical transport properties of CdTe:Sb films

Hall coefficient and dc conductivity measurements are made on p-type CdTe:Sb films grown by vacuum evaporation technique on glass substrate. The grain boundary potential barrier, which is found mainly to limit the mobility of carriers is calculated as a function of film thickness. The n-type conduction is found to dominate over p-type conduction above about 330 K. The ratio of electron to hole mobility is also calculated.     

Optical properties of flash-evaporated CuInTe2 thin films

Optical absorption spectra of flash-evaporated polycrystalline thin films of CuInTe₂ are measured in the photon energy range from 0.5 to 3.0 eV. A gap energy in the range from 0.96 to 0.99 eV and a spin-orbit splitting of the valence band of 0.61 ± 0.03 eV are derived from the spectra. It is found that the spectra are considerably influenced by grain boundary effects.     

Optical properties of thermally evaporated CdS thin films

CdS thin films of varying thicknesses were deposited on cleaned glass substrates at room temperature by thermal evaporation technique in a vacuum of about 2 x 10^‐5 torr. UV‐VIS spectra of the films were studied using the optical transmittance measurements which were taken in the spectral region from 300 nm to 1100 nm. The absorbance and reflectance spectra of the films in the UV‐VIS region were also studied. Optical constants such as optical band gap, extinction coefficient, refractive index, optical conductivity and complex dielectric constant were evaluated from these spectra. All the films were found to exhibit high transmittance (∼ 60 ‐ 93 %), low absorbance and low reflectance in the visible/near infrared region from ∼ 500 nm to 1100 nm. The optical band gap energy was found to be in the range 2.28 – 2.53 eV. All the films annealed at 300°C for 4 hours in vacuum (∼ 10^‐2 torr) showed a decrease in the optical transmittance with its absorption edge shifted towards the longer wavelength, leading to the result that the optical band gap decreases on annealing the films. Also, on annealing crystallinity of the films improves, resulting in decrease in the optical transmittance. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Formation and properties of transition layers in epitaxial films

The current state of the problem of film-substrate transition layers in semiconductor epitaxial films is discussed. Reasons for the formation of a transition layer are considered: the influence of the substrate, the influence of the peculiarities of growth processes, and the influence of changes in the properties of the vapour phase over the growth surface. Estimates of the lattice mismatch, dislocation mobility, and impurity diffusion during growth are presented. The superimposition of size effects and the difference of estimates of a transition layer location according to data of electrophysical investigations are pointed out. Methods to remove transition layers are shown for cases of the homo- and heteroepitaxy of semiconductors.     

Dielectric properties of ion plated titanium oxide thin films

Titanium oxide thin films have been deposited by an ion plating technique under rf glow. The structure of the deposited film has been found to be amorphous and the composition has been analysed by IR spectrum. Aging and annealing studies of the titanium oxide capacitors have been made. The dielectric constant of the film at 1 kHz has been estimated to be 12.4. The dependence of the capacitance and dielectric loss on frequency and temperature have been studied, and the results are discussed. The temperature coefficient of the capacitance has also been calculated.     

Thin overlayer influence on electrophysical properties of nickel films

In this work it is experimentally investigated a size effect in temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of Ni films with Cu and SiO₂ thin overlayer. The parameters of electrical transfer (the mean‐free path of electron, the reflectivity coefficient of the external surfaces, the reflection and transmission coefficients at the grain boundary) were calculations. Decreasing of the value of the reflectivity coefficient is due to the change of the surface microrelief. It is show that the value of TCR decreases caused by the conditions of scattering changes on internal and external boundaries. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Controlling the absorption and emission properties of polyparaphenylenevinylene films

In this work we used the conversion process of a precursor polymer into polyparaphenylenevinylene (PPV) at low temperatures in order to control the effective conjugation degree of spin-casted PPV films. The absorption and emission spectra of the films were studied by following a partial substitution of chloride counterions from poly(xylylidene tetrahydrothiophenium chloride) (PTHT), used as a precursor, by sodium acid dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS), added as a surfactant salt. Upon controlling the DBS amount and conversion temperature (T_c) of PTHT/DBS to PPV films, the band gap of PPV changed from 409 to 506 nm, and 505 to 532 nm, values obtained from absorbance and emission measurements, respectively. Based on these experimental data, we proposed a physical model which represents the chemical structure of PPV as a distribution of conjugated chain segments (like oligomers) alternated by non-conjugated segments (structural defects and/or from the precursor polymer).     

Electrode effects on the electrical properties of chalcogenide films

The effect of Al, Ag and Cr metal electrodes on the electrical properties of CeSeTe films was studied. The relative ease of the diffusion of metallic atoms and the accompanied tendency to nucleation leads to irreversible changes of the film resistivity while annealing. The recrystallization temperature of the chalcogenide film depends strongly on the type of the metal electrode. The observed increase in the values of resistivity after annealing, was interpreted on the basis of charged dangling bond theory.     

Preparation and properties of silica films with higher-alkyl groups

Silica films with various types of alkyl groups were grown from the liquid phase, at room temperature, using alkyl tri-alkoxy silane compounds. From Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption measurements, a majority of Si-alkyl bonds in the source molecules were found to remain in the grown film, while Si-alkoxy bonds were completely removed. Electrical and thermal properties have been measured comparatively for various films having dense alkyl groups. The films with the methyl group are promising for silicon production in ultra large-scale integrated circuits (Si-ULSIs) and the film having the vinyl group for non-heat-tolerant compound-semiconductor large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs).     

Electrical properties of annealed a-SiC:H thin films

In the present work the dependence of electrical properties of a-SiC:H thin films on annealing temperature, T_a, has been extensively studied. From the measurements of dark dc electrical conductivity, σ_D, in the high temperature range (from 283 up to 493 K), was found that the conductivity activation energy, E_a, is invariant for T_a ⩽ 673 K and equal to 0.64 eV, whereas for T_a from 673 up to 873 K, E_a increases at about 0.2 eV reaching to a maximum value 0.85 eV at T_a = 873 K, suggesting the optimum material quality. This behavior of E_a as a function of T_a is mainly attributed to relaxation of the strain in the amorphous network, which is possibly combined with weak hydrogen emission for temperatures up to 873 K. For further increase of T_a (>873 K) the phenomenon of hydrogen emission, causes rapid decrease of E_a down to 0.24 eV at T_a = 998 K, deteriorating the material quality. These results are also supported by the measurements of dark dc electrical conductivity in the low temperature range (from 133 up to 283 K), where the dependence of the density of gap states at the Fermi level, N(E_F), on annealing temperature presents the minimum value at T_a = 873 K. The Meyer–Nelder rule was found to hold for the a-SiC:H thin films for annealing temperatures up to 873 K. Finally, the dependence of dark dc electrical conductivity at room temperature, σ_DRT, on T_a showed to reflect directly the dependence of E_a on T_a.