Superconductivity in Heavily Boron-Doped Diamond Films Prepared by Electron Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition Method

Heavily boron-doped thick diamond films with higher superconducting transition temperatures have been prepared by electron assisted chemical vapour deposition method. The results of scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Hall effect indicate that the films have nice crystalline facets, a notable decrease in the growth rate, and an increase in the tensile stress. Meanwhile, the film resistivity decreases with the increase of the carrier concentration. Our measurements show that the films with 4.88×10^20 cm^-3 and 1.61×10^21 cm^-3 carrier concentration have superconductivity, with onset temperatures of 9.7 K （8.9K for zero resistance） and 7.8 K （6.1 K for zero resistance）, respectively.     

Field Emission Enhancement of Carbon Nanotubes by Surface Modification

By employing a multi-walled carbon nanotube （MWCNT） film as the substrate, we obtain Fe tipped carbon nanorods or carbon nanoparticles grown on the outer walls of MWCNTs by combining sputtering deposition of Fe films and rf plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition at high temperature. Scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are used to examine the structure of carbon nanorods and carbon nanoparticles. In addition, the formation mechanism is discussed briefly. The electron field emission tests indicate that the turn-on field （at 10μA/cm^2） of the treated MWCNT films decreases from 2.4 V/μm to O. 79 V/μm and the field emission current is relatively stable. The enhanced field enhancement factor, increasing emission densities coming from the grown nanorods and nanoparticles, and H terminated by H plasma a11 are responsible for the enhancement of the field enhancement factor.     

Growth and Characterization of CIS Thin Films Prepared by Ion Beam Sputtering Deposition

Copper indium diselenide （CuInSe2） thin films were prepared by ion beam sputtering Cu, In and Se targets continuously on BK7 glass substrates and the three-layer film was then annealed in the same vacuum chamber. X-ray diffraction shows that the CuInSe2 thin films have a single chalcopyrite structure with preferential （112） orientation. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that the CIS thin films consist of uniform and densely packed grain clusters. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy demonstrates that the elemental composition of CIS films approaches the stochiometric composition ratios of 1：1：2. Raman measurement shows that the main peak is at about 174cm^-1 and this peak is identified as the A1 vibrational mode from chaicopyrite ordered CulnSe2. Optical transmission and absorption spectroscopy measurement reveal an energy band gap of about 1.05 eV and an absorption coefficient of 10^5 cm^-1. The film resistivity is about 0.01 Ωcm.     

Compositional and Structural Properties of TiO2-xNx Thin Films Deposited by Radio-Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

TiO2-xNx thin films are deposited onto Si（100） and quartz substrates by arf magnetron sputtering method using a titanium metal disc as a target in Ar, N2, and 02 atmospheres. The substrate temperature is kept at 300℃. The O2 and Ar gas flow rates are kept to be constants and the N gas flow rate is varied. TiO2-xNx films with different N contents are characterized by x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicate that the TiO2-xNx thin films can be obtained at 13% N and 15% N contents in the film, and the films with mixed TiO2 and TiN crystal can be obtained at 13% N and 15% N contents in the film. In terms of the results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, N ls of β-N （396 eV） is the main component in the TiO2-xNx thin films. Because the energy level of β-N is positioned above the valence-band maximum of TiO2, an effective optical-energy gap decreases from 2.8 eV （for pure TiO2 film deposited by the same rf sputtering system） to 2.3 eV, which is verified by the optical-absorption spectra.     

Columnar growth of crystalline silicon films on aluminium-coated glass by inductively coupled plasma CVD at room temperature

Silicon films were grown on aluminium-coated glass by inductively coupled plasma CVD at room temperature using a mixture of SiH₄ and H₂ as the source gas. The microstructure of the films was evaluated using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It was found that the films are composed of columnar grains and their surfaces show a random and uniform distribution of silicon nanocones. Such a microstructure is highly advantageous to the application of the films in solar cells and electron emission devices. Field electron emission measurement of the films demonstrated that the threshold field strength is as low as ～9.8V/μm and the electron emission characteristic is reproducible. In addition, a mechanism is suggested for the columnar growth of crystalline silicon films on aluminium-coated glass at room temperature.     

The effect of composition on structural and electronic properties in polycrystalline CuGaSe2 thin film

Polycrystalline CuGaSe2 thin films on Mo-coated soda-lime glass substrates have been synthesized by coevaporation process from Cu, Ga and Se sources. Structural and electrical properties of the as-grown CuGaSe2 films strongly depend on the film composition. Stoichiometric CuGaSe2 is fabricated, as indicated by x-ray diffraction spectroscope （XRD） and x-ray fluorescence （XRF）. A two-phase region is composed of CuGaSe2 and Cu2-xSe phases for Cu-rich films, and CuGaSe2 and CuGa3Se5 phases for Ga-rich films, respectively. Morphological properties are detected by scanning electron microscope （SEM） for various compositional films, the grain sizes of the CuGaSe2films decrease with the extent of deviation from stoichiometric composition. Raman spectroscopy of Cu-rich samples shows that there exist large Cu-Se particles on the film surface. The results from Hall effect measurements for typical samples indicate that CuGaSe2 films are always of p-type semiconductor from Cu-rich to Ga-rich. Stoichiometric CuGaSe2 films exhibit relatively large mobility than any other compositional films. Finally, polycrystalline CuGaSe2 thin film solar cell with a best conversion efficiency of 6.02% has been achieved under the standard air mass （AM）1.5 spectrum for 100mW/cm^2 at room temperature （aperture area, 0.24cm^2）. The open circuit voltage of the CuGaSe2 solar cells is close to770 mV.     

Field Electron Emission from Caterpillar-Like Clavae Nano-Structure Carbon Thin Films

Nano-carbon films with large density of caterpillar-like clavae are synthesized by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition using a mixture of methane and hydrogen gases on Mo film substrates. The films are characterized by Raman spectra, optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. Field electron emission measurements of nano-carbon films are also carried out to show the turn-on field as low as 1.5 V/μm and the high current density of 2.2mA/cm^2 at electric field of 5.TV/μm, the uniformly distributed emission site density from a broad well-proportioned emission area of about 4.0cm^2 is also obtained. The field- emission current density J versus macroscopic electric field E does not follow the original Fowler-Nordheim （F-N） relation since they are not well represented in the F-N plot by a straight line. A modified F-N relation is applied successfully to explain all the field-emission data observed for E 〈 6.0 V/μm.     

Growth and Characterization of InN Thin Films on Sapphire by MOCVD

Indium nitride thin films are grown on sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition （MOCVD） By employing three-step layer buffers, the mirror-like layers on two-inch sapphire wafers have been obtained. The structural, optical and electrical characteristics of InN are investigated by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence and infrared optical absorption. The photoluminescence and the absorption studies of the materials reveal a marked energy bandgap structure around 0.70eV at room temperature. The room-temperature Hall mobility and carrier concentration of the film are typically 939 cm^2 /Vs, and 3.9 × 1018cm^-3, respectively.     

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.     

Structural and optical properties of tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide films

Thin films of tungsten(W)-doped thermochromic vanadium dioxide(VO2) were deposited onto soda-lime glass and fused silica by radio frequency magnetron sputtering.The doped VO2 films were characterized by X-ray diffraction,optical transmittance measurement,and near field optical microscopy with Raman spectroscopy.X-ray diffraction patterns show that the(011) peak of W-doped thermochromic VO2 film shifts to a lower diffraction angle with the increase of W concentration.The optical measurements indicated that the transmittance change(△T) at wavelength of 2500 nm drops from 65%(T at 35℃ and 80℃ for undoped VO2 film) to 38%(T at 30℃ and 42℃ for the doped VO2 film).At the same time,phase transition temperature drops from 65℃ to room temperature or lower with the increase of W concentration.Near field optical microscopy image shows that the surface of W-doped VO2 film is smooth.Raman results show that the main Raman modes of W-doped VO2 are centered at 614 cm1,the same as that of undoped VO2,suggesting no Raman mode changes for lightly W-doped VO2 at room temperature,due to no phase transition appearing under this condition.     

Characteristics of High In-Content InGaN Alloys Grown by MOCVD

InN and In0.46 Ca0.54N films are grown on sapphire with a CaN buffer by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition （MOCVD）. Both high resolution x-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy results reveal that these films have a hexagonal structure of single crystal. The thin InN film has a high mobility of 4 75 cm^2V^-1s^-1 and that oflno.46 Gao.54N is 163 cm^2 V^-1s^-1. Room-temperat ure photoluminescence measurement of the InN film shows a peak at 0.72eV, confirming that a high quality InN film is fabricated for applications to full spectrum solar cells.     

Fabrication and Characterization of Si Nanocrystals Synthesized by Electron Beam Evaporation of Si and SiO2 Mixture

Silicon nanocrystals synthesized by electron beam （e-beam） evaporation of Si and SiO2 mixture are studied. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry of the as-deposited Si-rich silicon dioxide or oxide （SRO） thin film shows that after evaporation, the Si and SiO2 concentration is well kept, indicating that the e-beam evaporation is suitable for evaporating mixtures of Si and SiO2. The SRO thin films are annealed at different temperatures for two hours to synthesize silicon nanoerystals. For the sample annealed at 1050℃, silicon nanoerystals with different sizes and the mean diameter of 4.5 nm are evidently observed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）. Then the Raman scattering and photoluminescence spectra arising from silicon nanocrystals are further confirmed the above results.     

Effects of annealing rate and morphology of sol–gel derived ZnO on the performance of inverted polymer solar cells

The effects of annealing rate and morphology of sol–gel derived zinc oxide(ZnO)thin films on the performance of inverted polymer solar cells(IPSCs)are investigated.ZnO films with different morphologies are prepared at different annealing rates and used as the electron transport layers in IPSCs.The undulating morphologies of ZnO films fabricated at annealing rates of 10 C/min and 3 C/min each possess a rougher surface than that of the ZnO film fabricated at a fast annealing rate of 50 C/min.The ZnO films are characterized by atomic force microscopy(AFM),optical transmittance measurements,and simulation.The results indicate that the ZnO film formed at 3 C/min possesses a good-quality contact area with the active layer.Combined with a moderate light-scattering,the resulting device shows a 16%improvement in power conversion efficiency compared with that of the rapidly annealed ZnO film device.     

Improved crystal quality of GaN film with the in-plane lattice-matched Ino.17Alo.s3N interlayer grown on sapphire substrate using pulsed metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

We report on an improvement in the crystal quality of GaN film with an Ino.17Alo.83N interlayer grown by pulsed metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, which is in-plane lattice-matched to GaN films. The indium composition of about 17% and the reductions of both screw and edge threading dislocations （TDs） in GaN film with the InA1N interlayer are estimated by high resolution X-ray diffraction. Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） measurements are employed to understand the mechanism of reduction in TD density. Raman and photoluminescence measurements indicate that the InA1N interlayer can improve the crystal quality of GaN film, and verify that there is no additional residual stress induced into the GaN film with InA1N interlayer. Atomic force microscopy measurement shows that the InA1N interlayer brings in a smooth surface morphology of GaN film. All the results show that the insertion of the InA1N interlayer is a convenient method to achieve excellent crystal quality in GaN epitaxy.     

Laser Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth of BaTiO3 in Seven Thousands of Unit-Cell Layers

BaTiO3 thin films in seven thousands of unit-cell layers have been successfully fabricated on SrTiO3 （001） substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy. The fine streak pattern and the undamping intensity oscillation of reflection high-energy electron diffraction indicate that the BaTiO3 film was layer-by-layer epitaxial growth. The measurements of scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy show that surfaces of the BaTiO3 thin film are atomically smooth. The measurements of x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, as well as selected-area electron diffraction reveal that the BaTiO3 thin film is a c-oriented epitaxial crystalline structure.     

Annealing induced refinement on optical transmission and electrical resistivity of indium tin oxide

The effect of annealing condition on sputtered indium tin oxide （ITO） films on quartz with the thickness of 200 nm is characterized to show enhanced optical transparency and optimized electrical contact resistivity. The as-deposited grown ITO film exhibits only 65% and 80% transmittance at 532 and 632.8 nm, respectively. After annealing at 475 ℃ for 15 min, the ITO film is refined to show improved transmittance at shorter wavelength region. The transmittances of 88.1% at 532 nm and 90.4% at 632.8 nm can be obtained. The 325-nm transmittance of the post-annealed ITO film is greatly increased from 12.7% to 41.9%. Optimized electrical property can be obtained when annealing below 450 ℃, leading to a minimum sheet resistance of 26 Ω/square. Such an ITO film with enhanced ultraviolet （UV） transmittance has become an alternative candidate for applications in current UV photonic devices. The morphology and conductance of the as-deposited and annealed ITO films are determined by using an atomic force microscopy （AFM）, showing a great change on the uniformity distribution with finite improvement on the surface conductance of the ITO film after annealing.     

Study on optical anisotropy properties of SiO2 films with different thermal annealing temperatures

SiO2 films are deposited on Si substrates by an ion beam sputtering technique and continuously annealed in a quartz culture dish in air at various annealing temperature ranging from 20 to 750 ℃ with a step of 100 ℃ for a fixed time of 24 h. The effects of thermal treatment on optical anisotropy properties of SiO2 films are investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry. When the annealing temperature is 550℃, the optical anisotropy properties of SiO2 film is minimum. The obtained results indicate that the optical anisotropy properties of SiO2 films can be improved by a proper thermal annealing process.     

Effect of substrate temperature on the morphological,structural,and optical properties of RF sputtered Ge_(1-x)Sn_x films on Si substrate

In this study, Ge_(1-x)Sn_x alloy films are co-sputtered on Si(100) substrates using RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures. Scanning electron micrographs, atomic force microscopy(AFM), Raman spectroscopy, and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy(XPS) are conducted to investigate the effect of substrate temperature on the structural and optical properties of grown Ge Sn alloy films. AFM results show that RMS surface roughness of the films increases from 1.02 to 2.30 nm when raising the substrate temperature. This increase could be due to Sn surface segregation that occurs when raising the substrate temperature. Raman spectra exhibits the lowest FWHM value and highest phonon intensity for a film sputtered at 140?C. The spectra show that decreasing the deposition temperature to 140?C improves the crystalline quality of the alloy films and increases nanocrystalline phase formation. The results of Raman spectra and XPS confirm Ge–Sn bond formation. The optoelectronic characteristics of fabricated metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors on sputtered samples at room temperature(RT) and 140?C are studied in the dark and under illumination. The sample sputtered at 140?C performs better than the RT sputtered sample.     

Effects of annealing time on the structure,morphology, and stress of gold–chromium bilayer film

In this work, a 200-nm-thick gold film with a 10-nm-thick chromium layer used as an adhesive layer is fabricated on fused silica by the electron beam evaporation method. The effects of annealing time at 300℃ on the structure, morphology and stress of the film are studied. We find that chromium could diffuse to the surface of the film by formatting a solid solution with gold during annealing. Meanwhile, chromium is oxidized on the surface and diffused downward along the grain grooves in the gold film. The various operant mechanisms that change the residual stresses of gold films for different annealing times are discussed.     

Laser Induced Damage Threshold at 355 and 1064nm of Ta2O5 Films of Different Phases

Ta2O5 films axe deposited on fused silica substrates by conventional electron beam evaporation method. By annealing at different temperatures, Ta2 O5 films of amorphous, hexagonal and orthorhombic phases are obtained and confirmed by x-ray diffractometer （XRD） results. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） analysis shows that chemical composition of all the films is stoichiometry. It is found that the amorphous Ta2 O5 film achieves the highest laser induced damage threshold （LIDT） either at 355 or 1064nm, followed by hexagonal phase and finally orthorhombic phase. The damage morphologies at 355 and 1064nm are different as the former shows a uniform fused area while the latter is centred on one or more defect points, which is induced by different damage mechanisms. The decrease of the LIDT at 1064nm is attributed to the increasing structural defect, while at 355nm is due to the combination effect of the increasing structural defect and decreasing band gap energy.