Resonantly enhanced strip-line technique to measure microwave permeability of thin films

The sensitivity of a reflective single-port strip-line technique is increased by 10-20 times by amplification of a measured reflectivity response at a set of resonance frequencies. The resonant behavior is organized by connecting the strip cell to a network analyzer through a capacitor with a long coaxial cable. The capacitance defines the amplification; the cable length defines the resonance frequencies. S-parameters of the coaxial-to-strip junction and the field inhomogeneity inside the cell are accounted for by a reference measurement of sample with known constitutive parameters. Two methods for permeability calculation are suggested. The fist method is based on the comparison of Lorentzian parameters of resonance reflectivity curves. The second method is based on numerical solution of Fresnel's equation. The enhancement is essential at low-frequency part of the band, where the cell reflectivity is close to unity and the sensitivity of non-resonant technique is poor. The technique sensitivity is estimated by permeability measurements of Al stripes with different cross-section.     

A new perturbation method for determining the broadband complex permeability of magnetic thin films

In this paper, a new one-port microstrip line permeameter using the perturbation method is presented. A short-ended circuited microstrip line fixture was designed and implemented. Completely new analytical calculation formulas and a two-step measurement procedure were applied to deduce the complex permeability of the material in the frequency range from 100 MHz to 5 GHz. The measured results showed good agreement with the Landau–Lifchitz–Gilbert theory.     

基底对光学薄膜弱吸收测量的影响

 对表面热透镜技术测量光学薄膜弱吸收低频调制时不同基底对测量的影响进行了理论分析。用Lambda—900分光光度计测量了K9和石英基底的Ti₃O₅单层膜的吸收值,将该组样品作为定标片;用表面热透镜装置分别测量了BK7和石英空白基底及HfO₂,ZnO两组不同基底不同厚度单层膜样品的吸收。通过分析比较同一工艺条件下镀制的不同基底薄膜样品用与其同种和不同种基底定标片定标测量的结果,表明在低频测量时需要用与测量样品同种基底的定标片定标;不同厚度样品的测量结果表明,在不能严格满足热薄条件时,测量结果需引入修正值。     

Determination of piezoelectric coefficients of ferroelectric thin films using GaAs:Cr adaptive interferometer

We report on simple interferometric technique for the measurement of piezoelectric coefficients of thin films using GaAs:Cr adaptive photodetectors in the geometry of modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The technique needs no special vibroinsulation and automatically adjusts and keeps the operation point of the interferometer. Strong hysteresis effects with a slightly asymmetric form of the hysteresis loop were observed at the dependence of d₃₃ coefficients of the Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin film versus DC electric field. The obtained values of d₃₃ coefficients are in agreement with known data.     

Magnetic anisotropic properties in Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 ferrite epitaxy thin films

Epitaxial thin films of Fe₃O₄ and CoFe₂O₄ on MgO (0 0 1) substrates were grown by molecular beam epitaxy at low temperature growth process. Magnetization and hysteresis loop of both films were measured to investigate magnetic anisotropic properties at various temperatures. Anomalous magnetic properties are found to be correlated with crystalline, shape, and stress anisotropies. The Fe₃O₄ film below Verwey structural transition has a change in crystal structure, thus causing many anomalous magnetic properties. Crystalline anisotropy and anomalous magnetic properties are affected substantially by Co ions. The saturation magnetization of Co–ferrite film becomes much lower than that of Fe₃O₄ film, being very different from the bulks. It indicates that the low temperature growth process could not provide enough energy to have the lowest energy state.     

A contribution from the magnetoelastic effect to measured microwave permeability of thin ferromagnetic films

Microwave magnetic performance of thin ferromagnetic films is of interest in view of many technical problems. For measuring the microwave permeability, a shorted stripline technique is in common use. Recently, a coaxial technique has been developed for permeability measurements of films deposited onto a flexible substrate. The coaxial technique is reported to be advantageous over the conventional stripline method in wideband operating range and accuracy. In this paper, measurement results are presented which are obtained with these two techniques for Fe–N films. It is found that the magnetoelastic effect contributes greatly to the measured microwave permeability of the films. With the coaxial measurements under an external magnetic bias, this effect may be accounted for to estimate the permeability of a plane film sample. Additional information on the properties of the film can also be extracted from these data, such as estimations of average magnetic anisotropy field and of the magnetostriction constant of the film.     

A longitudinally detected high-field ESR spectrometer for the measurement of spin-lattice relaxation times

We describe a high-field longitudinally detected electron spin resonance (LOD-ESR) spectrometer operating at 35 and 75 GHz. The lack of resonant microwave circuits facilitates operation at different microwave frequencies without changing the probehead. A very low noise radio frequency detection compensates partially the resulting low sensitivity. The major elements of the LOD-ESR spectrometer are commercially available and may be adapted to usual high frequency spectrometers. The instrument allows field and frequency dependent spin lattice relaxation time (T1) studies. T1 in the range of 2-80 ns can be determined from the phase sensitively detected LOD-ESR spectra. We demonstrate the performance of the apparatus by the measurement of T1 in the normal state of RbC60, an electrically conducting alkaline fulleride polymer.     

Bulk-wave and guided-wave photoacoustic evaluation of the mechanical properties of aluminum/silicon nitride double-layer thin films

The development of devices made of micro- and nano-structured thin film materials has resulted in the need for advanced measurement techniques to characterize their mechanical properties. Photoacoustic techniques, which use pulsed laser irradiation to nondestructively induce very high frequency ultrasound in a test object via rapid thermal expansion, are suitable for nondestructive and non-contact evaluation of thin films. In this paper, we compare two photoacoustic techniques to characterize the mechanical parameters of edge-supported aluminum and silicon nitride double-layer thin films. The elastic properties and residual stresses in such films affect their mechanical performance. In a first set of experiments, a femtosecond transient pump–probe technique is used to investigate the Young’s moduli of the aluminum and silicon nitride layers by launching ultra-high frequency bulk acoustic waves in the films. The measured transient signals are compared with simulated transient thermoelastic signals in multi-layer structures, and the elastic moduli are determined. Independent pump–probe tests on silicon substrate-supported region and unsupported region are in good agreement. In a second set of experiments, dispersion curves of the A₀ mode of the Lamb waves that propagate along the unsupported films are measured using a broadband photoacoustic guided-wave method. The residual stresses and flexural rigidities for the same set of double-layer membranes are determined from these dispersion curves. Comparisons of the results obtained by the two photoacoustic techniques are made and discussed.     

A new molecular silver precursor for the preparation of thin conductive silver films

The synthesis and characterization of a new molecular silver precursor is reported. The presented complex [Ag(DioxoNic)₂]NO₃ (DioxoNic=(2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl nicotinate) can be obtained by the reaction of silver(I) nitrate and (2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl nicotinate in ethanol. The product crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c (No. 14). Concentrated ethanolic solutions allow the fabrication of thin films via dip coating. Using UV-irradiation and subsequent moderate temperature treatment compact films of elemental silver can be obtained. The resulting silver films show excellent electrical properties with sheet resistances down to 0.7 Ω/sq at a film thickness of 25 nm corresponding to a specific electrical resistance of 1.75×10⁻⁸ Ωm very close to the value of bulk silver. For the potential application in optoelectronic devices, the complex was tested as an ink in a soft printing process for the preparation of patterned silver films.     

Aspects of “low field” magnetotransport in epitaxial thin films of the ferromagnetic metallic oxide SrRuO3

Epitaxial thin films of the conductive ferromagnetic oxide SrRuO₃ were grown on an (0 0 1) SrTiO₃ (STO) substrate by using DC sputtering technique. The magnetic and magnetoresistive properties of the films were measured by applying the magnetic field both perpendicular (out-of-plane) and parallel (in-plane) to the film plane and ever maintaining the direction of the applied field perpendicular to that of the transport current. The films grown on an (0 0 1) STO substrate showed identical magnetization properties in two orthogonal crystallographic directions of the substrate, [1 0 0]_S and [0 0 1]_S (in-plane and out-of-plane geometry), which suggests the presence of a multi domain structure within the plane of the film. For such samples, no anisotropic field (hard axis) along de [0 0 1]s direction, i.e., perpendicular to the film-plane could be detected. Nevertheless, a distinguishable temperature dependent out-of-plane anisotropic magnetoresistance (MR) along with strong temperature dependent low field hysteretic MR(H) behavior was detected for the studied films. A negative MR ratio MR(T)=[ρ(μ₀H=9 T; T)−ρ( μ₀H=0 T; T)]/ρ( μ₀H=0 T; T) on the order of a few percent, with maximums of 6% and 4% (right at the Curie temperature, T_C 160 K) was calculated for an in-plane and out-of plane measuring geometry, respectively. In addition there is an equally strong MR effect at low temperatures, which might be related to the temperature dependence of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy together with a magnetization rotation. Both the MR(T) behavior and the achieved values (except for T<30 K) are similar to those obtained on SrRuO₃ films grown on 2° miscut (0 0 1) STO substrates with the current parallel to the field and parallel to the direction, which was identified as the easier axis for magnetization.     

Design of optical system for flattop beam shaper based on the measurement of laser induced damage threshold of thin films

To solve the problem of large error when measure the laser induced damage threshold of thin films in the case of Gaussian distribution beam induced damage thin films, optical system of flattop beam shaper which is capable of redistributing a beam with a Gaussian profile to a flattop profile was designed with optical design software ZEMAX. The Fermi-Dirac beam model was chosen as the distribution function of the flattop beam in this paper, the mapping formula of the input Gaussian beam and the output flattop beam was establish, the surface coefficient of aspheric was given. The energy conversion efficiency was 95.33% and the flattened degree was 93.66% in this design. The accuracy of measurement has been improved when measure the laser induced damage threshold of thin films by the flattop beam.     

A comparative study on structural and optical properties of ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin films obtained by ultrasonic spray method using different solvents

Transparent conducting ZnO and Al doped ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrate by ultrasonic spray method. The thin films with concentration of 0.1 M were deposited at 350 °C with 2 min of deposition time. The effects of ethanol and methanol solution before and after doping on the structural, optical and electrical properties were examined. The DRX analyses indicated that ZnO films have nanocrystalline nature and hexagonal wurtzite structure with (1 0 0) and (0 0 2) preferential orientation corresponding to ZnO films resulting from methanol and ethanol solution, respectively. The crystallinity of the thin films improved with methanol solution after doping to (0 0 2) oriented. All films exhibit an average optical transparency about 90%, in the visible range. The band gaps values of ZnO thin films are increased after doping from 3.10 to 3.26 eV and 3.27 to 3.30 eV upon Al doping obtained by ethanol and methanol solution, respectively. The electrical conductivity increase from 7.5 to 15.2 (Ω cm)⁻¹ of undoped to Al doped ZnO thin films prepared by using ethanol solution. However, for the methanol solution; the electrical conductivity of the film is stabilized after doping.     

Hydrolysis-condensation reactions of titanium alkoxides in thin films: A study of the steric hindrance effect by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

An original approach based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is proposed to study the influence of the surrounding humidity on the hydrolysis-condensation reactions of five titanium alkoxides in thin films. More precisely, the influence of the nature of the ligands (propoxide, butoxide, isopropoxide, phenoxide, and 9H-carbazole-9-yl-ethyl-oxy) on the reaction rate was evidenced. The reaction advancement was evaluated by comparing XPS chemical compositions to theoretical compositions calculated for all the possible rates. XPS chemical environment information allowed validating the reliability of this approach through the evaluation of the condensation state. In both approaches, the influence of the steric hindrance on the reactivity of titanium alkoxides was highlighted to be similar to what has been previously observed in solution. Theses results corroborate the validity of our XPS approach to determine titanium alkoxide hydrolysis-condensation reactions in the specific application of thin films.     

Laser photochromic dye activation technique for the measurement of liquid free surface velocity on curved surfaces

An optical method is presented which permits the determination of the free surface velocity of liquid films flowing on curved surfaces. The feasibility of this technique, which involves the laser tomography and photochromic dye activation techniques, is demonstrated on an oil film flowing around a finned tube. Results for different tube geometries and flow conditions are presented. Advantages and limits of the laser photochromic velocimetry technique are discussed.     

A new method for the absolute measurement of piezoelectric coefficients on thin polymer films

A new quasistatic method to measure piezoelectric coefficients on thin polymer films is presented. This method is based on a combined experimental/analytical approach, where small polymer samples (6 mm x 3 mm x 110 microm) are encapsulated in a soft silicone rubber and an electric field is applied across their thickness (3-direction). Strains are measured optically along three perpendicular directions using a laser Doppler vibrometer, and the experimental measurements are used in a Rayleigh-Ritz energy minimization procedure implemented symbolically in MATHCAD, which yields the absolute piezoelectric coefficients d(3ii). These measured coefficients are material properties of the polymer and do not depend on the specific boundary conditions of the problem. The validity of the method is established using the ATILA finite element code. Experimental values of d(311), d(322), and d(333) obtained for polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) at room temperature, in the frequency range 500-2000 Hz, are presented and compared with existing data; excellent agreement is found. The extension of the method to the determination of electrostrictive coefficients on soft polyurethane materials is introduced.     

一种在线测量微机械薄膜残余应力的新结构

提出了一种利用临界屈曲法在线测量微机械薄膜残余应力的新结构，并采用表面微加工技术制作了两种测试样品.搭建了在线观测实验装置来实时监控释放过程中结构出现的临界屈曲变形模态，由此判断出结构内部的应力状态，同时在测得临界刻蚀深度的情况下，采用有限元方法计算出残余应力大小.借助有限元方法，先研究了多个参数对临界屈曲应力的影响，然后利用这种新结构对薄膜残余应力进行了实际测量，所得结果与微旋转结构的应力测量结果基本吻合.分析及实验表明，新结构在测量薄膜残余应力方面有许多优点，具有较高的实用价值，不仅能满足大量程的应力检测要求，而且只用一个结构就可以同时测量压应力和拉应力，从而极大提高了器件版图空间的利用率.     

Impact of chloride treatment on the physical properties of polycrystalline thin CdTe films for solar cell applications

This report presents the microstructural, optoelectrical and surface morphological properties of e-beam evaporated thin CdTe films with the activation of post-chloride treatment. The thin films having thickness 800 nm were deposited onto glass and ITO substrates subsequently processed with CdCl₂ treatment at various temperatures and then subjected to different characterization tools to investigate the physical properties. The films were found to be polycrystalline in nature having a cubic phase with preferred orientation (111) up to 320 °C and completely oxidized at 470 °C while the ohmic nature of films is confirmed by I–V characteristics. The absorbance is found to be higher in the visible range and lowest transmittance is observed for film processed at 170 °C. The surface morphology reveals that films have uniform surface with improved grain growth and elemental analysis confirms the deposition and treatment. The optimized results attract attention to use the processed films at 170 °C as an effective absorber-layer in CdTe based solar cells.     

A study of energy band gap versus temperature for Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films

The temperature dependent band gap energy of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ thin film was studied in the temperature range of 77-410 K. Various relevant parameters, which explain the temperature variation of the fundamental band gap, have been calculated using empirical and semi-empirical models. Amongst the models evaluated, the Varshni and Pässler models show the best agreement with experimental data in the middle temperature range. However, the Bose-Einstein model fits reasonably well over the entire temperature range evaluated. The calculated fitting parameters are in good agreement with the estimated value of the Debye temperature calculated using the Madelung-Einstein approximation and the Hailing method.     

Close space vapor transport method for Bi2Te3 thin films deposition: Influence of the type of substrate

Bismuth telluride thin films have been grown by close space vapor transport (CSVT) technique as a function of substrate temperature (T_sub). Both N- and P-type samples can be obtained by this method which is a relatively simple procedure, which makes the method interesting for technological applications. The samples were deposited onto amorphous glass and polycrystalline CdTe film substrates in the substrate temperature range 300-425 °C, with a fixed gradient between source and substrate of 300 °C. The influence of the type of substrate and substrate temperature in the CSVT chamber on the physical properties of the films is presented and discussed.