Thin-Film Materials

Drug Delivery ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 63-116
Author(s):  
Eric P. Holowka ◽  
Sujata K. Bhatia
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film

Clean Electron Microscope Substrate Films Used for Micrometeorite Collection and Study

1967 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 366-367
Author(s):  
D. M. Davies ◽  
R. Kemner ◽  
E. F. Fullam
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Amyl Acetate ◽  
Temperature Variations ◽  
Film Forming ◽  
Film Specimen ◽  
Particulate Contaminants

All serious electron microscopists at one time or another have been concerned with the cleanliness and freedom from artifacts of thin film specimen support substrates. This is particularly important where there are relatively few particles of a sample to be found for study, as in the case of micrometeorite collections. For the deposition of such celestial garbage through the use of balloons, rockets, and aircraft, the thin film substrates must have not only all the attributes necessary for use in the electron microscope, but also be able to withstand rather wide temperature variations at high altitude, vibration and shock inherent in the collection vehicle's operation and occasionally an unscheduled violent landing.Nitrocellulose has been selected as a film forming material that meets these requirements yet lends itself to a relatively simple clean-up procedure to remove particulate contaminants. A 1% nitrocellulose solution is prepared by dissolving “Parlodion” in redistilled amyl acetate from which all moisture has been removed.

Microtomy of spherical Al2O3 powders

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 74-75
Author(s):  
E.J. Jenkins ◽  
D.S. Tucker ◽  
J.J. Hren
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Size Range ◽  
Particle Aggregation ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Α Phase ◽  
Convenient Means ◽  
Van Der Waals Attraction ◽  
Negative Feature ◽  
Film Substrate

The size range of mineral and ceramic particles of one to a few microns is awkward to prepare for examination by TEM. Electrons can be transmitted through smaller particles directly and larger particles can be thinned by crushing and dispersion onto a substrate or by embedding in a film followed by ion milling. Attempts at dispersion onto a thin film substrate often result in particle aggregation by van der Waals attraction. In the present work we studied 1-10 μm diameter Al2O3 spheres which were transformed from the amprphous state to the stable α phase.After the appropriate heat treatment, the spherical powders were embedded in as high a density as practicable in a hard EPON, and then microtomed into thin sections. There are several advantages to this method. Obviously, this is a rapid and convenient means to study the microstructure of serial slices. EDS, ELS, and diffraction studies are also considerably more informative. Furthermore, confidence in sampling reliability is considerably enhanced. The major negative feature is some distortion of the microstructure inherent to the microtoming operation; however, this appears to have been surprisingly small. The details of the method and some typical results follow.

Studies on Water in the Hydration Chamber of a Modified Electron Microscope

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 544-545
Author(s):  
R. C. Moretz ◽  
G. G. Hausner ◽  
D. F. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Small Mass ◽  
Equilibrium Pressure ◽  
Biological Objects ◽  
Mechanical Pump ◽  
Differential Pumping

Use of the electron microscope to examine wet objects is possible due to the small mass thickness of the equilibrium pressure of water vapor at room temperature. Previous attempts to examine hydrated biological objects and water itself used a chamber consisting of two small apertures sealed by two thin films. Extensive work in our laboratory showed that such films have an 80% failure rate when wet. Using the principle of differential pumping of the microscope column, we can use open apertures in place of thin film windows.Fig. 1 shows the modified Siemens la specimen chamber with the connections to the water supply and the auxiliary pumping station. A mechanical pump is connected to the vapor supply via a 100μ aperture to maintain steady-state conditions.

Imaging of platinum-shadowed macromolecular complexes in dark field

1984 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 146-147
Author(s):  
D.W. Andrews ◽  
F.P. Ottensmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Dark Field ◽  
Bright Field ◽  
Field Mode ◽  
Macromolecular Complexes ◽  
Average Mass ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
Projection Images

Shadowing with heavy metals has been used for many years to enhance the topological features of biological macromolecular complexes. The three dimensional features present in directionaly shadowed specimens often simplifies interpretation of projection images provided by other techniques. One difficulty with the method is the relatively large amount of metal used to achieve sufficient contrast in bright field images. Thick shadow films are undesirable because they decrease resolution due to an increased tendency for microcrystalline aggregates to form, because decoration artefacts become more severe and increased cap thickness makes estimation of dimensions more uncertain.The large increase in contrast provided by the dark field mode of imaging allows the use of shadow replicas with a much lower average mass thickness. To form the images in Fig. 1, latex spheres of 0.087 μ average diameter were unidirectionally shadowed with platinum carbon (Pt-C) and a thin film of carbon was indirectly evaporated on the specimen as a support.

Reaction couples of ceramic thin films prepared by CVD

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 798-799
Author(s):  
D.W. Susnitzky ◽  
S.R. Summerfelt ◽  
C.B. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Vapor Deposition ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Deposition Process ◽  
Solid State Reactions ◽  
Spatial Distributions ◽  
Diffusion Couples ◽  
Kinetics Studies ◽  
Ceramic Thin Films ◽  
Initial Stage

Solid-state reactions have traditionally been studied in the form of diffusion couples. This ‘bulk’ approach has been modified, for the specific case of the reaction between NiO and Al2O3, by growing NiAl2O4 (spinel) from electron-transparent Al2O3 TEM foils which had been exposed to NiO vapor at 1415°C. This latter ‘thin-film’ approach has been used to characterize the initial stage of spinel formation and to produce clean phase boundaries since further TEM preparation is not required after the reaction is completed. The present study demonstrates that chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) can be used to deposit NiO particles, with controlled size and spatial distributions, onto Al2O3 TEM specimens. Chemical reactions do not occur during the deposition process, since CVD is a relatively low-temperature technique, and thus the NiO-Al2O3 interface can be characterized. Moreover, a series of annealing treatments can be performed on the same sample which allows both Ni0-NiAl2O4 and NiAl2O4-Al2O3 interfaces to be characterized and which therefore makes this technique amenable to kinetics studies of thin-film reactions.

Observations on the growth of YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films on MgO by pulsed-laser ablation

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 1068-1069
Author(s):  
M. Grant Norton ◽  
C. Barry Carter
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Laser Ablation ◽  
Substrate Surface ◽  
Pulsed Laser ◽  
Pulsed Laser Ablation ◽  
Thin Film Deposition ◽  
Film Deposition ◽  
Laser Ablation Process ◽  
Deposition Parameters

Pulsed-laser ablation has been widely used to produce high-quality thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-δ on a range of substrate materials. The nonequilibrium nature of the process allows congruent deposition of oxides with complex stoichiometrics. In the high power density regime produced by the UV excimer lasers the ablated species includes a mixture of neutral atoms, molecules and ions. All these species play an important role in thin-film deposition. However, changes in the deposition parameters have been shown to affect the microstructure of thin YBa2Cu3O7-δ films. The formation of metastable configurations is possible because at the low substrate temperatures used, only shortrange rearrangement on the substrate surface can occur. The parameters associated directly with the laser ablation process, those determining the nature of the process, e g. thermal or nonthermal volatilization, have been classified as ‘primary parameters'. Other parameters may also affect the microstructure of the thin film. In this paper, the effects of these ‘secondary parameters' on the microstructure of YBa2Cu3O7-δ films will be discussed. Examples of 'secondary parameters' include the substrate temperature and the oxygen partial pressure during deposition.

Characterization of Y-Ba-Cu-O films grown on silicon substrates by sequential evaporation

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 866-867
Author(s):  
E. L. Hall ◽  
A. Mogro-Campero ◽  
L. G. Turner ◽  
N. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Film Deposition ◽  
Superconducting Films ◽  
Electron Beam Evaporation ◽  
Film Deposition ◽  
Silicon Substrates ◽  
Superconducting Properties ◽  
Sequential Electron ◽  
Thin Superconducting Films

There is great interest in the growth of thin superconducting films of YBa2Cu3Ox on silicon, since this is a necessary first step in the use of this superconductor in a variety of possible electronic applications including interconnects and hybrid semiconductor/superconductor devices. However, initial experiments in this area showed that drastic interdiffusion of Si into the superconductor occurred during annealing if the Y-Ba-Cu-O was deposited direcdy on Si or SiO2, and this interdiffusion destroyed the superconducting properties. This paper describes the results of the use of a zirconia buffer layer as a diffusion barrier in the growth of thin YBa2Cu3Ox films on Si. A more complete description of the growth and characterization of these films will be published elsewhere.Thin film deposition was carried out by sequential electron beam evaporation in vacuum onto clean or oxidized single crystal Si wafers. The first layer evaporated was 0.4 μm of zirconia.

Microstructural characterization of YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films formed by metalorganic CVD

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 1080-1081
Author(s):  
P. Lu ◽  
W. Huang ◽  
C.S. Chern ◽  
Y.Q. Li ◽  
J. Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Critical Current Density ◽  
Critical Current ◽  
Current Density ◽  
Film Growth ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Microstructural Characterization ◽  
Ion Milling ◽  
Conventional Grinding

The YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films formed by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) have been reported to have excellent superconducting properties including a sharp zero resistance transition temperature (Tc) of 89 K and a high critical current density of 2.3x106 A/cm2 or higher. The origin of the high critical current in the thin film compared to bulk materials is attributed to its structural properties such as orientation, grain boundaries and defects on the scale of the coherent length. In this report, we present microstructural aspects of the thin films deposited on the (100) LaAlO3 substrate, which process the highest critical current density.Details of the thin film growth process have been reported elsewhere. The thin films were examined in both planar and cross-section view by electron microscopy. TEM sample preparation was carried out using conventional grinding, dimpling and ion milling techniques. Special care was taken to avoid exposure of the thin films to water during the preparation processes.

Diffraction effects from inclined grain boundaries in polycrystalline thin foils

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 420-421
Author(s):  
C.B. Carter ◽  
A.M. Donald ◽  
S.L. Sass
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Grain Boundaries ◽  
Boundary Plane ◽  
Foil Surface ◽  
Thin Foils ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Firm Basis ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Wave Matching ◽  
Diffraction Effects

Using thin-film gold bicrystals with the boundary plane parallel to the foil surface, it has been shown(l,2) that networks of grain boundary dislocations can act as diffraction gratings and give rise to subsidiary reflections close to the matrix reflections in electron diffraction patterns. Recently several groups of workers(3-5) have shown that inclined boundaries in polycrystalline specimens also produce extra reflections which may be due to the periodic nature of the boundaries. In general grain boundaries in polycrystalline specimens will be steeply inclined to the foil surface and additional reflections due to wave matching at the boundary(6) will also be present. The diffraction technique has the potential for providing detailed information on the structure of inclined boundaries (see, for example (5)), especially for the case where the image contains no useful information. In order to provide a firm basis for this technique, the geometry of the diffraction effects expected from inclined boundaries and the influence of these effects on the appearance of images will be examined.

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