Influence of synthesis parameters and thermal annealing on grain size of polycrystalline aluminum thin film

The thin polycrystalline aluminium films were synthesized on monocrystalline silicon substrates by ion-plasma sputtering. The synthesis was carried out at temperatures of 80 and 160°C and deposition rate of 10 and 110 nm/min. As-deposited films were annealed for 15 h at 550°C. The morphology of aluminium films before and after annealing was obtained using SEM images. The surfaces of as-deposited Al thin films, synthesized at high temperature, were uneven, while for low temperature films they were smooth enough with Al hillocks on the top of the film. After thermal annealing, morphology of the films was changed slightly. XRD patterns were obtained to calculate the average Al grain size of as-deposited and annealed films. The XRD analysis showed that an increase in the synthesis temperature leads to an increase in the average grain size from 50 to 84 nm and that increase in the rate of Al film synthesis leads to an increase in the average grain size from 50 to 63 nm. As the result of annealing, the average grain size increased for all samples and the final meaning was from 78 to 140 nm.

Control of Structural and Magnetic Properties of Polycrystalline Co2FeGe Films via Deposition and Annealing Temperatures

Thin polycrystalline Co2FeGe films with composition close to stoichiometry have been fabricated using magnetron co-sputtering technique. Effects of substrate temperature (TS) and post-deposition annealing (Ta) on structure, static and dynamic magnetic properties were systematically studied. It is shown that elevated TS (Ta) promote formation of ordered L21 crystal structure. Variation of TS (Ta) allow modification of magnetic properties in a broad range. Saturation magnetization ~920 emu/cm3 and low magnetization damping parameter α ~ 0.004 were achieved for TS = 573 K. This in combination with soft ferromagnetic properties (coercivity below 6 Oe) makes the films attractive candidates for spin-transfer torque and magnonic devices.

Структурные особенности и магнитные свойства пленок Co-W

The structure and magnetic properties of thin polycrystalline Co100-xWx (0<x>30) films deposited by magnetron sputtering on glass substrates, including those containing buffer layers Ta, W and Ru, have been investigated. It was found that pure Co films are non-single-phase and contain hpc and fcc crystal modifications. Doping leads to an increase in the concentration of the fcc phase and enhance the texture (111), and subsequently to the amorphization of the films. Buffer layers had a certain influence on the depth and concentration localization of these transformations. A characteristic feature of the magnetism of Co-W films is a significant perpendicular component in the macroscopic magnetic anisotropy, which leads to a "trance critical" magnetic state. It was shown that its source was a textured fcc phase, the crystal anisotropy of which was enhanced by the doping of cobalt with tungsten.

Сглаживание тонких поликристаллических пленок AlN кластерными ионами аргона

The possibility of surface modification of thin polycrystalline aluminum nitride films by bombardment with argon cluster ion beam is investigated. The processing was carried out with high- (105 eV/atom) and low-energy (10 eV/atom) cluster ions. Using the spectral function of roughness, a highly efficient smoothing of the surface of nanostructured thin films of aluminum nitride was demonstrated in a wide range of spatial frequencies (ν = 0.02–128 μm-1) and at small etching depth (<100 nm).

Изучение критического угла каналирования ионов активных металлов через тонкие пленки алюминия

The spatial distributions of ions (K+, Na+) passed through thin polycrystalline and single-crystalline Al films with the thickness from 180 to 600 Å and critical channeling angles have been studied. The ion energies have been varied within the range E0 = 10-30 keV. It has been shown that an increase in the energy of the primary ion beam leads to a decrease in the width of the maxima of the angular distribution, which is associated with a decrease in the critical channeling angle ψcr. It has been found that the value ψcr does not exceed 4-50 for axial channeling and 9-100 for planar channeling.

Temperature Dependencies of Electrical Properties of Thin Films Based on PbSnAgTe Solid Solutions

The electrical properties of thin polycrystalline films of solid solutions Pb18Ag2Te20, Pb16Sn2Ag2Te20, and Pb14Sn4Ag2Te20 (LATT) on mica-muscovite substrates have been investigated. The temperature dependencies of concentration and mobility of charge carriers for these condensates are researched. Predominant scattering mechanisms are established. These are scattering on ionized impurities and acoustic phonons at low and high temperatures respectively.

Micro-spectroscopy of Buried Short-Range Surface Plasmon Polaritons Supported by Thin Polycrystalline Gold Films

The dispersive properties of short-range surface plasmon polaritons are investigated at the buried interfaces in vacuum/Au/fused silica and vacuum/Au/SiO2/Si multilayer systems for different gold film thicknesses of up to 50 nm using two-photon photoemission electron microscopy. The experimental data agrees excellently with results of transfer matrix method simulations, emphasizing the sensitivity of the plasmonic wave vector to the thickness of the gold film and an ultrathin native substrate oxide layer. The results furthermore illustrate the exceptional qualification of low-energy electron photoemission techniques in studying electronic excitations at buried interfaces.

METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THIN FILMS OF CUBI2O4 FOR PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL APPLICATIONS

A method has been developed for producing thin semiconductor films of a complex copper-bismuth system (CuBi2O4) with reduced roughness and increased photoactivity. The application process is carried out under standard laboratory conditions from aqueous solutions of salts, takes advantage of centrifugation to evenly distribute the coating over the surface, is characterized by low material consumption, and allows the thin nanocrystalline layers formation with a given thickness. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is used to improve the spraying of solution droplets over the entire surface of the CuBi2O4 film, which allows the dense uniform films deposition. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopy data demonstrate the ordering of the growth of CuBi2O4 particles (size ≈200 nm) and a 1.5-fold decrease in the roughness of the relief when polyethylene glycol is added to the solution. Micrographs show the growth of uniformly sized rounded crystallites. In a comparative analysis of the XRD diagram of the samples, an increase in the number and intensity of peaks corresponding to the crystalline phase of Kusachiite (CuBi2O4) with the introduction of PEG into the initial solution is observed. Based on the photoelectrochemical measurements results, it was found that the addition of polyethylene glycol to the electrolyte helps to increase the photoactivity of the samples by 2 times. The obtained thin polycrystalline CuBi2O4 films are promising for use in photoelectrochemical converters. Keywords: Solar energy material, spin coating, CuBi2O4, polyethylene glycol.