Neutron detection is of great importance in many fields spanning from scientific research, to nuclear science, and to medical application. The development of silicon-based neutron detectors with enhanced neutron detection efficiency can offer several advantages such as spatial resolution, enhanced dynamic range and background discrimination. In this work, increased detection efficiency is pursued by fabricating high aspect ratio 3D micro-structures filled with neutron converting materials (B4C) on planar silicon detectors. An in-depth feasibility study was carried out in all aspects of the sensor fabrication technology. Passivation of the etched structures was studied in detail, to ensure good electrical performance. The conformal deposition of B4C with a newly developed process showed excellent results. Preliminary electrical characterisation of the completed devices is promising, and detectors have been mounted on dedicated boards in view of the upcoming tests with neutrons.

We arc deposit Cr-rich Cr-N coatings and show that these coatings are a promising alternative to electrodeposited hard chrome. We find that the substrate bias is of importance for controlling the N content in the grown coatings as it determines the degree of preferential resputtering of N. The substrate bias also affects the substrate temperature and film growth rate. Higher bias results in higher temperatures due to higher energy transfer to the substrate, while the growth rate decreases due to an increased re-sputtering. The N content affects the morphology, microstructure, hardness, and resistivity of the coatings. The hardness increases from 10 GPa with 0.5 at. % N to 17 GPa with 7.5 at. % N, after which no further increase in hardness is seen. At the same time, the grain structure changes from columnar to more featureless and the resistivity rises from 15 to 45 mu omega cm.

We report conformal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron carbide (BxC) thin films on silicon substrates with 8:1 aspect-ratio morphologies, using triethylboron [B(C2H5)(3)] as a single source CVD precursor. Step coverage (SC) calculated from the cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy measurements shows that films deposited at & LE;450 & DEG;C were highly conformal (SC = 1). We attribute this to the low reaction probability at low substrate temperatures enabling more gas phase diffusion into the features. The chemical state of the material, determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, shows as a carbide with B-B, B-C, C-B, and C-C chemical bonds. Quantitative analysis by time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis reveals that films deposited at 450 & DEG;C are boron-rich with around 82.5 at. % B, 15.6 at. % C, 1.3 at. % O, and 0.6 at. % H, i.e., about B5C. The film density as measured by x-ray reflectometry varies from 1.9 to 2.28 g/cm(3) depending on deposition temperature. (C) 2022 Author(s).All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Phase formation, morphology, and optical properties of Ti(O,N) thin films with varied oxygen-to- nitrogen ration content were investigated. The films were deposited by magnetron sputtering at 500 & DEG;C on Si(100) and c-plane sapphire substrate. A competition between a NaCl B1 structure TiN1-xOx, a rhombohedral structure Ti-2(O1-yNy)(3), and an anatase structure Ti(O1-zNz)(2) phase was observed. While the N-rich films were composed of a NaCl B1 TiN1-xOx phase, an increase of oxygen in the films yields the growth of rhombohedral Ti-2(O1-yNy)(3) phase and the oxygen-rich films are comprised of a mixture of the rhombohedral Ti-2(O1-yNy)(3) phase and anatase Ti(O1-zNz)(2) phase. The optical properties of the films were correlated to the phase composition and the observation of abrupt changes in terms of refractive index and absorption coefficient. The oxide film became relatively transparent in the visible range while the addition of nitrogen into films increases the absorption. The oxygen rich-samples have bandgap values below 3.75 eV, which is higher than the value for pure TiO2, and lower than the optical bandgap of pure TiN. The optical properties characterizations revealed the possibility of adjusting the band gap and the absorption coefficient depending on the N-content, because of the phases constituting the films combined with anionic substitution.

Studies of single crystal artificial superlattices (SLs) of transition-metal (TM) diborides, which is instru- mental to understand hardening mechanisms at nanoscale, is lacking. Here, CrBx/TiBy (0001) diboride SLs [x,y E 1.7-3.3] are grown epitaxially on Al2O3(0001) substrates by direct-current magnetron sputter epitaxy. Growth conditions for obtaining well-defined SLs with good interface quality are found at 4 mTorr Ar pressure and 600 degrees C. 1 -mu m-thick SL films deposited with modulation periods A between 1 and 10 nm, and A=6 nm SLs with TiBy-to-A layer thickness ratios F ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 are studied. SLs with A=6 nm and F in the range of 0.2-0.4, with a near stoichiometric B/TM ratio, exhibit the high- est structural quality. The effects of F and stoichiometries (B/TM ratio) on the distribution of B in the SL structures are discussed. By increasing the relative thickness of TiBy, the crystalline quality of SLs starts to deteriorate due to B segregation in over-stoichiometric TiBy, resulting in narrow epitaxial SL columnar growth with structurally-distorted B-rich boundaries. Moreover, increasing the relative thickness of under-stoichiometric CrBx enhances the SL quality and hinders formation of B-rich boundaries. The SLs are found to exhibit hardness values in the range of 29-34 GPa.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Zinc aluminogallate, Zn(AlxGa1−x)2O4 (ZAGO), a single-phase spinel structure, offers considerable potential for high-performance electronic devices due to its expansive compositional miscibility range between aluminum (Al) and gallium (Ga). Direct growth of high-quality ZAGO epilayers however remains problematic due to the high volatility of zinc (Zn). This work highlights a novel synthesis process for high-quality epitaxial quaternary ZAGO thin films on sapphire substrates, achieved through thermal annealing of a ZnGa2O4 (ZGO) epilayer on sapphire in an ambient air setting. In-situ annealing x-ray diffraction measurements show that the incorporation of Al in the ZGO epilayer commenced at 850 °C. The Al content (x) in ZAGO epilayer gradually increased up to around 0.45 as the annealing temperature was raised to 1100 °C, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. X-ray rocking curve measurement revealed a small full width at half maximum value of 0.72 °, indicating the crystal quality preservation of the ZAGO epilayer with a high Al content. However, an epitaxial intermediate �–(AlxGa1−x)2O3 layer (� - AGO) was formed between the ZAGO and sapphire substrate. This is believed to be a consequence of the interdiffusion of Al and Ga between the ZGO thin film and sapphire substrate. Using density functional theory, the substitution cost of Ga in sapphire was determined to be about 0.5 eV lower than substitution cost of Al in ZGO. Motivated by this energetically favorable substitution, a formation mechanism of the ZAGO and AGO layers was proposed. Spectroscopic ellipsometry studies revealed an increase in total thickness of the film from 105.07 nm (ZGO) to 147.97 nm (ZAGO/AGO) after annealing to 1100 °C, which were corroborated using TEM. Furthermore, an observed increase in the direct (indirect) optical bandgap from 5.06 eV (4.7 eV) to 5.72 eV (5.45 eV) with an increasing Al content in the ZAGO layer further underpins the formation of a quaternary ZAGO alloy with a tunable composition.

Gallium nitride (GaN) epitaxial films on sapphire (Al2O3) substrates have been grown using reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy with a liquid Ga target. Threading dislocations density (TDD) of sputtered GaN films was reduced by using an inserted high-quality aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer grown by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (R-HiPIMS) in a gas mixture of Ar and N2. After optimizing the Ar/N2 pressure ratio and deposition power, a high-quality AlN film exhibiting a narrow full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) value of the double-crystal x-ray rocking curve (DCXRC) of the AlN(0002) peak of 0.086° was obtained by R-HiPIMS. The mechanism giving rise the observed quality improvement is attributed to the enhancement of kinetic energy of the adatoms in the deposition process when operated in a transition mode. With the inserted HiPIMS-AlN as a buffer layer for direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) GaN growth, the FWHM values of GaN(0002) and (10 1‾ 1) XRC decrease from 0.321° to 0.087° and from 0.596° to 0.562°, compared to the direct growth of GaN on sapphire, respectively. An order of magnitude reduction from 2.7 × 109 cm−2 to 2.0 × 108 cm−2 of screw-type TDD calculated from the FWHM of the XRC data using the inserted HiPIMS-AlN buffer layer demonstrates the improvement of crystal quality of GaN. The result of TDD reduction using the HiPIMS-AlN buffer was also verified by weak beam dark-field (WBDF) cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

The optical contrast and minimum layer thickness of Ni/Ti broadband neutron multilayer supermirrors is usually hampered by an interface width, typically 0.7 nm, caused by nanocrystallites, interdiffusion, and/or intermixing. We explore the elimination of nanocrystallites in combination with interface smoothening by modulation of ion assistance during magnetron sputter deposition of 0.8 to 6.4 nm thick Ni and Ti layers. The amorphization is achieved through incorporation of natural B₄C where B and C preferably bond to Ti. A two-stage substrate bias was applied to each layer; -30 V for the initial 1 nm followed by -100 V for the remaining part, generating multilayer mirrors with interface widths of 0.40-0.45 nm. The results predict that high performance supermirrors with m-values as high as 10 are feasible by using ¹¹B isotope-enriched B₄C combined with temporal control of the ion assistance.

Highly concentrated electrolytes have been found to improve the cycle life and Coulombic efficiency of lithium metal anodes, as well as to suppress dendrite growth. However, the mechanism for these improvements is not well understood. Partly, this can be linked to the difficulty of accurately characterizing the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), known to play an important role for anode stability and stripping/plating efficiency. Herein, in situ neutron reflectometry is used to obtain information about SEI formation in a highly concentrated ether-based electrolyte. With neutron reflectometry, the thickness, scattering length density (SLD), and roughness of the SEI layer formed on a Cu working electrode are nondestructively probed. The reflectivity data point to the formation of a thin (5 nm) SEI in the highly concentrated electrolyte (salt:solvent ratio 1:2.2), while a considerably thicker (13 nm) SEI is formed in an electrolyte at lower salt concentration (salt:solvent ratio 1:13.7). Further, the SEI formed in the electrolyte with high salt concentration has a higher SLD, suggesting that the chemical composition of the SEI changes. The results from neutron reflectometry correlate well with the electrochemical data from SEI formation.

Metastable super-saturated Zr1_xAlxN alloys tend to phase separate into the equilibrium cubic (c) ZrN and wurtzite (w) AlN due to a deep miscibility gap. Transformation is shown here to follow distinctly different paths depending on if Zr1_xAlxN (x = 0.3 and 0.6) is sputter deposited as a single layer or multi-layered with TiN, and further varied by post-deposition annealing. Using in situ high-energy synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering and analytical transmission electron microscopy, surface segregation effects are compared to secondary phase transformations occurring in as-deposited layers during thermal annealing up to 1000 degrees C. For the primary phase transformation from the vapor phase, w-AlN nucleates and an AlN-ZrN labyrinthine structure evolves at elevated deposition temperature with semi-coherent interfaces over several nanometers, where the higher Al content narrows the structure in both single and multilayers. Transformation in thinner alloy layers is governed by epitaxial forces which stabilize single-phase c-Zr0.4Al0.6N, which enables c-Zr0.4Al0.6N/TiN superlattice growth at temperatures as low as 350 degrees C. Regardless of the decomposition route, the formation of c-AlN is impeded and w-AlN instantaneously forms during transformation. In contrast, isostructural decomposition into w-AlN and w-Zr (Al)N occurs in w-Zr0.4Al0.6N alloys during annealing.

By addressing precursor prevalence and energetics using the DFT-based synthetic growth concept (SGC), the formation mechanism of self-induced InAlN core–shell nanorods (NRs) synthesized by reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE) is explored. The characteristics of In- and Al-containing precursor species are evaluated considering the thermal conditions at a typical NR growth temperature of around 700 °C. The cohesive and dissociation energies of In-containing precursors are consistently lower than those of their Al-containing counterparts, indicating that In-containing precursors are more weakly bonded and more prone to dissociation. Therefore, In-containing species are expected to exhibit lower abundance in the NR growth environment. At increased growth temperatures, the depletion of In-based precursors is even more pronounced. A distinctive imbalance in the incorporation of Al- and In-containing precursor species (namely, AlN/AlN+, AlN2/AlN2+, Al2N2/Al2N2+, and Al2/Al2+ vs InN/InN+, InN2/InN2+, In2N2/In2N2+, and In2/In2+) is found at the growing edge of the NR side surfaces, which correlates well with the experimentally obtained core–shell structure as well as with the distinctive In-rich core and vice versa for the Al-rich shell. The performed modeling indicates that the formation of the core–shell structure is substantially driven by the precursors’ abundance and their preferential bonding onto the growing edge of the nanoclusters/islands initiated by phase separation from the beginning of the NR growth. The cohesive energies and the band gaps of the NRs show decreasing trends with an increment in the In concentration of the NRs’ core and with an increment in the overall thickness (diameter) of the NRs. These results reveal the energy and electronic reasons behind the limited growth (up to ∼25% of In atoms of all metal atoms, i.e., InxAl1–xN, x ∼ 0.25) in the NR core and may be qualitatively perceived as a limiting factor for the thickness of the grown NRs (typically <50 nm).

The performance of multilayers in optical components, such as those used in neutron scattering instruments, is crucially dependent on the achievable interface width. We have shown how the interface width of Ni/Ti multilayers can be improved using the incorporation of B₄C to inhibit the formation of nanocrystals and limit interdiffusion and intermetallic reactions at the interfaces. A modulated ion-assistance scheme was used to prevent intermixing and roughness accumulation throughout the layer stack. In this work we investigate the incorporation of low-neutron-absorbing ¹¹B₄C for Ni/Ti neutron multilayers. Combined fitting of neutron reflectivity and X-ray reflectivity measurements shows an elimination of accumulated roughness for the ¹¹B₄C containing multilayers with a mean interface width of 4.5 Å, resulting in an increase in reflectivity at the first Bragg peak by a factor of 2.3 and 1.5 for neutron and X-ray measurements, respectively.

Owing to their very large piezoelectric coefficients and spontaneous polarizations, (Sc,Y) xAl(1-x)N alloys have emerged as a new class of III-nitride semiconductor materials with great potential for high-frequency electronic and acoustic devices. The thermal conductivity of constituent materials is a key parameter for design, optimization, and thermal management of such devices. In this study, transient thermoreflectance technique is applied to measure the thermal conductivity of ScxAl1-xN and YxAl1-xN (0 = x = 0.22) layers grown by magnetron sputter epitaxy in the temperature range of 100-400 K. The room-temperature thermal conductivity of both alloys is found to decrease significantly with increasing Sc(Y) composition compared to that of AlN. We also found that the thermal conductivity of YxAl1-xN is lower than that of ScxAl1-xN for all studied compositions. In both alloys, the thermal conductivity increases with the temperature up to 250 K and then saturates. The experimental data are analyzed using a model based on the solution of the phonon Boltzmann transport equation within the relaxation time approximation. The contributions of different phonon-scattering mechanisms to the lattice thermal conductivity of (Sc,Y) xAl(1-x)N alloys are identified and discussed.

Photoconduction (PC) properties were investigated for ternary indium aluminium nitride (InxAl1-xN) nanorods (NRs) with different indium compositions (x) from 0.35 to 0.68, as grown by direct-current reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy. Cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveals single-crystal quality of the vertically aligned InxAl1-xN NRs. Single-rod photodetector devices with good ohmic contacts were fabricated using the focused-ion-beam technique (FIB), where the In-rich In0.68Al0.32N NR exhibits an optimal photocurrent responsivity of 1400 A W-1 and photoconductive gain of 3300. A transition from a positive photoresponse to a negative photoresponse was observed, while increasing the In composition x from 0.35 to 0.57. The negative PC was further enhanced by increasing x to 0.68. A model based on the coexistence and competition of deep electron trap states and recombination centers was proposed to explain the interesting composition-dependent PC in these ternary III-nitride 1D nanostructures.

Tritantalum pentanitride (Ta₃N₅) semiconductor is a promising material for photoelectrolysis of water with high efficiency. Ta₃N₅ is a metastable phase in the complex system of TaN binary compounds. Growing stabilized single-crystal Ta₃N₅ films is correspondingly challenging. Here, we demonstrate the growth of a nearly single-crystal Ta₃N₅ film with epitaxial domains on c-plane sapphire substrate, Al₂O₃(0001), by magnetron sputter epitaxy. Introduction of a small amount ~2% of O₂ into the reactive sputtering gas mixed with N₂ and Ar facilitates the formation of a Ta₃N₅ phase in the film dominated by metallic TaN. In addition, we indicate that a single-phase polycrystalline Ta₃N₅ film can be obtained with the assistance of a Ta₂O₅ seed layer. With controlling thickness of the seed layer smaller than 10 nm and annealing at 1000 °C, a crystalline β phase Ta₂O₅ was formed, which promotes the domain epitaxial growth of Ta₃N₅ films on Al₂O₃(0001). The mechanism behind the stabilization of the orthorhombic Ta₃N₅ structure resides in its stacking with the ultrathin seed layer of orthorhombic β-Ta₂O₅, which is energetically beneficial and reduces the lattice mismatch with the substrate.

Amorphous boron carbide (B₄C) thin films are by far the most popular form for the neutron converting layers in the ¹⁰B-based neutron detectors, which are a rising trend in detector technologies in response to the increasing scarcity and price of ³He, the standard material for neutron detection. The microstructure of the B4C films is closely related to the important properties, e.g. density and adhesion, for the converting layers, which eventually affect the detection efficiency and the long-term stability of the detectors. To study the influence from substrates of different roughness and materials, the B₄C films were deposited on polished Si substrates with Al, Ti, and Cu buffer layers and unpolished Si, Al, Ti, and Cu substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering at a substrate temperature of 623 K. The tapered columnar grains and nodular defects, generally observed in SEM images, indicated a strong shadowing effect where voids were introduced around the grains. The change in the grain size did not show a direct dependence to the substrate roughness, acquired from the surface profile, nor to the mass density of the films, obtained from reflectivity patterns. However, films with non-uniform size of columnar grains were deposited on substrates with high skewness, leading to a drop of mass density from ∼95% down to ∼70% of tabulated bulk density. On the other hand, similar microstructures and mass density were obtained from the films deposited on Al, Ti, and Cu of different roughness and good adhesion were observed from cross-cut adhesion tests, showing the reliability of sputtering deposited B₄C films on common structural materials in neutron detectors.

Recent experiments [Barbero et al. Phys. Rev. B 95, 094505 (2017)] have established that bulk superconductivity (T_c ∼ 8.3-8.7 K) can be induced in AlB₂-type ZrB₂ and HfB₂, highly covalent refractory ceramics, by vanadium (V) doping. These AlB₂-structured phases provide an alternative to earlier diamon-like or diamond-based superconducting and superhard materials. However, the underlying mechanism for doping-induced superconductivity in these materials is yet to be addressed. In this paper, we have used first-principles calculations to probe electronic structure, lattice dynamics, and electron-phonon coupling (EPC) in V-doped ZrB₂ and consequently examine the origin of the superconductivity. We find that, while doping-induced stress weakens the EPC, the concurrently induced charges strengthen it. The calculated critical transition temperature (T_c) in electron (and V)-doped ZrB₂ is at least one order of magnitude lower than experiments, despite considering the weakest possible Coulomb repulsion between electrons in the Cooper pair, hinting a complex origin of superconductivity in it.

We study microstructure, mechanical, and corrosion properties of Zr1-xCrxBy coatings deposited by hybrid high power impulse/DC magnetron co-sputtering (CrB2-HiPIMS/ZrB2-DCMS). Cr/(Zr + Cr) ratio, x, increases from 0.13 to 0.9, while B/(Zr + Cr) ratio, y, decreases from 2.92 to 1.81. As reference, ZrB2.18 and CrB1.81 layers are grown at 4000 W DCMS. ZrB2.18 and CrB1.81 columns are continual from near substrate toward the surface with open column boundaries. We find that the critical growth parameter to achieve dense films is the ratio of Cr+- dominated ion flux and the (Zr + B) neutral flux from the ZrB2 target. Thus, the alloys are categorized in two groups: films with x &lt; 0.32 (low Cr+/(Zr + B) ratios) that have continuous columnar growth, rough surfaces, and open column boundaries, and films with x &gt;= 0.32 (high Cr+/(Zr + B) ratios) that Cr+-dominated ion fluxes are sufficient to interrupt continuous columns, resulting in smooth surface and dense fine-grain microstructure. The pulsed metal-ion irradiation is more effective in film densification than continuous Ar+ bombardment. Dense Zr0.46Cr0.54B2.40 and Zr0.10Cr0.90B1.81 alloys are hard (&gt; 30 GPa) and almost stress-free with relative nano indentation toughness of 1.3 MPa root m and 2.3 MPa root m, respectively, and remarkedly low corrosion rates (~& nbsp;1.0 x 10(-6) mA/cm(2) for Zr0.46Cr0.54B2.40 and~& nbsp; 2.1 x 10(-6) mA/cm(2) for Zr0.10Cr0.90B1.81).

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) acoustic transducers are highly sophisticated devices with high sensing performance, small size, and low power consumption. To be applied in an implantable medical device, they require a customized packaging solution with a protecting shell, usually made from titanium (Ti), to fulfill biocompatibility and hermeticity requirements. To allow acoustic sound to be transferred between the surroundings and the hermetically sealed MEMS transducer, a compliant diaphragm element needs to be integrated into the protecting enclosure. In this paper, we present a novel fabrication technology for clamped micron-thick Ti diaphragms that can be applied on arbitrary 3D substrate geometry and hence directly integrated into the packaging structure. Stiffness measurements on various diaphragm samples illustrate that the technology enables a significant reduction of residual stress in the diaphragm developed during its deposition on a polymer sacrificial material.

We systematically study the oxidation properties of sputter-deposited TiB2.5 coatings up to 700 °C. Oxide-scale thickness dox increases linearly with time ta for 300, 400, 500, and 700 °C, while an oxidation-protective behavior occurs with dox=250∙ta0.2 at 600 °C. Oxide-layer’s structure changes from amorphous to rutile/anatase-TiO2 at temperatures ≥ 500 °C. Abnormally low oxidation rate at 600 °C is attributed to a highly dense columnar TiO2-sublayer growing near oxide/film interface with a top-amorphous thin layer, suppressing oxygen diffusion. A model is proposed to explain the oxide-scale evolution at 600 °C. Decreasing heating rate to 1.0 °C/min plays a noticeable role in the TiB2.5 oxidation.

Electronic grade ZnGa2O4 epitaxial thin films were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Their thickness, roughness and optical properties were determined using a Multiple Sample Analysis based approach by the regression analysis of optical model and measured data. These samples were then compared to samples which had undergone ion etching, and it was observed that etching time up to four minutes had no discernible impact on its optical properties. Line shape analysis of resulting absorption coefficient dispersion revealed that ZnGa(2)O(4 )exhibited both direct and indirect interband transitions. The modified Cody formalism was employed to determine their optical bandgaps. These values were found to be in good agreement with values obtained using other popular bandgap extrapolation procedures. Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.

The superconducting transition temperature (T-C) of rock-salt type niobium nitride (delta - NbN) typically varies between 9 to 17 K and the theoretically predicted value of 18 K has not been achieved hitherto. The low T-C in delta - NbN has been assigned to some structural disorder which is always present irrespective of the microstructure (polycrystalline or epitaxial), methods or conditions adopted during the growth of NbN thin films. In this work, we investigate the atomic origin of such suppression of the T-C in delta - NbN thin films by employing combined methods of experiments and ab initio simulations. Sputtered delta - NbN thin films with different disorder were studied using the synchrotron-based N and Nb K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques. A strong correlation between the superconductivity and the electronic structure reconstruction was observed. The theoretical analysis revealed that under N-rich growth conditions, atomic and molecular N-interstitial defects assisted by cation vacancies form spontaneously and results into a smeared electronic structure around Fermi-level. The role of electronic smearing on the T-C is thoroughly discussed.

Direct growth of orthorhombic Ta3N5-type Ta-O-N compound thin films, specifically Ta3-xN5-yOy, on Si and sapphire substrates with various atomic fractions is realized by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. Low-degree fiber-textural Ta3-xN5-yOy films were grown through reactive sputtering of Ta in a gas mixture of N-2, Ar, and O-2 with keeping a partial pressure ratio of 3:2:0.1 in a total working pressure range of 5-30 mTorr. With increasing total pressure from 5 to 30 mTorr, the atomic fraction of O in the as-grown Ta3-xN5-yOy films was found to increase from 0.02 to 0.15 while that of N and Ta decrease from 0.66 to 0.54 and 0.33 to 0.31, respectively, leading to a decrease in b lattice constant up to around 1.3%. Metallic TaNx phases were formed without oxygen. For a working pressure of 40 mTorr, an amorphous, O-rich Ta-N-O compound film with a high O fraction of similar to 0.48, was formed, mixed with non-stoichiometric TaON and Ta2O5. By analyzing the plasma discharge, the increasing O incorporation is associated with oxide formation on top of the Ta target due to a higher reactivity of Ta with O than with N. The increase of O incorporation in the films also leads to a optical bandgap widening from similar to 2.22 to similar to 2.96 eV, which is in agreement with the compositional and structural changes from a crystalline Ta3-xN5-yOy to an amorphous O-rich Ta-O-N compound.

Thin films in the aluminosilicate (AlSiO) system containing up to 31 at. % Al and 23 at. % Si were prepared by reactive RF magnetron co-sputtering in order to investigate the dependence of film formation and optical properties on substrate temperature and Si and Al contents. The obtained films were amorphous with smooth microstructure. The growth rate at different substrate temperatures ranged from 1.2 to 3.3 nm/min and increase with increasing the Si target power. The roughness decreases and thickness increases with increasing Si content. The thickness of the films grown at a deposition temperature of 100 °C is found to be higher than the films deposited at 300 and 500 °C. The AlSiO-coated glasses have a higher transmission in the visible region than the uncoated glass. The spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis reveals that the refractive index value decreased with decreasing the Al content, having extinction coefficient values of zero in the measured spectral region and band gap values ≥ 3.4 eV. The obtained thin films have over 90% transmittance in the visible range and no systematic variation of transmittance was observed with substrate temperature. The results suggest that glass substrate coated with AlSiO thin films have improved optical properties.

In this research, a fundamental study was conducted on damage behavior of cathodic arc evaporated TiN and Ti0.44Al0.56N coatings, in terms of oxidation and cracking/spallation, when they were exposed to single-pulse laser treatment in a temperature range of 1200-2100 degrees C. Moreover, a multiple-pulse laser treatment was designed to apply thermo-mechanical loads on the coatings in order to evaluate their thermal degradation during rapid heating/cooling cycles between 200 and 1200 degrees C. Single-pulse treatment of TiN up to 1500 degrees C led to the intercolumnar cracking and formation of ultrafine TiO grains. An increase in temperature up to 2100 degrees C resulted in a notable bulging of the surface, and formation of TiO2 of various morphologies such as grainy structure, dense molten and re-solidified structure, droplets from melt expulsion and, more interestingly, nanofibers. Multiplepulse treatment of TiN was accompanied by a severe cracking and spallation, which divided the surface into two layers: a heavily cracked top layer composed of dense TiO2 grains, and a bottom layer having porous TiO2 grains indicating incomplete oxidation. Conversely, Ti0.44Al0.56N did not show any visible cracking and oxidation after single-pulse treatment. Multiple-pulse treatment did not also yield cracking and spallation for Ti0.44Al0.56N, and its ablated region consisted of TiO2 grains combined with thin Al2O3 platelets. An excellent combination of properties including higher oxidation resistance and greater fracture toughness at high temperatures led to a higher thermal damage resistance for Ti0.44Al0.56N coating compared to TiN when undergoing single- and multiple-pulse laser treatments.

The boron-10 based multi-grid detector is being developed as an alternative to helium-3 based neutron detectors. At the European Spallation Source, the detector will be used for time-of-flight neutron spectroscopy at cold to thermal neutron energies. The objective of this work is to investigate fine time- and energy-resolved effects of the Multi-Grid detector, down to a few mu eV, while comparing it to the performance of a typical helium-3 tube. Furthermore, it is to characterize differences between the detector technologies in terms of internal scattering, as well as the time reconstruction of similar to mu s short neutron pulses. The data were taken at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, where the Multi-Grid detector and a helium-3 tube were installed at the ESS test beamline, V20. Using a Fermi-chopper, the neutron beam of the reactor was chopped into a few tens of mu s wide pulses before reaching the detector, located a few tens of cm downstream. The data of the measurements show an agreement between the derived and calculated neutron detection efficiency curve. The data also provide fine details on the effect of internal scattering, and how it can be reduced. For the first time, the chopper resolution was comparable to the timing resolution of the Multi-Grid detector. This allowed a detailed study of time- and energy resolved effects, as well as a comparison with a typical helium-3 tube.

Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) of AlN nanostructures was performed at room temperature by reactive magnetron sputtering in a mixed gas atmosphere of Ar and N-2. The growth behavior of nanostructures shows strong dependence on the total working pressure and angle of incoming flux. In GLAD configuration, the morphology changed from coalesced, vertical nanocolumns with faceted terminations to highly inclined, fan-like, layered nanostructures (up to 38 degrees); while column lengths decreased from around 1743 to 1068 nm with decreasing pressure from 10 to 1.5 mTorr, respectively. This indicates a change in the dominant growth mechanism from ambient flux dependent deposition to directional ballistic shadowing deposition with decreasing working pressures, which is associated with the change of energy and incident angle of incoming reactive species. These results were corroborated using simulation of metal transport (SiMTra) simulations performed at similar working pressures using Ar and N separately, which showed the average particle energy and average angle of incidence decreased while the total average scattering angle of the metal flux arriving at substrate increased with increasing working pressures. Observing the crystalline orientation of GLAD deposited wurtzite AlN nanocolumns using X-ray diffraction (XRD), pole-figure measurements revealedc-axis growth towards the direction of incoming flux and a transition from fiber-like to biaxial texture took place with increasing working pressures. Under normal deposition conditions, AlN layer morphology changed from {0001} to {10 (1) over bar1} with increasing working pressure because of kinetic energy-driven growth.

Selective-area grown, catalyst-free GaN nanorod (NR) arrays grown on Si substrates have been realized using liquid-target reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE). Focused ion beam lithography (FIBL) was applied to pattern Si substrates with TiN(x)masks. A liquid Ga target was sputtered in a mixture gas of Ar and N-2, ranging the N(2)partial pressure (P-N) ratio from 100% to 50%. The growth of NRs shows a strong correlation withP(N)on the selectivity, coalescence, and growth rate of NRs in both radial and axial directions. The growth rate of NRs formed inside the nanoholes increases monotonically withP(N). TheP(N)ratio between 80% and 90% was found to render both a high growth rate and high selectivity. When theP(N)ratio was below 80%, multiple NRs were formed in the nanoholes. For aP(N)ratio higher than 90%, parasitic NRs were grown on the mask. An observed dependence of growth behavior upon theP(N)ratio is attributed to a change in the effective Ga/N ratio on the substrate surface, as an effect of impinging reactive species, surface diffusivity, and residence time of adatoms. The mechanism of NR growth control was further investigated by studying the effect of nanoholes array pitch and growth temperature. The surface diffusion and the direct impingement of adatoms were found to be the dominant factors affecting the lateral and axial growth rates of NR, respectively, which were well elucidated by the collection area model.

Magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE) offers several advantages compared to alternative GaN epitaxy growth methods, including mature sputtering technology, the possibility for very large area deposition, and low-temperature growth of high-quality electronic-grade GaN. In this article, we review the basics of reactive sputtering for MSE growth of GaN using a liquid Ga target. Various target biasing schemes are discussed, including direct current (DC), radio frequency (RF), pulsed DC, and high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). Examples are given for MSE-grown GaN thin films with material quality comparable to those grown using alternative methods such as molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). In addition, successful GaN doping and the fabrication of practical devices have been demonstrated. Beyond the planar thin film form, MSE-grown GaN nanorods have also been demonstrated through self-assembled and selective area growth (SAG) method. With better understanding in process physics and improvements in material quality, MSE is expected to become an important technology for the growth of GaN.

We present a custom built lathe designed for in operando high-energy x-ray scattering studies of the tool-chip and tool-workpiece contact zones during operation. The lathe operates at industrially relevant cutting parameters, i.e., at cutting speeds amp;lt;= 400 m/min and feeds amp;lt;= 0.3 mm/rev. By turning tests in carbon steel, performed at the high-energy material science beamline P07 at Petra III, DESY, Hamburg, we observe compressive strains in TiNbAlN and Al2O3/Ti(C, N) coatings on the tool flank face during machining. It is demonstrated that by the right choice of substrate and coating materials, diffraction patterns can be recorded and evaluated in operando, both from the tool-workpiece and tool-chip contacts, i.e., from the contact zones between the tool and the workpiece material on the tool flank and rake faces, respectively. We also observe that a worn tool results in higher temperature in the tool-chip contact zone compared to a new tool. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

In this work, amorphous thin films in Mg-Si-O-N system typically containing amp;gt; 15 at.% Mg and 35 at.% N were prepared in order to investigate especially the dependence of optical and mechanical properties on Mg composition. Reactive RF magnetron co-sputtering from magnesium and silicon targets were used for the deposition of Mg-Si-O-N thin films. Films were deposited on float glass, silica wafers and sapphire substrates in an Ar, N-2 and O-2 gas mixture. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and nanoindentation were employed to characterize the composition, surface morphology, and properties of the films. The films consist of N and Mg contents up to 40 at.% and 28 at.%, respectively and have good adhesion to substrates and are chemically inert. The thickness and roughness of the films increased with increasing content of Mg. Both hardness (16-21 GPa) and reduced elastic modulus (120-176 GPa) are strongly correlated with the amount of Mg content. The refractive index up to 2.01 and extinction coefficient up to 0.18 were found to increase with Mg content. The optical band gap (3.1-4.3) decreases with increasing the Mg content. Thin film deposited at substrate temperature of 100 degrees C shows a lower value of hardness (10 GPa), refractive index (1.75), and higher values of reduced elastic modulus (124 GPa) as compared to the thin film deposited at 310 degrees C and 510 degrees C respectively, under identical synthesis parameters.

The phase evolution of reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtered Cr0.28Zr0.10O0.61 coatings has been studied by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction during annealing under air atmosphere and vacuum. The annealing in vacuum shows t-ZrO2 formation starting at similar to 750-800 degrees C, followed by decomposition of the alpha-Cr2O3 structure in conjunction with bcc-Cr formation, starting at similar to 950 degrees C. The resulting coating after annealing to 1140 degrees C is a mixture of t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2, and bcc-Cr. The air-annealed sample shows t-ZrO2 formation starting at similar to 750 degrees C. The resulting coating after annealing to 975 degrees C is a mixture of t-ZrO2 and alpha-Cr2O3 (with dissolved Zr). The microstructure coarsened slightly during annealing, but the mechanical properties are maintained, with no detectable bcc-Cr formation. A larger t-ZrO2 fraction compared with alpha-Cr2O3 is observed in the vacuum-annealed coating compared with the air-annealed coating at 975 degrees C. The results indicate that the studied pseudo-binary oxide is more stable in air atmosphere than in vacuum.

A free-standing high-output power density polymeric thermoelectric (TE) device is realized based on a highly conductive (approximate to 2500 S cm(-1)) structure-ordered poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate film (denoted as FS-PEDOT:PSS) with a Seebeck coefficient of 20.6 mu V K-1, an in-plane thermal conductivity of 0.64 W m(-1) K-1, and a peak power factor of 107 mu W K-2 m(-1) at room temperature. Under a small temperature gradient of 29 K, the TE device demonstrates a maximum output power density of 99 +/- 18.7 mu W cm(-2), which is the highest value achieved in pristine PEDOT:PSS based TE devices. In addition, a fivefold output power is demonstrated by series connecting five devices into a flexible thermoelectric module. The simplicity of assembling the films into flexible thermoelectric modules, the low out-of-plane thermal conductivity of 0.27 W m(-1) K-1, and free-standing feature indicates the potential to integrate the FS-PEDOT:PSS TE modules with textiles to power wearable electronics by harvesting human bodys heat. In addition to the high power factor, the high thermal stability of the FS-PEDOT:PSS films up to 250 degrees C is confirmed by in situ temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction and grazing incident wide angle X-ray scattering, which makes the FS-PEDOT:PSS films promising candidates for thermoelectric applications.

GaN nanorods, essentially free from crystal defects and exhibiting very sharp band-edge luminescence, have been grown by reactive direct-current magnetron sputter epitaxy onto Si (111) substrates at a low working pressure of 5 mTorr. Upon diluting the reactive N₂ working gas with a small amount of Ar (0.5 mTorr), we observed an increase in the nanorod aspect ratio from 8 to ~35, a decrease in the average diameter from 74 to 35 nm, and a two-fold increase in nanorod density. With further dilution (Ar = 2.5 mTorr), the aspect ratio decreased to 14, while the diameter increased to 60 nm and the nanorod density increased to a maximum of 2.4 × 10⁹ cm⁻². Yet, lower N₂ partial pressures eventually led to the growth of continuous GaN films. The observed morphological dependence on N₂ partial pressure is explained by a change from N-rich to Ga-rich growth conditions, combined with reduced GaN-poisoning of the Ga-target as the N₂ gas pressure is reduced. Nanorods grown at 2.5 mTorr N₂ partial pressure exhibited a high intensity 4 K photoluminescence neutral donor bound exciton transitions (D⁰X_A) peak at ~3.479 eV with a full-width-at-half-maximum of 1.7 meV. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy corroborated the excellent crystalline quality of the nanorods.

Pseudobinary V0.5Mo0.5Nx(111) alloys with the Bl-NaCl crystal structure are grown on Al2O3(0001) substrates in an ultra-high-vacuum system by reactive magnetron sputter deposition in mixed Ar/N-2 atmospheres at temperatures T-s between 100 and 900 degrees C. Nitrogen-to-metal, N/(V + Mo), fractions x vary monotonically from 0.9 +/- 0.1 with T-s = 100 degrees C to 0.4 +/- 0.1 at T-s = 900 degrees C. Nitrogen loss at higher growth temperatures leads to a corresponding decrease in the relaxed lattice parameter a(o) from 4.21 +/- 0.01 angstrom at T-s = 300 degrees C to 4.125 +/- 0.005 angstrom with T-s = 900 degrees C. Scanning electron micrographs of cube-corner nanoindents extending into the substrate show that the films are relatively ductile, exhibiting material pile-up (plastic flow) around the indent edges. Nanoindentation hardnesses H and elastic moduli E, obtained using a calibrated Berkovich tip, of V0.5Mo0.5Nx(111) layers increase with increasing T-s(decreasing x) from 15 +/- 1 and 198 +/- 5 GPa at 100 degrees C to 23 +/- 2 and 381 +/- 11 GPa at 900 degrees C. These values are lower than the corresponding results obtained for the 001-oriented V0.5Mo0.5Nx films In addition, film wear resistance increases with increasing T-s, while the coefficient of friction, under 1000 mu N loads, is 0.09 +/- 0.01 for all layers. Published by the AVS.

The influence of structural configurations of indium aluminum nitride (InA1N) nanospirals, grown by reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy, on the transformation of light polarization are investigated in terms of varying structural chirality, growth temperatures, titanium nitride (TiN) seed (buffer) layer thickness, nanospiral thickness, and pitch. The handedness of reflected circularly polarized light in the ultraviolet-visible region corresponding to the chirality of nanospirals is demonstrated. A high degree of circular polarization (P-c) value of 0.75 is obtained from a sample consisting of 1.2 mu m InA1N nanospirals grown at 650 degrees C. A film-like structure is formed at temperatures lower than 450 degrees C. At growth temperatures higher than 750 degrees C, less than 0.1 In-content is incorporated into the InA1N nanospirals. Both cases reveal very low P-c-A red shift of wavelength at P-c peak is found with increasing nanospiral pitch in the range of 200-300 nm. The P-c decreases to 0.37 for two-turn nanospirals with total length of 0.7 mu m, attributed to insufficient constructive interference. A branch-like structure appears on the surface when the nanospirals are grown longer than 1.2 mu m, which yields a low P-c around 0.5, caused by the excessive scattering of incident light.

Ion-assisted magnetron sputter deposition have been used to deposit Ni/Ti multilayer neutron mirrors. Improved interface widths were obtained by using B4C doping, to eliminate nanocrystallites by amorphization, and a two-stage modulated ion assistance, to obtain abrupt and smooth interfaces. In situ high-energy wide angle X-ray scattering during multilayer depositions was used to monitor the microstructure evolution and to determine the most favourable growth conditions. Post growth X-ray reflectometry in combination with high resolution transmission electron microscopy confirmed the amorhization and revealed significant improvements in interface widths and reduction of kinetic roughening upon applying B4C doping and modulated ion assistance during growth. Significant improvement of neutron supermirror performance is predicted by employing this technique.

Low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of B-C thin films is of importance for neutron voltaics and semiconductor technology. The highly reactive trialkylboranes, with alkyl groups of 1-4 carbon atoms, are a class of precursors that have been less explored for low-temperature CVD of B-C films. Herein, we demonstrate plasma CVD of B-C thin films using triethylboron (TEB) as a single source precursor in an Ar plasma. We show that the film density and B/C ratio increases with increasing plasma power, reaching a density of 2.20 g/cm(3) and B/C = 1.7. This is attributed to a more intense energetic bombardment during deposition and more complete dissociation of the TEB molecule in the plasma at higher plasma power. The hydrogen content in the films ranges between 14 and 20 at. %. Optical emission spectroscopy of the plasma shows that BH, CH, C-2, and H are the optically active plasma species from TEB. We suggest a plasma chemical model based on beta-hydrogen elimination of C2H4 to form BH3, in which BH3 and C2H4 are then dehydrogenated to form BH and C2H2. Furthermore, C2H2 decomposes in the plasma to produce C-2 and CH, which together with BH and possibly BH3-x(C2H5)(x) are the film forming species. (c) 2018 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution ( CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Nanostructure formation via surface-diffusion-mediated segregation of ZrN and AIN in Zr1-xAlxN films during high mobility growth conditions is investigated for 0 amp;lt;= x amp;lt;= 1. The large immiscibility combined with interfacial surface and strain energy balance resulted in a hard nanolabyrinthine lamellar structure with well-defined (semi) coherent c-ZrN and w-AlN domains of sub-nm to similar to 4 nm in 0.2 amp;lt;= x amp;lt;= 0.4 films, as controlled by atom mobility. For high AlN contents (x amp;gt; 0.49) Al-rich ZrN domains attain wurtzite structure within fine equiaxed nanocomposite wurtzite lattice. Slow diffusion in wurtzite films points towards crystal structure dependent driving force for decomposition. The findings of unlikelihood of isostructural decomposition in c-Zr1-xAlxN, and stability of w-Zr1-xAlxN (in large x films) is complemented with first principles calculations.

Catalyst-free GaN nanorod regular arrays have been realized by reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy. Two nanolithographic methods, nanosphere lithography (NSL) and focused ion beam lithography (FIBL), were applied to pattern Si substrates with TiNx masks. The growth temperature was optimized for achieving selectivity and well-faceted nanorods grown onto the NSL-patterned substrates. With increasing temperature from 875 to 985 °C, we observe different growth behaviors and associate them with selective insensitive, diffusion-dominated, and desorption-dominated zones. To further achieve site-specific and diameter control, these growth parameters were transferred onto FIBL-patterned substrates. Further investigation into the FIBL process through tailoring of milling current and time in combination with varying nanorod growth temperature, suggests that minimization of mask and substrate damage is the key to attain uniform, well-defined, single, and straight nanorods. Destruction of the mask results in selective area growth failure, while damage of the substrate surface promotes inclined nanorods grown into the openings, owning to random oriented nucleation.

Light interaction with a columnar structure of InxAl1-xN where each column is a layered periodic helical medium with laterally graded refractive index is considered. It is demonstrated that such a columnar structure can be presented as a stack of layers with a gradient of the refractive index. To calculate reflectance in the proposed model, the 2 x 2 characteristic matrix method adopted for a gradient index medium was applied. The influence of the refractive indices (including absorption), parameters of the twisting, and thickness of the periodic structure on reflectance is studied. Cases of normal and oblique incident light are considered. The presented medium is a one-dimensional photonic crystal that can be utilized in many devices for light manipulation. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Magnetron sputter-deposited TiBx films grown from TiB2 targets are typically highly overstoichiometric with x ranging from 3.5 to 2.4 due to differences in Ti and B preferential ejection angles and gasphase scattering during transport between the target and the substrate. The authors show that the use of highly magnetically unbalanced magnetron sputtering leads to selective ionization of sputter-ejected Ti atoms which are steered via an external magnetic field to the film, thus establishing control of the B/Ti ratio with the ability to obtain stoichiometric TiB2 films over a wide range in Ar sputtering pressures. (C) 2017 American Vacuum Society.

We have examined the early stages of self-induced InAlN core-shell nanorod (NR) formation processes on amorphous carbon substrates in plan-view geometry by means of transmission electron microscopy methods. The results show that the grown structure phase separates during the initial moments of deposition into a majority of Al-rich InAlN and a minority of In-enriched InAlN islands. The islands possess polygonal shapes and are mainly oriented along a crystallographic c-axis. The growth proceeds with densification and coalescence of the In-enriched islands, resulting in a base for the In-enriched NR cores with shape transformation to hexagonal. The Al-rich shell formation around such early cores is observed at this stage. The matured core-shell structure grows axially and radially, eventually reaching a steady growth state which is dominated by the axial NR growth. We discuss the NR formation mechanism by considering the adatom surface kinetics, island surface energy, phase separation of InAlN alloys, and incoming flux directions during dual magnetron sputter epitaxy.

The spinodal decomposition and thermal stability of thin In0.72Al0.28N layers and In0.72Al0.28N/AlN superlattices with AlN(0001) templates on Al2O3(0001) substrates was investigated by in-situ heating up to 900 degrees C. The thermally activated structural and chemical evolution was investigated in both plan-view and cross-sectional geometries by scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with valence electron energy loss spectroscopy. The plan-view observations demonstrate evidence for spinodal decomposition of metastable In0.72Al0.28N after heating at 600 degrees C for 1 h. During heating compositional modulations in the range of 2-3 nm-size domains are formed, which coarsen with applied thermal budgets. Cross-sectional observations reveal that spinodal decomposition begin at interfaces and column boundaries, indicating that the spinodal decomposition has a surface-directed component.

The phase evolution of cubic (c), solid solution TixCr-0.37Al1-0.37-x N alloys with x = 0.03 and 0.16, and the kinetics of the hexagonal (h)-AlN formation are studied via in situ wide angle x-ray scattering experiments during high temperature (1000-1150 degrees C) annealing. Spinodal decomposition was observed in Ti0.16Cr0.36Al0.48N while Ti0.03Cr0.38Al0.59N decomposes through nucleation and growth of h-AlN, c-TiN and c-CrAlN. h-AlN is formed from c-CrAlN domains in both cases and the formation rate of h-AlN depends on the stability of the c-CrAlN domains. In Ti0.16Cr0.36Al0.48N, the c-CrAlN domains are stabilized by crystallographic coherency with the surrounding c-TiCrN in a microstructure originating from spinodal decomposition. This results in lower formation rates of h-AlN for this composition. These differences are reflected in higher activation energy for h-AlN formation in Ti0.16Cr0.36Al0.48N compared to Ti0.03Cr0.38Al0.59N. It also points out different stabilities of the intermediate phase c-CrAlN during phase decomposition of TiCrAlN alloys. Additional contributions to the low activation energy for formation of h-AlN in Ti0.03Cr0.38Al0.59N stems from precipitation at grain boundaries. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Alkylboranes, such as trimethylboron (TMB) and triethylboron (TEB), are promising alternative precursors in low temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron-containing thin films. In this study, CVD growth of B-C films using TMB and quantum-chemical calculations to elucidate a gas phase chemical mechanism were undertaken. Dense, amorphous, boron-rich (B/C 1.5-3) films were deposited at 1000 degrees C in both dihydrogen and argon ambients, while films with crystalline B4C and B25C inclusions were deposited at 1100 degrees C in dihydrogen. A script-based automatization scheme was implemented for the quantum-chemical computations to enable time efficient screening of thousands of possible gas phase CVD reactions. The quantum-chemical calculations suggest TMB is mainly decomposed by an unimolecular alpha-H elimination of methane, which is complemented by dihydrogen-assisted elimination of methane in dihydrogen.

PMMA is a common support material for transferring graphene between substrates. However, PMMA residues typically remain on the graphene sheet after the transfer process. A high temperature annealing process is commonly applied to reduce the amount of PMMA residues. It is also known that high temperature annealing of PMMA causes the PMMA to graphitize, which has been used as a method to synthesize graphene on metal substrates. In this letter we show the development of additional graphene layers during high temperature annealing, which occurs on a single, clean, graphene sheet. The additional graphene is nucleated from the decomposition products of PMMA residues. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The influence of B4C incorporation during magnetron sputter deposition of Cr/Sc multilayers intended for soft X-ray reflective optics is investigated. Chemical analysis suggests formation of metal: boride and carbide bonds which stabilize an amorphous layer structure, resulting in smoother interfaces and an increased reflectivity. A near-normal incidence reflectivity of 11.7%, corresponding to a 67% increase, is achieved at λ = 3.11 nm upon adding 23 at.% (B + C). The advantage is significant for the multilayer periods larger than 1.8 nm, where amorphization results in smaller interface widths, for example, giving 36% reflectance and 99.89% degree of polarization near Brewster angle for a multilayer polarizer. The modulated ion-energy-assistance during the growth is considered vital to avoid intermixing during the interface formation even when B + C are added.

We demonstrate the versatility of magnetron sputter epitaxy by achieving high-quality GaN nanorods on different substrate/template combinations, specifically Si, SiC, TiN/Si, ZrB2/Si, ZrB2/SiC, Mo, and Ti. Growth temperature was optimized on Si, TiN/Si, and ZrB2/Si, resulting in increased nanorod aspect ratio with temperature. All nanorods exhibit high purity and quality, proved by the strong bandedge emission recorded with cathodoluminescence spectroscopy at room temperature as well as transmission electron microscopy. These substrates/templates are affordable compared to many conventional substrates, and the direct deposition onto them eliminates cumbersome post-processing steps in device fabrication. Thus, magnetron sputter epitaxy offers an attractive alternative for simple and affordable fabrication in optoelectronic device technology.