Thin films of molybdenum doped indium oxide (IMO) were rf sputtered onto glass substrates at room temperature. The films were studied as a function of oxygen volume percentage (OVP) ranging 1.4 - 10.0 % in the sputtering chamber. The thickness of the films found varying between 180 and 260 nm. The X-ray diffraction pattern showed the films are polycrystalline with the peaks corresponding to (222) and (400) planes and one among them showing as a preferential orientation. It is observed that the preferred orientation changes from (222) plane to (400) as the OVP increases from 1.4 to 10.0 %. The transmittance spectra were found to be in the range of 77 to 89 %. The optical band gap calculated from the absorption coefficient of transmittance spectra was around 3.9 eV. The negative sign of Hall coefficient confirmed the films were n-type conducting. The bulk resistivity increased from 2.26 × 10−3 to 4.08 × 10−1 Ω−cm for the increase in OVP from 1.4 to 4.1 %, and thereafter increased dramatically so as the Hall coefficients were not detectable. From the AFM morphologies it is evaluated that the RMS roughness of the films ranges from 0.9 to 3.2 nm.

Double-barrier insulator/Si/insulator nanostructures on Si(111) were prepared using molecular beam epitaxy. Ultrathin single-crystalline Si buried in a single-crystalline insulator matrix with sharp interfaces was obtained by a novel approach based on an epitaxial encapsulated solid-phase epitaxy. As an example, we demonstrate the growth of Si buried in Gd2O3 and the incorporation of epitaxial Si islands into single-crystalline Gd2O3. The I-V characteristic of the obtained nanostructures exhibited negative differential resistance at low temperatures, however, with a strong memory effect.

Sc-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on Corning 1737 glasses by using RF magnetron co-sputtering system with Sc2O3 and ZnO targets. Different sputtering powers of Sc2O3 target and post annealing of 550°C for 2 hr were investigated to understand the effect on microstructural, optical and electrical properties of Sc-doped ZnO thin films. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, the Sc-doped films have (002) preferred orientation. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscope (SEM) show that the Sc-doped ZnO thin films have columnar structure before and after annealing procedure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) surface measurement also shows that the surface roughness of the films was smoother when the Sc2O3 sputtering power increased. The optical transmission of as deposited Sc-doped films in the visible region all exceeded 80%, and increased about 3% after samples annealed. Electrical resistivity measurement reveals that the as-deposited Sc-doped ZnO thin films had lowest resistivity of 0.97 Ω cm when the Sc2O3 sputtering power was 125W. After annealing the lowest resistivity decreased to 9.85 × 10−2 Ω cm in which 200W of the Sc2O3 sputtering power was applied.

Periodic high-/low-index film stacks of Y2O3:Eu were grown with varying periodicities us-ing the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique onto silicon and fused silica substrates. Post-deposition annealing at temperatures from 600 to 1000°C for 1 hour in atmosphere was per-formed to enhance the photoluminescent output of the films. The films were optically character-ized using transmission measurements and Mueller matrix ellipsometry. The luminescence was measured using a spectrometer calibrated for absolute intensity measurements using a frequency-quadrupled Nd:YAG pulsed laser as an excitation source. Absolute conversion efficiencies were measured for the films by characterizing the angular emission profile. The angular emission pro-file of the films was found to follow a non-Lambertian emission profile, with peak emission in-tensities at 50° to 60° with respect to the substrate normal.

Structured piezoelectric PZT thick films were fabricated on silicon wafers. Different supplements, like lead oxide and glasses, were added to the PZT to enhance the sintering. The films were structured by doctor blading on an epoxy based photoresist mask. This allows very accurate micro patterns of high quality piezoelectric material. A firing process was developed to gain PZT structures with 200 μm in lateral size and a 200 μm pitch. The structures were electrically contacted, poled and characterized.

Chemical treatments, when applied to nanostructured oxide thin films, can be used to generate added functionality in many devices. In this study, a nanostructured defect-mode optical filter was prepared by glancing angle deposition of titanium dioxide and functionalized with 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl-trichlorosilane to render the thin film insensitive to variable humidity conditions. Electrical characterization and contact angle measurements demonstrate that the hydrophilic thin film becomes hydrophobic when functionalized, and transmission measurements clearly show that the wavelength shift of the defect-mode becomes strongly inhibited for a wide range of humidity levels.

In order to take advantage of continued interconnect scaling dimensions in very large scale integrated circuit technology, lateral capacitors with BST dielectric have been proposed. The lateral capacitors have been implemented by platinum/titanium metallization patterned by standard photolithographic techniques and ion-milling. The high-K dielectric BST has been deposited by spin-on MOD and radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The capacitance of lateral capacitor was found to increase with increase in thickness of BST and annealing temperature. The negative temperature dependence capacitance above room temperature shows that BST is in para-electric phase.

Co-doped ZnO thin films with room-temperature ferromagnetism have been successfully synthesized on (001) Si substrates at 450 °C by pulsed-laser deposition using a Zn0.95Co0.05O ceramic target. Their microstructural properties are carefully studied using atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The oxidation state of Co and the ratio of Co/Zn are examined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements are performed using SQUID. The results show that a single-phase crystalline Co-doped ZnO film was grown with (002) preferential orientation and some edge dislocations formed during the film growth. The origin of room-temperature ferromagnetism is explored. The presence of nanoclusters of any magnetic phase can be ruled out. The dislocations, coupled with oxygen vacancy, may contribute to the ferromagnetic properties in the much diluted magnetic semiconductor.

The device characteristics of thin-film transistors (TFTs) having amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O channel layers with various chemical compositions were studied by using combinatorial synthesis techniques. The In-Ga-Zn-O films were prepared by a radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method at room temperature in mixed-gas atmosphere of argon and oxygen. The TFT libraries enabled us to systematically survey the device characteristics of the TFTs in a wide compositional range of channel materials. It is found that the TFT characteristics are very sensitive to the chemical composition ratio of In:Ga:Zn and depend also on the oxygen partial pressure during deposition. Some devices exhibited good performance of the field-effect mobility of ∼10 cm2V−1sec−1 and on-to-off current ratio of ∼108.