This work investigates the effects of concentration of organothiol molecules and temperature used during self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formation on quality of the organothiol SAMs coating layer obtained in terms of wettability, corrosion inhibition efficiency and carbon to copper ratio. The organothiol SAMs were coated on copper substrates prepared by electro-polishing followed by oxygen plasma treatment for 15 s. Three types of organothiol SAMs including 1-octanethiol (OTT), 2-ethylhexanethiol (2-EHT) and 2-phenylethanethiol (2-PET) were investigated. Concentration of organothiol molecules ranging from 0.005 to 0.02 M in isopropanol and forming temperature ranging from -15 to 50°C were studied. It was found that all organothiol SAMs of 0.01 M provided the SAMs coating layer with the highest quality. The SAMs formed at 40°C with OTT and 2-EHT, and at 0°C with 2-PET were the most favorable condition with the highest water contact angle of 124.79o, 130.66o and 120.58o at corrosion inhibition efficiencies of 96.24%, 99.37% and 98.90%, respectively.

ZrO2/Ge is potential high-k dielectric candidate to replace silicon based devices. Controlling stress in zirconia film and stabilizing high dielectric constant phase is crucial for high-k application. A precise control of stress and phase selectivity in high-k thin films is demonstrated. Thin films of ZrO2 were grown by reactive sputter deposition. Wide range of growth stress in thin films from -0.3 to -2.8 GPa can be tuned by growth rate control. Adatom incorporation into grain boundary was the dominant source of observed stress. Phase selectivity in zirconia was achieved by tuning growth parameters.

Radiation-tolerant materials, sensors and electronics can enable lightweight space subsystems with reduced packaging requirements and increased operation lifetimes. Such technology can be used within extreme harsh environments related to space exploration, radiation medicine and power generation (combustion and nuclear). Gallium nitride (GaN), a ceramic semiconductor material, is a candidate material due to its stability within high-radiation, high-temperature and chemically corrosive environments. In addition, the wide bandgap of GaN (3.4 eV) can be leveraged for ultraviolet (UV) wavelength photodetection. In metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector architectures using Schottky contacts, transparent electrodes (e.g., graphene) can increase sensitivity and improve overall device response. Here we present fabrication and characterization of GaN-based UV photodetectors using graphene electrodes irradiated up to 200 krad total ionizing dose (TID) then tested under UV light and dark conditions. For current-voltage measurements taken at 90, 120 and 200 krad TID, the current-voltage response does not vary significantly. From 90 to 120 krad TID, the responsivity shifts by 2% before dropping off at 200 krad TID. These initial findings suggest that graphene/GaN MSM UV photodetectors can provide robust operation within extreme harsh environments.

The detection of single molecular binding events has been a recent trend in sensor research introducing various sensor designs where the active sensing elements are nanoscopic in size. Currently, diffusion-only-transport is often used and it becomes increasingly unlikely for an analyte molecule to “find” and interact with sensing structures where the active area is shrunk in size, trading an increased sensitivity with a long response time. This report introduces electrodynamic nanolens based analyte concentration concepts to transport airborne analytes to nanoscopic sensing points to improve the response time of existing gas sensor designs. In all cases we find that the collection rate is several orders of magnitudes higher than in the case where the collection is driven by diffusion.

Stable, electrically conductive, thin film materials are key components for high temperature sensors operating in harsh environments. In this work, nanocomposite Pt-Zr-B and Pt-Si thin film materials were grown to a nominal thickness of 200 nm on both r-cut sapphire (α-Al2O3) substrates using e-beam evaporation, and their structure, morphology, and chemical composition was characterized following thermal treatments in an air laboratory furnace up to 1300°C. In the Pt-Zr-B system, oxidation of a nanolaminate architecture consisting of ZrB2 and pure Pt layers leads to boron oxide evaporation and the formation of Pt grains decorated by tetragonal-ZrO2 nanocrystallites at high temperature. Electrical conductivity measurements with a 4-point probe show that this nanocomposite film structure can maintain a film conductivity > 1x106 S/m up to 1300°C, depending on the Pt/ZrB2 layer thickness ratio. In the Pt-Si system, film compositions were varied to yield either nanocrystalline Pt3Si, Pt2Si, or PtSi phases depending on the Pt-Si ratio, or an amorphous phase at high Si content. Above 1000°C in air, Pt-oxide and Si-oxide phases form and coexist with the Pt-Si phases, and some Pt-Si film conductivities remain as high as 1x106 S/m after annealing at 1000°C for 6 hours. It was found that a 100 nm thick amorphous alumina capping layer grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) aids in limiting film oxidation, but film stress leads to regions of delamination.