Thin Solid Films最新文献

{"title":"Oxidized copper seed layer for ultrathin and semi-transparent silver films","authors":"Nikky Chandrakar ,&nbsp;Arun Kumar ,&nbsp;Sonia Rani ,&nbsp;Dhriti Sundar Ghosh","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140586","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140586","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we focused on the fabrication of highly transparent and lowly percolated ultrathin silver films on dielectric substrates, which find extensive applications in optoelectronic devices. Incorporating a seed layer is a popular technique for obtaining ultrathin continuous silver (Ag) films with reduced percolation thresholds. Here in this work, we explored the use of sub-nanometric thermally treated copper (Cu) thin film as a seed layer for growing highly transparent and conductive Ag films on silica substrates. Conventionally, the growth of Ag films on oxide substrates results in an island-like structure with large grain sizes and higher root mean square (RMS) surface roughness. However, our findings showed that by incorporating a thermally oxidized Cu seed layer, we could significantly reduce the RMS surface roughness to &lt;1 nm and lower the percolation threshold up to 2 nm. To confirm the layer-by-layer growth of the Ag films, we employed X-ray diffraction analysis, which revealed a reduction in grain size and the formation of a continuous film when thermally oxidized Cu was used as a seed layer. We have also compared the results with Ag films seeded with unoxidized Cu. The incorporation of the thermally oxidized Cu seed layer resulted in Ag films with lower percolation thickness and higher IR transmittance, while the addition of the pristine Cu seed layer produced highly conductive and smoother Ag films.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140586"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143177609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced optoelectronic performance in dip-coated perovskite stannate transparent conducting thin films through nitrogen doping","authors":"Sreepriya Muraleedharan,&nbsp;Anuradha M Ashok","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140592","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140592","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>CaSnO₃, SrSnO₃ and BaSnO₃ transparent conducting oxides were prepared via dip-coating method on Corning® glass substrates using the solutions of hydrothermally pretreated precursors. In this work, we demonstrate a simple and easily scalable technique to achieve high uniformity in transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) exhibiting optoelectronic properties comparable to the films deposited by vacuum-based physical methods. Also the effect of nitrogen doping on the overall optoelectronic performance of the thin films is investigated based on their figure of merit (FOM). The influence of film thickness on transmittance and electrical conductivity was studied. Thin films exhibited FOM values of 2.5 × 10⁻³ Ω⁻¹, alongside high transmittance (&gt;78 %) and reduced sheet resistance (35 Ω sq⁻¹). These improvements are attributed to enhanced mobility facilitated by the use of hydrothermally treated precursors, ensuring uniform deposition suitable for high-performance optoelectronic devices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140592"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143177610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extracting high-temperature stress–strain curves from a 1.2 µm silicon film using spherical nanoindentation","authors":"Gerald J.K. Schaffar ,&nbsp;Daniel Tscharnuter ,&nbsp;Peter J. Imrich ,&nbsp;Verena Maier-Kiener","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140597","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140597","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work aims to apply modern spherical indentation methods to micromechanical testing at exceptionally high temperatures. Tests were performed on a polycrystalline silicon thin film. This film was deposited on a (100) monocrystalline silicon substrate with an intermediate Oxide layer, mimicking the structure of a silicon-gate technology field effect transistor. The indentation tests were conducted at 500 °C and 700 °C. The obtained flow curves are discussed regarding the microscopically observed deformation behavior and compared to literature data concerning the high-temperature plasticity of silicon. The results suggest kink-pair controlled, thermally activated glide of dislocations as the dominating plastic deformation mechanism for both investigated temperatures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140597"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143178135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of oxygen flow rate on magnetron-sputtering-based preparation and photoelectric properties of vanadium dioxide films","authors":"Chuandong Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuanjun Guo ,&nbsp;Zhenhuai Yang ,&nbsp;Lei Liu ,&nbsp;Kesheng Guo ,&nbsp;Jie Bai ,&nbsp;Hong Liu ,&nbsp;Yongneng Xiao ,&nbsp;Lang Hu ,&nbsp;Qiang Hu ,&nbsp;Qiang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140595","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140595","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) exhibits typical metal–semiconductor phase transition properties and undergoes phase transitions with considerable changes in its optical and electrical properties. Numerous studies on VO₂ have been conducted, including those regarding thin-film fabrication, phase transition temperatures, and hysteresis widths. However, despite having a complicated vanadium–oxygen system, vanadium oxides exhibit a single-substance multi-phase characteristic, which inhibits the synthesis of pure VO₂ during preparation, impeding a quantitative analysis. In this study, magnetron sputtering was conducted to produce VO₂ thin films on c-type sapphire substrates at oxygen concentration of 4.5, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 %. The film samples prepared at 4.5 % oxygen were primarily V₂O₃; at higher oxygen concentration values, the physical phases of the prepared samples were mixed crystals of VO₂ and V₂O₅, which did not exhibit any evident phase transition properties. Specifically, <em>in-situ</em> Raman spectroscopy revealed the transition of the VO₂ monoclinic (M) phase to the rutile (R) phase at 7.0 % oxygen, indicating transmittance variations in the mid-infrared region (2.5–7 µm). The findings demonstrated the effect of oxygen on the electrical and optical properties and surface structures of vanadium oxides under various oxidizing conditions during magnetron sputtering, laying the foundation for the preparation of high-quality VO₂-based thin films.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140595"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143177616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of thermal annealing on phase structure and hydrogen evolution reaction of molybdenum carbide thin films prepared by co-sputtering","authors":"Ling Jin,&nbsp;Zhihu Pan,&nbsp;Lei Wang,&nbsp;Xiaohong Ji","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140579","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140579","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Molybdenum carbide (Mo<em>_x</em>C) has attracted extensive attention owing to its rich valence states and excellent catalytic activity. Herein, the influences of thermal annealing on phase structure and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of Mo<em>_x</em>C thin films have been systematically studied by X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron spectroscopy, transmittance electron spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It has been found that annealing temperature shows a high impact on the phase structure of the Mo<em>_x</em>C thin films. The as-sputtered Mo<em>_x</em>C film and the films annealed at the temperatures of 500–600 °C are nearly in the mono α-MoC phase; the films annealed at 700 °C are β-Mo₂C phase, while the film annealed at 650 °C is in mixed MoC/Mo₂C phases. The MoC/Mo₂C hybrid films exhibit promoted HER performance with overpotential as low as 119 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and the corresponding Tafel slope of 73 mV dec⁻¹ in acid, where the structural transformation from MoC to MoC/Mo₂C hybrid gives rise to the optimized electronic structure and intensively regulates the H adsorption energy. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of the dual-phase MoC/Mo₂C characteristics, the MoC/Mo₂C@CP hybrids can be directly used as binder-free electrocatalysts. This work provides an archetype for modulating the phase of Mo<em>_x</em>C thin film by a co-sputtering strategy for an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140579"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143178139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A pressure sensitive silicon field effect transistor comprising a buffer-free piezoelectric Al0.72Sc0.28N layer","authors":"Rafael Ashkrizzadeh ,&nbsp;Ole Gronenberg ,&nbsp;Adrian Petraru ,&nbsp;Georg Schönweger ,&nbsp;Erik Mackensen ,&nbsp;Henning Hanssen ,&nbsp;Lorenz Kienle ,&nbsp;Hermann Kohlstedt","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140590","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140590","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Modified metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors comprising piezoelectric materials are considered attractive devices for pressure sensing. In this work, we present a n-channel modified metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistor which consists of a 100 nm thick piezoelectric Al_0.72Sc_0.28N layer in the gate stack. The functional Al_0.72Sc_0.28N layer was deposited by sputtering directly, i.e. buffer-free, on the Si-channel. The transistors are located at the ends of Si cantilevers. Under a defined cantilever bending, transistors exhibited a sensitivity (<em>∆I_DS /∆F</em>) up to 30 (nA/N).</div><div>The structure of the piezoelectric Al_0.72Sc_0.28N layer, as deposited on Si, was investigated by wide-range reciprocal space mapping and pole figures. Cross-sections of the gate stack were analysed using Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, which revealed no evidence of a residual interfacial layer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140590"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143177612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Poly(styrene sulfonate) aggregate structure on thermoelectric performance","authors":"Xiang Gao ,&nbsp;Qinglin Jiang ,&nbsp;Fengxing Jiang ,&nbsp;Jiaji Yang ,&nbsp;Jingkun Xu ,&nbsp;Congcong Liu ,&nbsp;Peipei Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140583","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140583","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has recently demonstrated significant advancements in its thermoelectric (TE) performance. The aggregate structure of PEDOT:PSS, including molecular configuration and arrangement, plays a crucial role in carrier migration and TE performance. However, the detailed relationship between aggregate structure and TE performance remains inadequately explored. This work employs a series of solvents with different polarity to regulate PEDOT:PSS film structures, demonstrating a substantial effect on the TE properties of the post-treated thin films. As expected, changes in surface roughness, molecular chain conformation, and π-π stacking distance of the PEDOT:PSS films treated by various solvents are observed. In addition, a simple TE device is designed to validate the potential application in practice of the prepared films, showing high output voltage of 5 mV and power of 91 nW, respectively. This work contributes valuable insights for the development of advanced organic TE materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140583"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143177617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"11.6 % Efficient textured InP solar cell with Nb2O5: A cutting-edge electron transport layer innovation","authors":"Mukaddar Sk ,&nbsp;Gourav ,&nbsp;K. Ramachandran","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140577","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140577","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Enhancing the efficiency of solar cells depends on minimizing reflection losses to boost photon absorption. In this study, we investigated the chemical etching process of pristine InP(100), (named as <em>pris</em>-InP(100)). Our findings demonstrate that the etching process resulted in a self-organizing V-groove microstructure, as revealed by atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This induced V-groove microstructure resulted a significant reduction in the reflection loss. Through temporal variation in the etching process, we identified that a 5-minute etch (named as <em>etch5</em>-InP(100)), yielded the lowest reflectance. Additionally, radiofrequency (RF) magnetron sputtering was employed to deposit a 10 nm Nb₂O₅ thin film on both <em>pris</em>-InP (100) and <em>etch5</em>-InP (100) samples. The results indicated that the thin film on <em>etch5</em>-InP(100) exhibited significantly lower reflectance compared to <em>pris</em>-InP(100). Moreover, ab-initio calculations verified the stability and presence of native oxide at the interface of the Nb₂O₅/InP(100) heterostructure. Furthermore, dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristics indicated typical diode behaviour for both Nb₂O₅ thin films deposited on <em>pris</em>-InP(100) and <em>etch5</em>-InP(100). Notably, light I-V measurements revealed that the Nb₂O₅ thin film on <em>etch5</em>-InP(100) achieved a higher efficiency of 11.6 % compared to the 8.7 % efficiency of <em>pris</em>-InP(100). This study provides valuable insights and guidelines for the development of high-efficiency InP-based solar cells.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"809 ","pages":"Article 140577"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143178136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of substrate temperature on the performance of Sb2Se3 thin film solar cells fabricated by chemical-molecular beam deposition method","authors":"T.M. Razykov ,&nbsp;Lukas Schmidt-Mende ,&nbsp;K.M. Kouchkarov ,&nbsp;R.R. Khurramov ,&nbsp;B.A. Ergashev ,&nbsp;М. Makhmudov ,&nbsp;D.Z. Isakov ,&nbsp;M. Primmatov ,&nbsp;R.T. Yuldoshov ,&nbsp;Sh.B. Utamuradova","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140565","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140565","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Antimony triselenide (Sb₂Se₃) stands as a promising candidate for photovoltaic (PV) applications due to its favorable material- and optoelectronic properties. However, the realization of further advancements in device efficiency is hindered by the substantial deficit in open-circuit voltage (<em>V</em>_OC) attributed to the presence of multiple defect states and detrimental recombination losses.</div><div>In this work, solar cells based on Sb₂Se₃ absorber layers deposited by chemical-molecular beam deposition method at substrate temperatures of 400 °C, 450 °C, and 500 °C. Due to the precise control of the Sb/Se ratio, Sb₂Se₃ thin films with stoichiometric composition were obtained, which was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The effect of substrate temperature on the morphology and electrical properties of Sb₂Se₃ thin-films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and hot probe method. The PV performance of Mo/Sb₂Se₃/ZnCdS/CdS/ZnO/ITO/Au devices were investigated by current-voltage characteristics, and external quantum efficiency. The conductivity values tend to increase from 1.2 × 10^–6 to 4.6 × 10^–4 (Ω cm)^-1 as the substrate temperature increased. Whereas, the trap-state density was determined between 7.3 × 10¹³ – 1.7 × 10¹⁴ cm^-3 in the absorber layer by the space charge limited current method. Ultimatety, it has been shown that defect densities in Sb₂Se₃ films can be suppressed to some extent by optimizing the substrate temperature. Best solar cell performance of 5.36%, resulting from <em>V</em>_OC of 476 mV, short-circuit current densit of 22.97 mA/cm⁻², and fill factor of 49% at the substrate temperature of 450 °C.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"808 ","pages":"Article 140565"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fabrication of thin film for triple-cation perovskite via hot-bar-coating method without post-annealing process","authors":"Shogo Miyake ,&nbsp;Genya Uzurano ,&nbsp;Akihiko Fujii ,&nbsp;Masanori Ozaki","doi":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140563","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsf.2024.140563","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The triple-cation perovskite Cs_0.05(MA_0.17FA_0.83)_0.95Pb(I_0.83Br_0.17)₃ was deposited using the hot-bar-coating method. The effects of the substrate temperature and coating bar sweep speed on the film quality were investigated. Coating the precursor solution at a substrate temperature of 150 °C, reduced fabrication time by eliminating the post-annealing process, which is essential to conventional film fabrication methods, i.e., the antisolvent method. We further investigated the dependence of thin film thickness and quality on the coating bar sweep speed, finding that the optimal film quality was achieved at a speed of 4 mm/s. Importantly, decomposition into PbI₂ was not observed during film fabrication for the triple-cation perovskite. The results of solar cell property measurements, indicating that the fabricated devices maintained high performance for 500 h in ambient air, suggest that the hot-bar-coating method is a promising approach for producing perovskite solar cells with high atmospheric stability and potentially low cost.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23182,"journal":{"name":"Thin Solid Films","volume":"808 ","pages":"Article 140563"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}