Papers by Keyword: Nanolayer

Abstract: Novel combined electrochemical and chemical synthesis methods for the preparation of Polypyrrole-based actuators are presented. Polypyrrole (PPy) actuators were electrochemically synthesized and after coating with a thin gold nano-layer, prepared into a Polyethersulfone (PI) substrate. Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and a potentiostat–galvanostat were used to confirm the actuation of PPy based actuators during the redox process. Three-layer actuator based on polypyrrole as electroactive material, Polyethersulfone as substrate and gold nanolayer in our proposed method have been realized. The structure strength and layer adhesion have been improved. This advancement in conducting polymer actuator technology will impact many engineering fields, where a stable, lightweight and large displacement actuator is needed.

Abstract: Thin films of high-k material are becoming more and more used for semiconductor devices. A further shrinking of the devices requires also a further reduction of the high-k film thickness. With this reduction of the high-k thickness down to just a few nanometers two technical challenges have to be addressed. The first one is the ALD process for the deposition of the high-k material. Usually the ALD process can be well controlled by tuning the number of process cycles. But it is theoretically predicted [1] that the growth-per-cycle of the first cycles can be different than the steady growth-per-cycle which is obtained for high cycle numbers. This effect is caused by a not fully covered initial surface during the first cycles. Only when the deposited material forms a closed surface and the surface probabilities are the same for each following cycle the deposition rate will be constant. The second challenge is that the electrical properties of thin films with a thickness of a few nanometers are significantly determined by the quality of the interface between the film and the substrate.

Abstract: Thin film solar cells are expected to play a key role in the next generation of photovoltaic devices, due to low costs and manufacturing advantages. Their functionality would be increased further if thin film solar panels were able to be machined efficiently without affecting the integrity of the nanoscale component layers. In this work, we investigated the effects of grinding and polishing processes on the integrity of solar panels. With the limited selection of grinding wheels and abrasive sizes, surface roughness and chipping were in the order of micrometers, while the use of diamond film polishing resulted in roughness in the order of nanometers with minimal damage to the layers.

Abstract: Experiments to directly bond AlN with Cu were conducted for different pre-treatments of the bonded components. AlN substrates were implanted either with oxygen, or titanium or iron ions at low (15 keV) or high (70 keV) energy, or thermally oxidized. Some Ti-implanted samples were also thermally oxidized. The copper component was annealed and thermally oxidized. The best results, with respect to the bond shear strength, were obtained for low-energy implantation of oxygen and titanium.