All-Nanoparticle Thin-Film Coatings

Transverse fracture in thin-film coatings under spherical indentation

The competition between transverse surface and sub-surface cracks in a thin, hard coating bonded to polycarbonate substrate due to spherical indentation is investigated in real-time as a function of coating thickness and indenter radius. Fine grain (Y-TZP) and medium grain (alumina) ceramics and pre-abraded amorphous glass are used for the coating. As the coating thickness is reduced, the famil...

Multilayer thin-film coatings for optical communication systems

Recent developments in thin-film coatings for optical communication systems are reviewed. Particular emphasis is given to thin-film designs with dispersion related to the photonic crystal superprism effect. A single dispersive coating may be used for multiplexing or demultiplexing several wavelength channels by spatial beam shifting. 2004 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (310.0310) Thin ...

Thin-film silica sol-gel coatings for neural microelectrodes.

The reactive tissue response of the brain to chronically implanted materials remains a formidable obstacle to stable recording from implanted microelectrodes. One approach to mitigate this response is to apply a bioactive coating in the form of an ultra-porous silica sol-gel, which can be engineered to improve biocompatibility and to enable local drug delivery. The first step in establishing th...

Barrier coatings for thin film solar cells: Final subcontract report

Thin Film Heater for Removable Volatile Protecting Coatings

Freshly coated aluminum mirrors have excellent reflectivity at far ultraviolet wavelengths. However, reflectivity rapidly degrades when the mirror surfaces are exposed to atmosphere. In order to avoid this problem, freshly coated aluminum surface can be protected by over-coating of a removable volatile protecting coating. This protecting coating can be re-evaporated by controlled heating or by ...