This paper studies a solid film lying on a liquid layer, which in turn lies on a solid substrate. It is well known that, subject to a compressive membrane force, the solid film wrinkles, dragging the liquid underneath to flow. When the solid film is very thin, the ratio between the number of atoms at the surface and that in the bulk becomes significant, so that surface stress contributes to the...

In this paper, we will discuss the seed layer assisted smooth Ag film deposition and the effect of the surface roughness on the surface plasmon resonance in thin Ag film, the reflectance spectra of Ag/MF2/Ag structure and the super-resolution imaging by using a Ag superlens. Ni is found to be the effective surfactant in forming smooth Ag film and enhanced surface plasmon resonance. The Ag films...

This paper develops a theoretical model for wrinkling of an elastic film on an elastic–plastic metal layer caused by cyclic temperatures. The film is compressively strained and bonded to the metal layer, which in turn lies on a thick substrate. The thermal expansion mismatch between the metal and the substrate induces a biaxial stress, which is assumed to be large enough to cause the metal to d...

As an extension of the authors' previous report of Ref 1, we describe an improved version of dispersive white-light interferometry that enables us to measure the tomographical thickness profile of a thin-film layer through Fourier-transform analysis of spectrally-resolved interference signals. The group refractive index can also be determined without prior knowledge of the geometrical thickness...

X-ray diffraction from a growing film at an anti-Bragg point should exhibit bilayer oscillations caused by interference. In an experiment of TiN film growth by laser ablation onto sapphire, an unexpected beating envelope function is found to modulate the oscillations. The successive nodes and antinodes are identified with the development of new growth domains separated by one atomic layer in th...

In this article, a method to measure the electrical resistivity/conductivity of metallic thin films during layer growth on specific underlayers is described. The in situ monitoring of an underlayer electrical resistance, its change upon the incoming of new material atoms/molecules, and the growth of a new layer are presented. The method is easy to implement and allows obtaining in situ experime...

rGO-CdS-H2W12 nanocomposite film was successfully fabricated by a layer-by-layer self-assembly method. The composite film was characterized by techniques such as UV-Vis spectra, XPS, and AFM. The composite film showed high photoelectronic response under the illumination of sunlight. Both current-voltage curves and photocurrent transient measurements demonstrated that the photocurrent response o...

Biomaterials capable of delivering controlled quantities of bioactive agents, while maintaining mechanical integrity, are needed for a variety of cell contacting applications. We describe here a nanotemplating strategy toward porous, polyelectrolyte-based thin films capable of controlled biomolecular loading and release. Films are formed via the layer-by-layer assembly of charged polymers and n...

The preparation of a YBa2Cu3O7−x/LaNiO3/YBa2Cu3O7−x sandwich structured film on a LaAlO3 (100) substrate by a sol-gel method was investigated. YBa2Cu3O7−x/LaNiO3/YBa2Cu3O7−x tri-layer heterostructures with different epitaxial characteristics can be deposited by controlling the heat treatment temperature. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results show that the bottom YBCO fi...