Polycrystalline films are used in a wide array of microand nano-scale devices, for electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photonic and chemical functions. Increasingly, the properties, performance, and reliability of films in these systems depend on nano-scale structure. In collaborative research with a number of SMA Fellows, Associates, and students, our group is carrying out research focused on pr...

In this work, polyamide (PA)/silica nanocomposite films prepared by dissolution method of composite mixing were investigated. The morphology of nanocomposite films were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), reveals that nano silica powder were uniformly dispersed on PA silica nanocomposite film. Chemical composition of film was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrosc...

Synthesis and characterization of nano-crystalline silicon grown by atom beam sputtering technique are reported. Rapid thermal annealing of the deposited films is carried out in Ar + 5% H2 atmosphere for 5 min at different temperatures for precipitation of silicon nano-crystals. The samples are characterized for their optical and structural properties using various techniques. Structural studie...

Nano-structured CuO-Cu2O complex thin film-based perovskite solar cells were fabricated on an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass and studied. Copper (Cu) thin films with a purity of 99.995 % were deposited on an ITO-coated glass by magnetron reactive sputtering. To optimize the properties of the nano-structured CuO-Cu2O complex thin films, the deposited Cu thin films were thermally oxidized at...

In this research, the elastic behaviour of two Co thin films simultaneously deposited in an off-normal angle method was studied. Towards this end, two Si micro-cantilevers were simultaneously coated using pulsed laser deposition at an oblique angle, creating a Co nano-string surface morphology with a predetermined orientation. The selected position of each micro-cantilever during the coating pr...

ZnO thin films were deposited on Si(400) substrates by e-beam evaporation technique, and then post-annealed at different annealing temperatures (200-800°C). Dependence of the crystallographic structure, nano-strain, chemical composition and surface physical Morphology of these layers on annealing temperature were studied. The crystallographic structure of films was studied using X-Ray Diffracti...

We developed an ultra-high speed photonic sintering method involving flash white light (FWL) combined with near infrared (NIR) and deep UV light irradiation to produce highly conductive copper nano-ink film. Flash white light irradiation energy and the power of NIR/deep UV were optimized to obtain high conductivity Cu films. Several microscopic and spectroscopic characterization techniques such...

In this paper we report the effect of the incorporation of nano-dimensional clay platelets, laponite, on the J-aggregation of a thiacyanine dye N,N'-dioctadecyl thiacyanine perchlorate (NK) assembled into Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) monolayers. pi-A isotherms and atomic force microscopic studies confirm the successful incorporation of clay platelets into the Langmuir monolayer of NK. J-aggregates of...

Hot-wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD) has been used to prepare both hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nano/ microcrystalline thin layers as intrinsic material at different deposition conditions, in order to establish optimum conditions where the hydrogen content would be minimal and the films would still exhibit good optical properties. Experimental data shows that by varying de...

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films with various Al concentrations were synthesized on Si(001) substrates with native oxide layers by atomic layer deposition process. The effects of the Al concentration on the microstructural characteristics of the AZO thin films grown at 250 degrees C and the correlation between their microstructural characteristics and electrical properties of the AZO thin films we...