The magnetic shape memory (MSM) alloy Ni-Mn-Ga is an active material where large strains are obtained by magnetically induced reorientation (MIR) of martensitic variants. For the integration in microsystems, epitaxial thin films are in the centre of interest since the highest strains have only been obtained in single crystals. In order to minimize the technological effort, sputter deposition at...

Undoped and Sn, Ni-doped nanostructured ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates using a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method at room temperature. The SILAR deposited zinc oxide films have been rapid photothermal processing (RPP) at various temperatures to study the effect of annealing on the sensing properties. Structural, electrical and sensing properties wer...

The formation of oxide films on pure Ni surfaces by low energy oxygen ion-beam bombardment at room temperature was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Ion-induced oxidation is more efficient in creating thin NiO films on Ni surfaces than oxidation in oxygen atmosphere. The oxide thickness of bombarded samples is related to the penetration depth of oxygen ions in Ni and scales with the ...

Reorientation in the magnetic anisotropy as a function of film thickness has been observed in Co-Ni and Co thin films, obliquely sputtered on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate at a large incidence angle ~70°!. This effect is a consequence of the low magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the films ~fcc structure of Co! and changes in microstructure from nuclei to columns according to the thickne...

The synthesis of few-layered graphene is performed by ion implantation of carbon species in thin nickel films, followed by high temperature annealing and quenching. Although ion implantation enables a precise control of the carbon content and of the uniformity of the in-plane carbon concentration in the Ni films before annealing, we observe thickness non-uniformities in the synthesized graphene...

The homogeneous bulk assumption used in traditional electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) can be applied for thin-layered systems with individual layers as thick as 50 nm provided the penetration depth of the lowest accelerating voltage exceeds the total film thickness. Analysis of an NIST Ni-Cr thin film standard on Si using the homogeneous model yielded certified compositions and application of...

In this study, commercial-grade NiCr (80 wt % Ni, 20 wt % Cr) and NiCrSi (55 wt % Ni, 40 wt % Cr, 5 wt % Si) were used as targets and the sputtering method was used to deposit NiCr and NiCrSi thin films on Al₂O₃ and Si substrates at room temperature under different deposition time. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the NiCr and NiCrSi thin films were amorphous phase, and the field-effect s...

Porous silicon layers were elaborated by electrochemical etching of heavily doped p-type silicon substrates. Metallization of porous silicon was carried out by immersion of substrates in diluted aqueous solution of nickel. Amorphous silicon thin films were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on metalized porous layers. Deposited amorphous thin films were crystallized under va...

New apparatus and a new process for the sputter deposition of modified barium titanate thin-films were developed. Films were deposited at temperatures up to 900 °C from a Ba₀.96Ca0.04Ti0.82Zr0.18O₃ (BCZTO) target directly onto Si, Ni and Pt surfaces and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Film texture and cryst...

Activation energies for the intermixing reaction of textured metal-metal multilayer thin films have been determined using x-ray diffraction analysis. Kinetic data were collected utilizing an area detector so as to reduce intensity bias from changes in out-of-plane texture during the intermixing reaction. Activation energies for Al/Pt, Ni/Ti, and Co/Al metal-metal multilayer thin films have been...