(Ga, Gd, As) film growth on GaAs substrate by low-energy ion-beam deposit

(Ga, Gd, As) film was fabricated by the mass-analyzed dual ion-beam epitaxy system with the energy of 1000 eV at room temperature. There was no new peak found except GaAs substrate peaks (0 0 2) and (0 0 4) by X-ray diffraction. Rocking curves were measured for symmetric (0 0 4) reflections to further yield the lattice mismatch information by employing double-crystal X-ray diffraction. The element distributions vary so much due to the ion dose difference from AES depth profiles. The sample surface morphology indicates oxidizing layer roughness is also relative to the Gd ion dose, which leads to islandlike feature appearing on the high-dose sample. One sample shows ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

(Ga, Gd, As) film growth on GaAs substrate by low-energy ion-beam deposit

(Ga, Gd, As) film was fabricated by the mass-analyzed dual ion-beam epitaxy system with the energy of 1000 eV at room temperature. There was no new peak found except GaAs substrate peaks (0 0 2) and (0 0 4) by X-ray diffraction. Rocking curves were measured for symmetric (0 0 4) reflections to further yield the lattice mismatch information by employing double-crystal X-ray diffraction. The element distributions vary so much due to the ion dose difference from AES depth profiles. The sample surface morphology indicates oxidizing layer roughness is also relative to the Gd ion dose, which leads to islandlike feature appearing on the high-dose sample. One sample shows ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Changing planar thin film growth into self-assembled island formation by adjusting experimental conditions

Illustrated in this paper are two examples of altering planar growth into self-assembled island formation by adapting experimental conditions. Partial oxidation, undersaturated solution and high temperature change Frank-Van der Merwe (FM) growth of Al0.3Ga0.7As in liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) into isolated island deposition. Low growth speed, high temperature and in situ annealing in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) cause the origination of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) to happen while the film is still below critical thickness in Stranski-Krastanow (SK) mode. Sample morphologies are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is suggested that such achievements are of value not only to fundamental researches but also to spheres of device applications as well. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ion bombardment as the initial stage of diamond film growth

It is believed that during the initial stage of diamond film growth by chemical-vapor deposition (CVD), ion bombardment is the main mechanism in the bias-enhanced-nucleation (BEN) process. To verify such a statement, experiments by using mass-separated ion-beam deposition were carried out, in which a pure carbon ion beam, with precisely defined low energy, was selected for investigating the ion-bombardment effect on a Si substrate. The results are similar to those of the BEN process, which supports the ion-bombardment-enhanced-nucleation mechanism. The formation of sp(3) bonding is based on the presumption that the time of stress generation is much shorter than the duration of the relaxation process. The ion-bombarded Si is expected to enhance the CVD diamond nucleation density because the film contains amorphous carbon embedded with nanocrystalline diamond and defective graphite. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Operational Optimization of GaN Thin Film Growth Employing Numerical Simulation in a Showerhead MOCVD Reactor

A detailed reaction-tran sport model was studied in a showerhead reactor for metal organic chemical vapor deposition of GaN film by using computational fluid dynamics simulation. It was found that flat flow lines without swirl are crucial to improve the uniformity of the film growth, and thin temperature gradient above the suscptor can increase the film deposition rate. By above-mentioned research, we can employ higher h (the distance from the susceptor to the inlet), P (operational pressure) and the rate of susceptor rotation to improve the film growth.

Ultrathin-film growth of para-sexiphenyl (II): Formation of large-size domain and continuous thin film

The large-size domain and continuous para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) ultrathin film was fabricated successfully on silicon dioxide (SiO2) substrate and investigated by atomic force microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. At the optimal substrate temperature of 180 degrees C, the first-layer film exhibits the mode of layer growth, and the domain size approaches 100 mu m(2). Its saturated island density (0.018 mu m(-2)) is much smaller than that of the second-layer film (0.088 mu m(-2)), which begins to show the Volmer-Weber growth mode.

Ultrathin-film growth of para-sexiphenyl (I): Submonolayer thin-film growth as a function of the substrate temperature

The para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) monolayer film induces weak epitaxy growth (WEG) of disk-like organic semiconductors, and their charge mobilities are increased dramatically to the level of the corresponding single crystals [Wang et al., Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 2168]. The growth behavior and morphology of p-6P monolayer film play decisive roles on WEG. Here, we investigated the growth behavior of p-6P submonolayer film as a function of the substrate temperature. Its growth exhibited two different mechanisms at high and low substrate temperature.

Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance study for vanadium hexacyanoferrates: monitoring of film growth and ion effects during redox reactions

An electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance was employed to monitor directly the growth of vanadium hexacyanoferrate (VHF) films on platinum substrates during electrodeposition and interfacial coagulation in the solution containing sulfuric acid electrolyte, vanadium(IV) and hexacyanoferrate(III). Mass changes of the gold/crystal working electrode were correlated with cyclic voltammetry data. Effects of cations (NH4+, Li+, Na+ and K+), anions (SO42- and NO3-) and solvent during redox reactions of the films were studied. The results show that cations were incorporated into the film during reduction and expelled from the film during oxidation. Solvent also participates in VHF electrochemistry, and its role cannot be neglected. Anions play no role in VHF electrochemistry. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.

Low temperature growth of c-axis oriented AlN films on gamma-LiAlO2 by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Aluminum nitride (AlN) films were prepared on gamma-LiAlO2 substrates by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. The influence of substrate temperature (T-s) and nitrogen (N-2) concentration on film growth was investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that highly c-axis oriented AlN films can be obtained in the temperature range from room temperature (RT) to 300 degrees C. A smoother surface and a crystalline quality decrease with increasing N-2 concentration have been observed by XRD and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the films deposited at lower substrate temperature. On the contrary, the degradation of the surface smoothness and the higher crystalline quality can be observed for the films deposited at a higher substrate temperature with N-2-rich ambient. The growth mechanism which leads to different crystalline quality of the films is discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth mode and strain evolution during InN growth on GaN(0001) by molecular-beam epitaxy

Epitaxial growth of InN on GaN(0001) by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy is investigated over a range of growth parameters including source flux and substrate temperature. Combining reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we establish a relationship between film growth mode and the deposition condition. Both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) growth modes of the film are observed. For 2D growth, sustained RHEED intensity oscillations are recorded while STM reveals 2D nucleation islands. For 3D growth, less than three oscillation periods are observed indicating the Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth mode of the film. Simultaneous measurements of (reciprocal) lattice constant by RHEED suggest a gradual relaxation of the strain in film, which commences during the first bilayer (BL) deposition and almost completes after 2-4 BLs. For SK growth, 3D islanding initiates after the strain has mostly been relieved, presumably by dislocations, so the islands are likely strain free. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Methane hydrate growth velocity in seepage system of Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea

The occurrences of diapirs, gas-filled zones and gas plumes in seawater in Qiongdongnan Basin of South China Sea indicate that there may exist seepage system gas-hydrate reservoirs. Assuming there has a methane venting zone of 1500 m in diameter, and the methane flux is 1000 kmol/a, and the temperature of methane hydrate-bearing sediments ranges from 3 degrees C to 20 degrees C, then according to the hydrate film growth theory, by numerical simulation, this paper computes the temperatures and velocities in 0 mbsf, 100 mbsf, 200 mbsf, 425 mbsf over discrete length, and gives the change charts. The results show that the cementation velocity in sediments matrix of methane hydrate is about 0.2 nm/s, and the seepage system will evolve into diffusion system over probably 35000 years. Meanwhile, the methane hydrate growth velocity in leakage system is 20 similar to 40 times faster than in diffusion system.

Weak epitaxy growth of organic semiconductor thin films

The fabrication of organic semiconductor thin films is extremely important in organic electronic devices. This tutorial review-which should particularly appeal to chemists and physicists interested in organic thin-film growth, organic electronic devices and organic semiconductor materials-summarizes the method of weak epitaxy growth (WEG) and its application in the fabrication of high quality organic semiconductor thin films.

Constructing Thin Polythiophene Film Composed of Aligned Lamellae via Controlled Solvent Vapor Treatment

Thin poly(3-butylthiophene) (P3BT) film composed of aligned lamellae attached to the edge of the original film has been achieved via a controlled solvent vapor treatment (C-SVT) method. The polarized optical microscopy operated at both single-polarization and cross-polarization modes has been used to investigate the alignment of the fiber-like lamellae. A numerical simulation method is used to quantitatively calculate angle distributions of the lamellae deviated from the film growth direction. Prepatterned P3BT film edge acts as nuclei which densely initialize subsequent crystal growth by exhausting the materials transported from the partially dissolved film. The growth of new film upon crystallization is actually a self-healing process where the two-dimensional geometric confinement is mainly responsible for this parallel alignment of P3BT crystals. The solvent vapor pressure should be carefully chosen so as to induce crystal growth but avoid liquid instability which will destroy the continuity of the film.

Layer-by-Layer Buildup of Poly(L-glutamic acid)/Chitosan Film for Biologically Active Coating

A new biocompatible film based on chitosan and poly(L-glutamic acid) (CS/PGA), created by alternate deposition of CS and PGA, was investigated. FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and QCM were used to analyze the build-up process. The growth of CS and PGA deposition are both exponential to the deposition steps at first. After about 9 (CS/PGA) depositions, the exponential to linear transition takes place. QCM measurements combined with UV-vis spectra revealed the increase in the multilayer film growth at different pH (4.4, 5.0 and 5.5). The build-up of the multilayer stops after a few depositions at pH = 6.5. A muscle myoblast cell (C2C12) assay showed that (CS/PGA)(n) multilayer films obviously promote C2C12 attachment and growth.