Ultrasonic pulse echo technique was used to study cupric oxide (CuO) thin films. CuO thin films were prepared using sol gel technique. They were doped with Lithium (Li) (1%, 2% and 4%).
Thin films’ thickness (d) and band gap energy (Eg) were measured. In addition, elastic moduli (longitudinal (L), shear (G), bulk (K) and Young’s (E)) and Poisson’s ratio (v) were determined to estimate the microstructure properties of the prepared films.
The study ameliorated the used transducers to overcome their dead zone and beam scattering; wedges were developed. The results showed the effectiveness of these wedges. They enhanced transducers’ sensitivity by changing the dead zone, beam diameter, beam directivity and waves’ transmission.
Also, the study noted that Li doping caused the improvement of CuO thin films to be more useful in solar cell fabrication. Li-CuO thin films had narrower band gap. Thus, they acquired a high quantum yield for the excited carriers; also they gained more efficiency to absorb solar light.
In situ monitoring of the thickness of thin diamond films during technological processes is important because it allows better control of deposition time and deeper understanding of deposition kinetics. One of the widely used techniques is laser reflectance interferometry (LRI) which enables non-contact measurement during CVD deposition. The authors have built a novel LRI system with a 405 nm laser diode which achieves better resolution compared to the systems based on He-Ne lasers, as reported so far. The system was used for in situ monitoring of thin, microcrystalline diamond films deposited on silicon substrate in PA-CVD processes. The thickness of each film was measured by stylus profilometry and spectral reflectance analysis as a reference. The system setup and interferometric signal processing are also presented for evaluating the system parameters, i.e. measurement uncertainty, resolution and the range of measurable film thickness.
Titanium nitride (TiN) is regarded as a potential biomaterial for blood-contact applications. TiN thin films were fabricated by pulsed
laser deposition with the Nd:YAG laser on biologically applied polyurethane. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of 250 nm thick films revealed columnar structure. Such films were observed to be brittle, which led to crack formation and secondary nucleation of microcolumn. TEM studies showed a kinetic mechanism of growth (columnar) in films of 250 nm thickness. It was stated that thinner films were much smoother and uniform than the thicker ones, which could be associated with the surface diffusion mechanism to appear. In order to improve the coatings elasticity, the thickness was reduced to 50 nm, which limited the deposition mechanism operation to the early stage. TEM cross-section observation revealed elastic properties of thin films. A biological test showed that TiN surface film produced on polyurethane is characterized by good biocompatibility and decreased surface affinity for cell adhesion. Films of 0.25 and 0.5 1m thick of TiN were selected for theoretical finite element modelling (FEM) using ADINA program. The micro cracks formation predicted in simulation was verified by phenomena observed in microstructure examinations.
The aim of the work was to obtain thin bismuth oxide films containing, at room temperature, the Bi1,5Er0,5O3 phase. This phase corresponds to the structure of the high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase, in pure bismuth oxide, characterized by the highest ionic conductivity of all known solid state ionic conductors. The high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase with the face centered cubic structure, in pure bismuth oxide, occurs only at temperature above 730°C.
Stabilization of the δ-Bi2O3 phase at room temperature was achieved by an addition of the erbium together with the employment of the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. The influence of an amount of Er alloying and the film thickness on surface morphology, microstructure, phase composition of thin films were investigated. The velocity of deposition of thin layers of bismuth stabilized with erbium in the PLD process using the Nd: YAG laser was about 0.5 nm/s.
The investigation results of erbium doped bismuth oxide thin films deposited onto (0001) oriented Al2O3 monocrystalline substrate are presented.
Thin films of uniform thickness, without cracks, and porosity were obtained. All deposited thin films (regardless of the film thickness or erbia (Er2O3) content) exhibited a columnar structure. In films stabilized with erbium, up to approx. 250 nm thickness, the columns have a diameter at the base from 25 to 75 nm. The columns densely and tightly fill the entire volume of the films. With increasing of the film thickness increases, porosity also significantly increases. In thin layers containing from 20 to 30 mole % Er2O3 the main identified phase at room temperature is Bi1.5Er0.5O3. It is similar to the defective fluorite-type structure, and belongs to the Fm-3m space group. This phase corresponds to the structure of the high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase in pure bismuth oxide.
A novel method for thermal diffusivity evolution of thin-film materials with pulsed Gaussian beam and infrared video is reported. Compared with common pulse methods performed in specialized labs, the proposed method implements a rapid on-line measurement without producing the off-centre detection error. Through mathematical deduction of the original heat conduction model, it is discovered that the area s, which is encircled by the maximum temperature curve rTMAX(θ), increases linearly over elapsed time. The thermal diffusivity is acquired from the growth rate of the area s. In this study, the off-centre detection error is avoided by performing the distance regularized level set evolution formulation. The area s was extracted from the binary images of temperature variation rate, without inducing errors from determination of the heat source centre. Thermal diffusivities of three materials, 304 stainless steel, titanium, and zirconium have been measured with the established on-line detection system, and the measurement errors are: −2.26%, −1.07%, and 1.61% respectively.
The presented article is a report on progress in photovoltaic devices and material processing. A cadmium telluride solar cell as one of the most attractive option for thin-film polycrystalline cell constructions is presented. All typical manufacturing steps of this device, including recrystalisation and junction activation are explained. A new potential field of application for this kind of device - the BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) is named and discussed. All possible configuration options for this application, according to material properties and exploitation demands are considered. The experimental part of the presented paper is focused on practical implementation of the high- temperature polymer foil as the substrate of the newly designed device by the help of ICSVT (Isothermal Close Space Vapour Transport) technique. The evaluation of the polyester and polyamide foils according to the ICSVT/CSS manufacturing process parameters is described and discussed. A final conclusion on practical verification of these materials is also given.
A series of copper oxide thin films were synthesized through direct current magnetron sputtering on glass and silicon substrates with various process parameters. Initially, optical microscopy images and their histograms were analyzed to determine the optical quality of the obtained layers and then histograms were created using Image Histogram Generator software. Next, the morphology, and cross-section and layer composition of the samples were evaluated. Finally, the transmission spectra of the thin films were recorded. Transmittance and reflection spectra of the UV–vis analysis were utilized to calculate the optical band gap, the extinction coefficient, and the absorption coefficient of the oxidized layers. Samples showed low transmittance (up to 40%) in the region of 400 to 1000 nm. The mean absorption coefficient varied from ~3 · 105 to ~6 · 105 1/cm and from ~2 · 105 to ~4 · 105 1/cm in the region of 2 eV to 3.5 eV. The extinction coefficient ranged from 0 to 0.11 in the region from 300 to 3000 nm. Reflectance of the samples was ~20% in the region of 1000 to 2500 nm and ranged from 20%-50% in the region of 1000 to 3000 nm. We verified the process parameters of the Cu2O structure to improve the quality as a buffer layer. On the basis of this preliminary analysis, we propose the most promising and future-oriented solutions in photovoltaic applications.
Numerous films, especially reinterpretations of the Gospel, can be read as loci theologici. Nevertheless, it’s important to recognize that the commercially motivated interest of filmmakers has its theological consequences: a resulting challenge is the catechetical use of apocryphal films in the pastoral praxis of the Church. The paper recalls main documents of the Church, relating to the cinema, stressing the absence of official teaching on the cinema in the last 20 years. Films, produced with commercial motivation, are often kitsch; it’s a result of tendencies to gain the possibly large audiences and to fulfill their expectations. An analysis of selected films (e.g. The Passion of the Christ and Son of God) indicates that the kitschy audiovisual apocrypha, superficial, emotional and lacking of authenticity, become a false filmic transformation of the message of the Bible. The paper postulates the need of constructing a theology of film: its object could be audiovisual texts, which extra-ecclesial theologies influence religious imagination and thinking of the viewers.
Thin films of crystallized LaCoO3 were grown on Si substrate by Pulsed Laser Deposition at different temperatures (750°C, 850°C and 1000°C). The structural characterization of the LaCoO3 thin films was done by combining several techniques: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction (GIXRD). The thin films crystallized in the expected rhombohedral phase whatever the deposition temperature, with an increase of crystallite size from 70 nm at 750°C to 100 nm at 1000°C, and an average thickness of the thin films of less than 200 nm. At 850°C and 1000°C, the thin films are crack-free, and with a lower number of droplets than the film deposited at 750°C. The grains of LaCoO3 film deposited at 850°C are columnar, with a triangular termination. At 1000°C, an intermediate layer of La2Si2O7 was observed, indicating diffusion of Si into the deposited film.
The aim of this work was to produce a thin SnO2 film by a technique combining the sol-gel method and electrospinning from a solution based on polyvinylpyrrolidone and a tin chloride pentahydrate as a precursor. The spinning solution was subjected to an electrospinning process, and then the obtained nanofiber mats were calcined for 10 h at 500°C. Then, the scanning electron microscopy morphology analysis and chemical composition analysis by X-ray microanalysis of the manufactured thin film was performed. It was shown that an amorphous-crystalline layer formed by the SnO2 nanofiber network was obtained. Based on the UV-Vis spectrum, the width of the energy gap of the obtained layer was determined.
This work presents a theoretical study for the distribution of nanocomposite structure of plasmonic thin-film solar cells through the absorber layers. It can be reduced the material consumption and the cost of solar cell. Adding nanometallic fillers in the absorber layer has been improved optical, electrical characteristics and efficiency of traditional thin film solar cells (ITO /CdS/PbS/Al and SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Cu) models that using sub micro absorber layer. Also, this paper explains analysis of J-V, P-V and external quantum efficiency characteristics for nanocomposites thin film solar cell performance. Also, this paper presents the effect of increasing the concentration of nanofillers on the absorption, energy band gap and electron-hole generation rate of absorber layers and the effect of volume fraction on the energy conversion efficiency, fill factor, space charge region of the nanocomposites solar cells.