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Low-bandgap transparent conductive oxides will be of interest to researchers who wish to address the health hazards of blue radiation emission from electronic displays. Here, we present a single-step, low-temperature fast enough (throughput  >  60 nm min−1) process to grow highly c-axis-oriented crystalline Al-doped ZnO thin films via advanced plasma processing. Dual-power DC-magnetron sputtering plasma was employed for the synthesis of thin films. The addition of top power to a pre-existing rectangular power pushed additional ions to a confined plasma and increased the plasma density and electron temperature. The effect of this additional-ion pushing was systematically studied using the microstructure, surface properties, and electronic properties. As a result, bandgap reduction from 3.35 eV to 3.10 eV and tailoring of electrical resistivity (4.89  ×  10−4–8.32  ×  10−3 Ω cm) and Seebeck coefficients (21–48 µV K−1) were achieved in addition to excellent transparency. Given their properties, the obtained films show promise for multifunctional applications, such as in UV and near-blue radiation shielding, transparent conductive electrodes and low-temperature thermoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon thin films, having a combination of unique physical and chemical properties, exhibit an interesting biocompatibility and biological response to living entities. Here, the carbon films are developed in the morphology form of nano-domains with nanoscale inter-domain separations, tuned by plasma conditions in the facing target magnetron sputtering process. The wettability and surface energy are found to have a close relation to the inter-domain separations. The chemical structure of carbon films exhibited the relative enhancement of sp3 in comparison to sp2 with the increase of domain separations. The cell-viability of these films shows promising results for L929 mouse fibroblast and Saos-2 bone cells, when inter-domain separation is increased. Electrical conductivity and surface energy are identified to play the key role in different time-scales during the cell-proliferation process. The contribution from electrical conductivity is dominant in the beginning of the cultivation, whereas with the passage of time (~3–5 d) the surface energy takes control over conductivity to enhance the cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing plasma-assisted deposition by combining an RF magnetron and an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source it is possible to fabricate highly crystallized nc-Si:H films at a relatively low substrate temperature (300 °C). Microstructural analysis reveals enhancement in crystallinity along with (2 2 0) preferential orientation throughout the depth of the film. The possible mechanism of crystallinity enhancement and preferential orientation is presented on the basis of plasma diagnostics using optical emission spectroscopy and various film analysis tools. This work also reports the effectiveness of the ICP source and elevated temperature for the control of film microstructure and crystallinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]