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Glow discharges are known to be limited for running at high currents (−2). Magnetically enhanced plasmas could overcome this limitation, typically for the magnetron operated in pulsed mode during a few 100μs. Hence, the current density could be increased by two decades, but it still stays below 10 A · cm−2. Here we report on a long (∼1 ms) pulsed operation of magnetrons, while preserving the glow mode, for current densities exceeding at least 3 times the highest current density reported for high power pulsed magnetrons. Even if the density of energy surpasses 7 J · cm−2, no arc transition was observed. Three target materials have been successfully tested: carbon (C), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) in helium atmosphere, from 5 to 30 Pa. Two key parameters are required to reach the Hyper Power Impulse Magnetron (HyPIM) glow mode: i) the accurate control of the maximum voltage during the pulse and ii) the use of the pre-ionization. Operating conditions of HyPIM will be presented and compared to other discharges.

Cu2O films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering with varying Li concentrations have been investigated by a combination of temperature-dependent Hall effect measurement and thermal admittance spectroscopy. As measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry, Li concentrations up to 5 × 1020 Li/cm3 have been achieved. Li doping significantly alters the electrical properties of Cu2O and increases hole concentration at room temperature for higher Li concentrations. Moreover, the apparent activation energy for the dominant acceptors decreases from around 0.2 eV for undoped or lightly doped Cu2O down to as low as 0.05 eV for higher Li concentrations.

Conventional magnetron discharge with a graphite target is a technology used worldwide to deposit thin films for a large range of applications. In the last decade, the high current density sputtering regime stands out as a very interesting alternative allowing the tailoring of coating properties. The peak power density normalized to the target area can exceed 107 W m−2, leading to an important ionization of the sputtered atoms. In this paper we focused on the electrical characterization of a magnetized plasma operated at average gas pressure (5 Pa; Ar and He) with a graphite target. A cross-correlation with a high-speed gated camera and optical emission spectroscopy measurements of the plasma evolution is also given. The analysis of the plasma–surface interaction zone on the target unveiled the physical mechanisms associated with the high current density range (1.8–32.5 A cm−2), corresponding to several regimes of discharge. For graphite, it will be demonstrated that the gas rarefaction induced by the vapor wind is negligible due to its low sputtering yield. Thus, the gas recycling is the dominant mechanism sustaining the discharge, even for the higher discharge current regime when a spot is present. Spokes and other instabilities were also identified and are discussed.

The response of the ion current in the substrate region to the magnetic system configuration of a circular magnetron was studied during direct current sputtering of aluminum target. The unbalancing degree induced by changing of magnets’ positions was modelled with finite element methods. The ion saturation current in the substrate region showed more than twofold variation with unbalancing degree in the range 0.6–1.2. The dependence was non-monotonic, and the system was optimized to maximize the substrate ion current. The Langmuir probe diagnostics showed plasma density ~ 1016 m−3 in the optimized magnetic configuration.

A two-dimensional simulation of a glow discharge of a dc magnetron operating in an argon is performed in this work. The “Plasm” and “Magnetic Fields/No Currents” modules of the COMSOL Multiphysics software package were used for modeling. All models are constructed within the framework of a stationary problem. Obtained results correspond to the physical concepts of the glow discharge of a balanced magnetron

Gas-phase synthesis of nanoparticles with different structural and chemical distribution is reported using a circular magnetron sputtering in an ion cluster source by applying high-power impulses. The influence of the pulse characteristics on the final deposit was evaluated on Au nanoparticles. The results have been compared with the more common direct current approach. In addition, it is shown for the first time that high-power impulses in magnetron based gas aggregation sources allows the growth of binary nanoparticles, CoAu in this case, with a variety of crystalline and chemical arrangements which are analyzed at the atomic level., This work was supported by the EU agreement No. 696656 (GrapheneCore1-Graphene-based disruptive technologies), Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad under project MAT2014-59772-C2-1-P, Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad under project MAT2014-59772-C2-2-P, Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad under project MAT2016-80394-R, ERC-2013-SyG 610256 NANOCOSMOS., National Science Foundation of China (21850410448)

We present a general synthesis of transition metal difluorides (TMF2)–carbon nanocomposite films by magnetron co-sputtering the Fe/Co and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) targets. The composites consist of binary TMF2 (TM = Fe, Co) nanoparticles with a crystallite size of ∼8 nm immersed in a carbon matrix. The antiferromagnetic nature of TMF2 nanoparticles with the Néel temperature T N of 40 K (TM = Co) and 78 K (TM = Fe) is confirmed. The ability to create the sputter-deposited TMF2–carbon nanocomposites may not only allow for possible energy applications but also provide a platform for investigating the particulate disordered antiferromagnets.

In this work, we study the features of the discharge of a magnetron with a cold molybdenum target in an argon environment using a Langmuir probe. The novelty of this work is due to the placement of the probe near the anode. I-V characteristics of the probe were measured in the range of discharge current densities of 27–96 mA/cm2 at argon pressures of 2 – 4 mTorr. The experimental I-V characteristics of the probe were used to calculate the electron temperature, ion and electron density. It was found that the density of charge carriers increases and the electron temperature decreases with an increase in the discharge current. In addition, it was found that the density of ions near the anode is almost an order of magnitude lower than the density of electrons, and the electron temperature weakly depends on the argon pressure.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is an emerging material for integrated quantum photonics with its excellent linear and nonlinear optical properties. In particular, its second-order nonlinear susceptibility χ (2) allows single-photon generation. We have grown AlN thin films on silicon nitride (Si3N4) via reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The thin films have been characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), optical reflectometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy. The crystalline properties of the thin films have been improved by optimizing the nitrogen to argon ratio and the magnetron DC power of the deposition process. XRD measurements confirm the fabrication of high-quality c-axis oriented AlN films with a full width at half maximum of the rocking curves of 3.9° for 300 nm-thick films. AFM measurements reveal a root mean square surface roughness below 1 nm. The AlN deposition on SiN allows us to fabricate hybrid photonic circuits with a new approach that avoids the challenging patterning of AlN.

The study here submits the impact of the thin-film thickness of chromium on its optical characteristics. All the films of chromium oxide were deposited on quartz and glass substrates via sputtering magnetron. The optical characteristics for a thin film was established out of measurements of transmitting. The spectrum of absorbance and transmittance have been recorded as a function of wavelength between (300-1100 nm) in order to study the Energy gap of permitted direct transition, extinction coefficient and refractive index. The improvement of the crystallization of the coatings / thin film has been discussed depending on substrate which are glass and quartz temperature. Under the experimental conditions; for temperature about (20-150) °C, the films consist of clear well-crystallized (Cr2O3).

Using X-ray diffraction analysis, we studied the effect of a number of deposition parameters of magnetron TiN-Pb coatings on substrates made of 30KhGSA and 12Kh18N10T steels on the structure of the coatings. It is shown that at a current value of 0.1 A on the Pb cathode, the coating consists mainly of TiN with a pronounced (111) texture. An increase in the current at the Pb cathode to 0.2 A leads to the dominance of Pb and PbO in the coating structure. The influence of ion-assisted and nitrogen consumption on the structure of coatings is noted.

The created experimental magnetron sputtering system allows preliminary cleaning of the substrate surface and subsequent deposition of coatings on long cylindrical products within a single system using a coaxial magnetron discharge at a working gas pressure of 150 mTorr. The coating discharge has reverse electrodes polarity relative to the cleaning discharge. A theoretical calculation of the discharge parameters has been carried out.

Nickel oxide (NiO) films have potential applications in optical coatings, ultraviolet detectors, gas sensors and perovskite solar cells. The great improvement in electrical conduction is still critical for NiO films so far. NiO films are usually p-type conductive because of the native Ni vacancies and interstitials O. These native point defects make n-type NiO difficult to prepare. Even that, n-type NiO films with improved electrical conduction still need to be prepared for n-NiO-based heterojunction devices. Herein the face-centered cubic NiO:Zn2+ films are magnetron reactively sputtered on the glass substrates at different substrate temperatures (Tsub). The introduction of Zn2+ to NiO leads to the transition in conduction from p to n at 400 °C Tsub. The films are almost improved in crystallization with increase in Tsub, thereby reducing the point defect content i.e. the free carrier concentration. The resulting films are also improved in optical transmittance with increase in Tsub. The film’s optical energy gap is tunable in the range of 3.6 eV through 3.8 eV with Tsub.

The electrical properties of a modulated pulsed power (MPP) magnetron discharge were experimentally and theoretically studied in case of reactive sputtering of metallic zirconium target in argon/oxygen mixtures. The high-power pulsing was assisted by pre-ionization provided by a low-power direct current (DC) magnetron discharge filling the pulse-off period. The ranges of stable discharge operation parameters (applied voltage and oxygen flow rate) were determined for pulse-on time of 3 ms and pulse-off time 100–1000 ms. The maximum stable peak power density was 2.1 kW cm−2. Strong dependence of the MPP discharge current waveforms on the pulse-off time was found, indicating the important role of the pre-ionizing DC discharge. In presence of oxygen, discharge peak current was observed with characteristic width up to 1.5 ms, followed by non-reactive-like plateau region. For theoretical treatment of the observed discharge current behavior, we modified the well-known Berg model of reactive sputtering by introducing the terms required for adequate description of time-dependent poisoning and sputtering processes. The reactive ion implantation term was also transformed to account for the process saturation at high ion current densities. Calculation results from the modified Berg model demonstrated good agreement between our experimental observations of discharge current evolution and target poisoning dynamics in the timescale of milliseconds.

CdS/Graphene Nano composites have been extetinsively investigated in the field of basic industrial research and electronic device applications because of their unique physical, chemical properties and photo stability under visible‐light irradiation. In this study, we explore the electrical properties of Cadmium sulfide with the addition of graphene. CdS/Graphene hybrid was fabricated by simple RF magnetron sputtering method using CdS as a sputtering source. The hybrid material formation and structural properties of Graphene, CdS, CdS/Graphene have been discussed using XRD, FTIR, Raman, and UV–vis spectroscopy techniques. Herein, we present a facile and efficient method for hybridization of CdS Nano-sphere with graphene Nano sheet and subsequent investigation of enhancement of current of the hybrid material. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) micrographs reveal the formation of CdS nanospheres and homogeneous scattering on the surface of graphene sheets. The UV absorption spectrum of CdS/Graphene hybrid presented a red-shifted. The enhancement in the current of CdS/Graphene hybrid has been observed due to the generation of electron-hole pairs. Also, current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of an as-grown thin film of the hybrid are conducted using 4-point probe measurement and revealed their semiconducting nature with a drastic enhancement of electrical conductivity.

In this paper, we consider a technological magnetron equipped with a sandwich target designed for the synthesis of Mo x Cr1–x N composite films with a continuous change in the stoichiometric coefficient x, which provides a smooth change in hardness. In this paper, the relationship between the stoichiometric coefficient x and the geometric factor equal to the relative total area of the slots in the external target is established. It is established that the proposed magnetron with a sandwich target makes it possible to synthesize Mo x Cr1–x N solid composite films with a continuous change in the stoichiometric coefficient x, which provides a smooth change in the hardness from 18 to 33 GPA. In this case, the stoichiometric coefficient can be controlled in the range 0 < x < 0.3, varying the area of the slots in the range 0 < α < 0.5 for the specified values of the discharge current density and nitrogen consumption.

The electrophysical methods of heating (IR; IR- + Microwave, IR + convection, Microwave + IR + convection) using quartz infrared emitters, dark emitters, a magnetron for blowing hot air heater are widely used at the restaurant department. For business, a laboratory stand was developed, equipped with all instrumentation for fixing temperature, mass, humidity; changes in all parameters are reflected on a computer monitor with the appropriate software. Experimental studies were carried out on drying vegetable semi-finished products such as carrots, pumpkin. Experimental studies conducted in the laboratories of the department of restaurant business of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics showed the influence of various methods of energy supply (convection, microwave energy, infrared energy, combined methods) on the drying processes of carrots and pumpkins. The optimal drying conditions for carrots and pumpkins have been developed, ensuring maximum preservation of the organoleptic characteristics (color and smell) of the dried product with minimal energy and duration of the process, as well as nutritional and biological value.

Bioresorbable scaffolds from poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) were formed by electrospinning. Then, plasma modification of PLGA scaffolds was carried out by magnetron co-sputtering of copper and titanium targets in Ar. The surface morphology, elemental composition and mechanical properties of the obtained samples were investigated. The modes of plasma modification were selected that could preserve the macrostructure, morphology and mechanical properties of PLGA scaffolds.

The relevance of magnetron sputtering to obtain conductive metallized coatings with a thickness of up to tens of micrometers is indicated. Attention is paid to the features of magnetron sputtering with a liquid target. It is noted that this process is currently being implemented using magnetrons with size from 3” to 6”. The design flaws of the existing NMSA-52M magnetron and its mounting unit to the chamber of the vacuum coating system MVTU-11-1MS are considered. The design of a magnetic system with an increased value of magnetic induction on a 2” magnetron surface has been developed. The magnetron sputtering source were designed: a housing, a chamber mounting unit and a cover. As a result, a variant of the improved design of the magnetron sputtering source is presented, which takes into account the disadvantages of the existing NMSA-52M magnetron.

The influence on the optical properties of AR Low-E PVD coatings with silver IR-reflectors on glass substrates from the water absorption into their outer ZnSnOx dielectric layers was considered with the use of VIS/NIR-spectrophotometry. The estimations of coatings absorption shift reversibility depending on the initial contact with water duration as well as of the mechanisms responsible for the changes in optical constants of the stack’s layers, supported with the comparative analysis of experimental and modelled spectra, are reported. It was shown that the water vapour sorption within the top zinc stannate layer leads to the shift in optical qualities of the whole stack by the changes in the stack’s absorption spectrum in the visible range. This effect proved to be reversible with the water exclusion via the samples heat treatment, but only until the water diffusion into the depth of the Low-E stack reaches the Ag layers, propagating the aggregation, that can no longer be cured with the temperature impact. The change in integral visible-range absorption reaches up to ?Avis = 0.5-1 abs.% in comparison to the “as-deposited” samples, suggesting that the presented observations can be employed for VIS/NIR-spectrophotometry of such coatings for the purpose of their initial wetting determination, as well as the control of their further degradation.

The magnetron discharge with hot (uncooled) target in an impulse mode has been experimentally investigated. The I–V characteristics have been measured depending on the magnetic field strength for three target materials: copper, chromium, and silicon. For melted copper and hot chromium targets, stable gasless (no argon) operation of the magnetron has been demonstrated with maximum impulse power densities about 2.5 kW/cm2 (averaged over the racetrack area). For silicon target, maximum impulse power density was 1.5 kW/cm2 at low argon pressure (0.1 Pa). The magnetic field dependences of discharge parameters have shown the associated changes in differential plasma impedance.

Results of experimental studies on Si-W coatings fabrication by magnetron co-sputtering from two sources for electrodynamic structures in millimeter and submillimeter range of electromagnetic waves are presented. Control over sheet resistivity of the resulting coatings by varying the power of a magnetron with a tungsten target is demonstrated. Dependence of complex permittivity of Si-W coatings upon dielectric substrates on chemical composition in the frequency range of 50-70 GHz is studied.

The structure of coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering of Ti and Pb cathodes on substrates from Mo, 30HGSA and 304 steel was studied by X-ray diffraction. The thickness of the coatings was determined by the difference between the CTE of the coating and the substrate, which is maximum for Mo coating and minimum for 304 steel, for which the thickest coating was found, consisting of tetragonal modifications of PbO.

RF magnetron-deposited Si\In2O3:Er films have the structure of the single-crystalline bixbyite bcc In2O3 nanowires bunched into the columns extended across the films. The obtained films have a typical In2O3 optical band gap of 3.55 eV and demonstrate the 1.54 μm Er3+ room temperature photoluminescence. The current across the film flows inside the columns through the nanowires. The current through the MOS-structure with the intermediate low barrier In2O3:Er dielectric was investigated by the thermionic emission approach, with respect to the partial voltage drop in silicon. Schottky plots ln(I/T 2 ) versus 1/kT of forward currents at small biases and backward currents in saturation give the electron forward n-Si\In2O3:Er barrier equal to 0.14 eV and the backward In\In2O3:Er barrier equal to 0.21 eV.

W-He co-deposition was studied by means of in-vacuo thermal desorption spectroscopy. W-He co-deposited layers were produced at substrate temperatures varied from 400 K to 800 K with a 50 K temperature step. It was found that the He content decreases from ∼1.7 at. % at 400 K to ∼0.17 at. % at 750 K. At 800 K, an increase in the He content was observed, that should be caused by significant changes in the film structure. Helium TDS spectra had two main peaks with maxima in the 500-600 K range and at ∼960 K; the peaks observed are similar to those previously seen for He ion implantation in W. Several scaling expressions are proposed for He/W vs. T.

In this work, a versatile method to increase the optical response of the oxide nanostructures is proposed. It combines a magnetron deposition of oxide matrix with the thermal deposition and aggregation of metallic nanoparticles, allowing the preparation of wide band gap oxide heterostructures with buried plasmonic Au nanoparticles. Thin layers of Si/TiO2 and Si/NiO were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering in a 2D nanostructure, followed by 2.5 nm gold layer thermal deposition and in N2 thermal annealing at 550 °C to induce the growth of the Au nanoparticles. Then Si/TiO2/AuNP and Si/NiO/AuNP were covered with TiO2 and NiO respectively. The reflectance maximum of the LSPR band appeared at around 700 ÷ 720 nm for both heterostructures. It was demonstrated that both Si/TiO2/AuNP/TiO2 and Si/NiO/AuNP/NiO heterostructures can enhance optical response in comparison with Si/TiO2 and Si/NiO. The results obtained indicate a broad prospect of using the formed structures in the field of integrated optoelectronic devices.

Under the unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering process, not only the plasma is confined near the target like in the conventional balanced magnetron (BM) sputtering process, but also extends towards the substrate and support the ion-assisted deposition (surface of thin films is bombarded by energetic Ar+ ions during the sputtering process). Here, we report the influence of magnetron configurations on the structure and properties of room temperature sputtered ZnO thin films while keeping other process parameters fixed. The UBM configuration has significantly improved various properties of ZnO thin films in comparison to the BM configuration. The crystalline quality with dominant orientation (002) and uniform distribution of grains is observed while an increase in the band gap from 3.25 eV (BM) to 3.33 eV (UBM) is obtained. The lower defects as investigated from Zn2p and O1s core level XPS spectra, which is well supported by Photoluminescence measurements. In addition to that, surface hydrophobicity has been increased from 121.2° (BM) to 125.5° (UBM). Thus, the unbalanced magnetron configuration in the sputtering process significantly enhanced the structural, optical and surface properties of ZnO thin films even at room temperature and low plasma power without any post annealing treatments, which is highly desired for the device fabrication.

A rotational maze-shaped radio-frequency magnetron sputtering plasma has been developed by combining three kinds of rod magnets for improving the target utilization. The maze-shaped plasma is produced to perform the closed form along the magnetron motion predicted by the magnet arrangement. The radial profile of a copper target erosion has two peaks and the pattern is based by rotating the maze-shaped plasma. A target utilization rate has attained approximately 64.8 % which corresponds to two – three times higher than that of the conventional stable magnetron sputtering. Al-doped ZnO thin films deposited have indicated that the resistivity is 1.5 – 2.6 x 10-4 Ω cm under a substrate room temperature and the transmittance gets approximately 90 % in a visible region. It is found that the diffraction peak of AZO films is 33.97 degree from X-ray diffraction pattern and the grains exhibit a preferential orientation along (002) axis.

Effects of substrates on the growth of sputter-deposited (ZnO)x(InN)1-x (called "ZION" hereinafter) films have been investigated. We defined a figure of merit (FOM) of ZION films as a reciprocal of a product of full-width at half maximum of x-ray rocking curves and root-mean-square (RMS) roughness. No clear correlation between the FOM and the "RMS roughness" of the substrates are observed, however, interestingly, a strong correlation between the FOM and the "skewness" of the surface height distribution of the substrates is observed. A possible reason is that existence of small portion of spikes on a surface, which appears as tiny tails in the distribution but is not reflected in RMS roughness, limits the migration of adatoms and/or leads to the secondary nucleation, degrading the quality of subsequently grown ZION films. In addition, an atomically flat single-crystalline ZION film grew on a ZnO template with the small skewness of 0.04.

In the present study, Ti-6Al-4V-2B4C coatings are deposited using a DC magnetron sputtering system on AISI 1040 steel substrates. The composition and elemental confirmation of the coating was explored by SEM, XRD and EDS. Wear and friction tests were trained to study the influence of sliding distance and load on tribological behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V-2B4C coated AISI 1040 steel for machine elements. Wear tests were performed on coated AISI 1040 steel substrates counter to E-52100 steel balls by using a ball-on-disc wear testing apparatus under 2N and 3N normal loads at room temperature. The different sliding distances (63, 78, 94 and 110 m) has taken for wear test under room temperature and low coefficient of friction obtained for higher sliding distance and load. Ti-6Al-4V-2B4C coated AISI 1040 steel reduces the frictional coefficient from 0.65 to 0.23 and improves the wear resistance. Specific wear rate of the coating reaches the maximum value with higher sliding distance. On the outset, it is clearly showing that the formation of oxide layers of Ti-6Al-4V-2B4C coatings mainly affects its tribological characteristics.

In large area sputter coating of glass, the consumption of electric power is one of the major cost drivers. This applies especially to dielectric transparent coatings which are relatively thick and for which sputter yields and rates can be rather low. These materials are usually sputtered from dual magnetrons using medium frequency (sine wave) or bipolar (square wave) power supplies at frequencies up to 100 kHz. Frequencies at 50 kHz or higher are beneficial for suppressing arcing on the target surface, and the power required to achieve viable sputter rates is often high, making the power consumption a significant cost contribution. In this study we look at the effect of the power supply technology and frequency on the sputter rate and the sputtered layer thickness per electrical energy input. The tests were carried out with aluminum dual planar targets and with TiOx dual rotary targets. At low frequencies around 20 kHz, the bipolar generator can yield about 10% higher sputtering rates at the same input power. At about 40 kHz, which is often chosen to minimize arcing, the rates from the two power supplies are about equal.

This paper proposed a kind of high-performance magnetron power supply circuit, the output power of which could be regulated precisely and stably. Based upon the LLC resonant converter with multiplier, efficient power conversion and stable loop control were realized when the switch frequency was near to the resonant frequency. The driving pulses of the switches were controlled by a low-frequency PWM signal, thus realizing the intermittent operation mode. Therefore, the output voltage was in the form of pulsation, which met the requirement of the magnetron. Furthermore, the mean output power of the microwave could be regulated through the PWM duty ratio. An experimental prototype of 1000 W magnetron power supply was completed. As shown in the experiment, the soft switch of this circuit possessed excellent performance. The converting efficiency was higher than 93%; moreover, its output power could be easily adjusted.

This work reports the fabrication of un-doped and cu-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) films using magnetron co-sputtering technique. The fabricated films were deposited on glass substrates followed by thermal annealing process in an ambient condition for 60 minutes at 400 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Hall measurement with four-point Van der Pauw method were used to study the crystal orientation, optical properties, surface structure and the resistivity of the deposited films respectively. Polycrystalline films with hexagonal wurtzite structure were observed in the CZO films. The redshift and bandgap narrowing were discussed in optical analysis. The trend in bandgap narrowing was contributed by the hybridization of O 2p and Cu 3d band. Hall effect measurement showed that the resistance of deposited Cu-doped ZnO (CZO) films will increase at excessive-high Cu doping level.

Ag- and Cu- doped aluminium oxide coatings were deposited by magnetron sputtering and their structure and composition were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The coatings’ antimicrobial properties and efficiency against representative bacterial strains of Gram-positive, Gramnegative bacteria and fungi were analyzed by in vitro tests. The results of the study suggest that Ag and Cu doped aluminium oxide coatings possess a combined bactericidal effect and demonstrate a promising potential for various medical applications.

The paper presents a study of nanocomposite structures prepared by magnetron sputtering of titanium on a template formed during the deposition of colloidal silica particles on a metal substrate. The effect of power and spraying time on the formation of nanocomposite structures was studied. The features of the processes of growth of a metal film on an opal matrix and the Implantation of metal into its structure are revealed.

The stoichiometry value x of WOx , or its oxidation state, is crucial for improving performances of the hole-selective contact heterojunction silicon solar cell. However, it is challenging to tune the films' oxidation state using the well-known evaporation method. In this study, a simulation was performed to analyze the effect of x on short-circuit current (Jsc) loss, attributed to the hole-selective contact in the device. Compared to the thickness of WOx layer, x has a more important role in minimizing Jsc loss. Based on the simulation, the WOx /c-Si heterojunction solar cells having hole-selective WOx contacts with tuned x to vary its oxidation state were fabricated using reactive magnetron sputtering. The relationships of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and Jsc with respect to x were similar. The experimentally determined Jsc increased from 34.7 to 36.6 mA cm−2 when x was increased from 2.72 to 2.77; this result is consistent with the simulation. Nevertheless, fill factor (FF) reduced with the increase of x, owing to the reduced conductivity of WOx . Both oxidation state and film conductivity must be as high as possible to simultaneously achieve high Voc, Jsc, and FF. The lowest x yielded a solar cell efficiency of 13.3%.

Adhesion is a major factor in film failure. Based on the basic theory of interfacial toughness, the relationship between film thickness and internal stress and adhesion is qualitatively analyzed. The adhesive properties of silicon nitride deposited on stainless steel substrate by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition methods is discussed. The case where nickel, nickel-chromium and alumina films are respectively used as transition layers is compared. After vacuum annealing thermal treatment of these films, the results show that the alumina film has better matching performance with 304 stainless steel, and the interface toughness is improved by 51.2% compared with the silicon nitride film. After the samples are stretched, the silicon nitride film show a large number of cracks when the transition layer is nickel or nickel-chromium, possibly due to the large thermal stress in the film. At the same time, the process parameters of magnetron sputtered alumina are optimized, and the optimal deposition rate of alumina film is determined to be 40.25 nm min-1. Then, the effect of film thickness on adhesion is investigated by theoretical analysis and tape breakage test. As the film thickness ratio of alumina and silicon nitride increases, the adhesion is optimal.

This study determines the effects of nickel (Ni) doping on the composition, phase structure, chemical valence state, hardness, and toughness of CrAlNiN coatings. CrAlNiN coatings with various Ni contents (0.00 at%–27.71 at%) were deposited on the surfaces of M2 tool steel and monocrystalline silicon (Si) using unbalanced magnetron sputter ion plating. The results showed that the CrAlNiN coatings possess a nanomultilayer structure, maintaining the face centered cubic crystal structure of the chromium aluminum nitride (CrAlN) coatings. The Ni in the coatings acts as a toughening phase to ease stress, to increase resistance to crack growth, and to delay the generation of cracks, thereby having an obvious toughening effect. At an Ni content of approximately 20.33%, the Ni toughening phase in the modulation layer tends to saturate and the effect of continuing the increase in Ni content is limited from the viewpoint of improving the toughness.

Currently, the process of drying seaweed has been using conventional technology, utilizing sunlight directly. It depends on weather conditions when the rainy season arrives, the drying process will take longer time even 3-4 days. The longer duration of drying causes seaweed’s quality degenerate. Previous studies have proved that drying materials use microwave energy can reduce processing time significantly. Heat transfer and electromagnetic field effect on seaweed drying in a microwave oven were studied using a three-dimensional simulation. The parameters observed included variations of power microwave (400, 500, and 600 W), seaweed thickness (3, 5, 7 cm), and waveguides position (top and side). Variation of magnetron energy in microwave heating is affecting the electromagnetic field’s value and changing seaweed temperature. As increasing received energy from the magnetron, seaweed temperature and electromagnetic field are ascending. Seaweed that is heated in 3 cm thickness results rising temperature higher than 5 cm and 7 cm thickness. Waveguide located at the top cavity is generating electromagnetic field value higher than it located at the side cavity. As verification method, heating fresh seaweed use microwave oven was resulting similar pattern both electromagnetic field and temperature. The lowest moisture content of seaweed is achieved at the treatment of 600 watt magnetron energy and 3 cm thickness of seaweed.

Boron nitride coatings were deposited by reactive pulsed magnetron sputtering of B and BN targets (50 kHz, 10 µs for B; 13.56 MHz for BN) at 2–20 mA/cm2 ion current density on the substrate. The effect of electron beam generated plasma on characteristics of magnetron discharge and phase composition of coatings was studied.

Based on magnetron hollow cathode discharge, the magnetic condition of glow plasma generation in high vacuum, including both direction and magnitude of the applied magnetic field, is theoretically derived and experimentally evaluated in this paper. Single particle orbital theory is introduced to discuss the possibilities to generate glow plasma at gas pressure under 10−2 Pa when the magnetic field direction is parallel or perpendicular or oblique to the electric field direction. A quantitative estimation criterion of magnetic induction intensity is also proposed in theory. The comparison with experiments suggests that glow plasma in high vacuum will form more easily in oblique magnetic field condition and that the criterion is accurate enough to estimate magnetic induction intensity at a certain gas pressure.

The MgZnO/SiO2/ZnO metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) dual-band UVA and UVB photodetectors (PDs) with different MgZnO thicknesses were fabricated by RF sputter. From the dark current, it was found that the PD with 200 nm thick MgZnO had a lower leakage current, which implies less defect density and better crystal quality. Therefore, the FWHM of the X-ray diffraction and grain size of the scanning electron microscope image for PDs with a thicker MgZnO thickness were narrower and larger than those of the others. From the photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature, the main defect types of the MgZnO/SiO2/ZnO thin film included Ov, Oi, and Zni. Then, a variable and voltage-controlled tunable wavelength of UV PD from UVB to UVA can be well accomplished by using a SiO2 blocking layer inserted between the MgZnO and ZnO thin film. Therefore, at a lower and higher bias voltage, the PD with a 200 nm thick MgZnO can detect the UVB and UVA range, respectively.

In this study, Mo-bilayer film, the thickness of which was reduced to approximately 270 nm with a very low resistivity of 14 μΩ.cm, was successfully grown by DC magnetron sputter. The Mo-bilayer, whose bottom and top layers were obtained by high pressure sputter (HPS) and low pressure sputter (LPS) respectively, demonstrates good adhesivity and crystalline properties, together with high reflectance. In order to obtain Mo-bilayer with these improved properties, we first determined the optimal growth temperature and pressure parameters by checking the structural and electrical properties respectively of Mo-single layers. As a result, we achieved a deposit of Mo-bilayer thin film that can be used as a good back contact layer in solar cell applications, both in terms of material cost saving and its superior properties, even at such low thickness.

The effect of ITO magnetron deposition on carrier lifetime in silicon was demonstrated. The method of 2D photoluminescence decay time measurements revealed the lifetime degradation in silicon after magnetron deposition of thin ITO film which is used for top contact in modern solar cells.