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Combining stainless steel with zirconia components by powder technological shaping routes for manufacturing of multifunctional parts is an advantageous and promising one-step method making expensive and time-consuming additional joining steps redundant. However, several requirements for co-shaping and co-sintering of the very different compound partners have to be met. The microstructural and chemical constitution of the interface between both materials plays an important role for the mechanical properties, durability and corrosion resistance of the manufactured parts. In the present study, different shaping techniques for co-shaping of stainless steel and zirconia are introduced. The microstructure and the interphase properties of metal/ceramic hybrid parts have been investigated for samples made by tape casting, subsequent lamination and co-sintering. Nevertheless, the results of this study are valid for components made by other hybrid shaping processes as well. The interfaces were characterized by TEM, FESEM, EDX, and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the hydrothermal stability of the material compound was investigated.

We present results of our investigations on nickel silicidation of top-down fabricated silicon nanowires (SiNWs). Control over the silicidation process is important for the application of SiNWs in reconfigurable field-effect transistors. Silicidation is performed using a rapid thermal annealing process on the SiNWs fabricated by electron beam lithography and inductively-coupled plasma etching. The effects of variations in crystallographic orientations of SiNWs and different NW designs on the silicidation process are studied. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy are performed to study Ni diffusion, silicide phases, and silicide−silicon interfaces. Control over the silicide phase is achieved together with atomically sharp silicide−silicon interfaces. We find that {111} interfaces are predominantly formed, which are energetically most favorable according to density functional theory calculations. However, control over the silicide length remains a challenge.