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This work reports Ag-doped Sb2Te3 (A-ST) thin films synthesized by DC magnetron sputtering method onto SiO2 (SO) and polyimide (PI) substrates based on atomic composition optimization. The effect of post-depositional rapid thermal annealing on the crystallinity, morphology, composition, and thermoelectric properties of thin films was investigated. It was found that thin films on crystalline SO substrate yielded higher crystallinity and eventually a higher thermoelectric power factor in comparison to those grown on a polyimide substrate. The maximum room-temperature power factors achieved were 0.53 mW m−1 K−2 (PI) and 3.95 mW m−1 K−2 (SO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of electrode-dielectric interactions, and barrier materials on leakage current, breakdown voltage, yield and reliability of thinfilm (Ba,Sr)TiO capacitors on silicon and glass substrates. The first part of the paper investigates the electrode-dielectric interactions with sputtered Cu and Ni electrodes to identify the mechanisms that lead to high leakage current and low yield. The second part of the paper presents lanthanum nickel oxide as a viable solution to overcome the problems with sputtered Cu and Ni electrodes. A combination of low leakage current, high yield and capacitance densities was achieved with the oxide electrode systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ag nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a zirconium oxide matrix in the form of Ag:ZrO nanocomposite (NC) thin films were synthesized by using the sol-gel technique followed by thermal annealing. With the varying of the concentration of Ag precursor and annealing conditions, average sizes (diameters) of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) in the nanocomposite film have been varied from 7 to 20 nm. UV-VIS absorption studies reveal the surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-induced absorption in the visible region, and the SPR peak intensity increases with the increasing of the Ag precursor as well as with the annealing duration. A red shift in SPR peak position with the increase in the Ag precursor concentration confirms the growth of Ag NPs. Surface topographies of these NC films showed that deposited films are dense, uniform, and intact during the variation in annealing conditions. The magnitude and sign of absorptive nonlinearities were measured near the SPR of the Ag NPs with an open-aperture z-scan technique using a nanosecond-pulsed laser. Saturable optical absorption in NC films was identified having saturation intensities in the order of 10 W/m. Such values of saturation intensities with the possibility of size-dependent tuning could enable these NC films to be used in nanophotonic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of nitration on the optical, structural, charge-transport and photovoltaic properties of tin (II) phthalocyanine (SnPc) is investigated in the form of thin film sandwiched devices, by analyzing its electrical, optical and cyclic voltametric behavior. Further, the effect of nitration on SnPc is described in terms of decrease in HOMO–LUMO position, widening of CT band in absorption spectra and shifting in characteristics metal sensitive Raman peak contributed by C–N–C bridge bond resulting rearrangement in molecular stacking. Charge conduction mechanism has been discussed by evaluating charge carrier concentration, their mobility and the nature of the localized trapping states. The AFM image has been recorded to understand the morphological change in thin film material in terms of alteration in crystalline nature. The devices show p-type semi conducting behavior of SnPc as it forms a Schottky barrier with low work function Al electrode (4.28 eV) and Ohmic contact with high work function ITO electrodes (4.8 eV), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]