Thesis (Ph. D.)--Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Committee Chair: Mizaikoff, Boris; Committee Member: Bottomley, Lawrence; Committee Member: Hunt, William; Committee Member: Janata, Jiri; Committee Member: Josowicz, Miroslawa.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006. / Additional advisors: Andrei V. Stanishevsky, Derrick R. Dean, Gregg M. Janowski, Yogesh K. Vohra. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 11, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-151).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), which are widely used in transparent electronics, possess a spectral selectivity that is suitable for a solar material absorber. TCO materials have a plasma wavelength in the infrared region. Consequently electromagnetic waves shorter than a plasma wavelength are transmitted through the material, while longer electromagnetic waves are reflected on the surface. In contrast to the opaque solar selective absorbers, the plasma wavelength in TCO materials can be easily tuned by controlling the heavy doping process to match the peak shift of thermal radiation at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the use of TCO in conjunction with a solar absorber relaxes the spectral selectivity of the latter and thus widens the selection of the solar absorber; subsequently the only requirement is a thermally stable black body. Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) is a class of TCO materials which is cost effective to manufacture due to abundance ZnO, and Aluminum raw materials. This thesis is based on the synthesis of Al doped ZnO thin films nanostructure using radio frequency RF magnetron sputtering process. The influence of the deposition parameters, including argon working pressure and substrate temperature, on the structural and optical properties of the AZO thin films is investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical spectroscopy (UV-VIS-NIR). The optical constants of AZO films are extracted from transmittance and reflectance spectra using a combination of Drude and Lorentz dielectric function model. A computer simulation is developed to calculate the radiative properties of Al doped ZnO thin films nanostructure. The thermal emittance and solar absorptance is predicted indirectly from optical reflectance and transmittance of AZO films by invoking Kirchhoff’s law. A Special attention has been paid to the parameters that influence the spectral properties of the AZO films including carrier’s mobility, Al doping concentration and film thickness. Carrier’s mobility turned out to have the most significant influence on the spectrally selective performance of AZO films.

The reactivity of oxide surfaces and metal-oxide interfaces play an important role in many technological applications such as corrosion, heterogeneous catalysis, and microelectronics. The focus of this research was (1) understanding the effects of water vapor exposure of ultrathin aluminum oxide films under non-ultrahigh vacuum conditions (>10-9 Torr) and (2) characterization of Pt growth modes on ultrathin Ta silicate and silicon dioxide films and the effects of growth modes on adhesion of a Cu overlayer. These studies were conducted with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Ni3Al(110) was oxidized (10-6 Torr O2, 800K) followed by annealing (1100K). The data indicate that the annealed oxide film is composed of NiO, Al2O3 and an intermediate phase denoted here as "AlOx". Upon exposure of the oxide film at ambient temperature to increasing water vapor pressure (10-6 - 5 Torr), a shift in both the O(1s) and Al(2p)oxide peak maxima to lower binding energies is observed. In contrast, exposure of Al2O3/Al(polycrystalline) to water vapor under the same conditions results in a high binding energy shoulder in the O(1s) spectra which indicates hydroxylation. Spectral decomposition provides further insight into the difference in reactivity between the two oxide films. The corresponding trends of the O(1s)/Ni0(2p3/2) and Al(2p)/Ni0(2p3/2) spectral intensity ratios suggest conformal changes of the oxide film on Ni3Al(110). The growth behavior of sputter deposited Pt at ~300K on Ta silicate and SiO2 ultrathin films formed on Si(100) was investigated. The XPS data show that Pt deposition results in uniform growth or "wetting" on Ta silicate and 2-D cluster growth on SiO2. Electroless Cu deposition on ~11 monolayers (ML) Pt/Ta silicate film results in an adherent Cu film which passed the Scotch tape test. In contrast, electroless Cu deposition on ~11ML Pt/SiO2 results in a non-adherent Cu film due to weak Pt/SiO2 interaction.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a versatile environmentally benign II-VI direct wide band gap semiconductor with several technologically plausible applications such as transparent conducting oxide in flat panel and flexible displays. Hence, ZnO thin films have to be processed below the glass transition temperatures of polymeric substrates used in flexible displays. ZnO thin films were synthesized via aqueous polymeric precursor process by different metallic salt routes using ethylene glycol, glycerol, citric acid, and ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) as chelating agents. ZnO thin films, derived from ethylene glycol based polymeric precursor, exhibit flower-like morphology whereas thin films derived of other precursors illustrate crack free nanocrystalline films. ZnO thin films on sapphire substrates show an increase in preferential orientation along the (002) plane with increase in annealing temperature. The polymeric precursors have also been used in fabricating maskless patterned ZnO thin films in a single step using the commercial Maskless Mesoscale Materials Deposition system.

We investigate some of the mechanical design factors of wafers and the effect on strength. Thin, solid, pre-stressed films are proposed as a means to improve the bulk mechanical properties of a wafer. Three-point bending was used to evaluate the laser scribe density and chemical processing effect on wafer strength. Drop and strike tests were employed to investigate the edge bevel profile effect on the mechanical properties of the wafer. To characterize the effect of thin films on strength, one-micron ceramic films were deposited on wafers using PECVD. Coated samples were prepared by cleaving and were tested using four-point bending. Film adhesion was characterized by notched four-point bending. RBS and FTIR were used to obtain film chemistry, and nanoindentation was used to investigate thin film mechanical properties. A stress measurement gauge characterized residual film stress. Mechanical properties of the wafers correlated to the residual stress in the film.

Conversion material electrodes such as FeF2 possess the potential to deliver transformative improvements in lithium ion battery performance because they permit a reversible change of more than one Li-ion per 3d metal cation. They outperform current state of the art intercalation cathodes such as LiCoO2, which have volumetric and gravimetric energy densities that are intrinsically limited by single electron transfer. Current studies focus on composite electrodes that are formed by mixing with carbon (FeF2-C), wherein the carbon is expected to act as a binder to support the matrix and facilitate electronic conduction. These binders complicate the understanding of the electrode-electrolyte interface (SEI) passivation layer growth, of Li agglomeration, of ion and electron transport, and of the basic phase transformation processes under electrochemical cycling. This research uses thin-films as a model platform for obtaining basic understanding to the structural and chemical foundations of the phase conversion processes. Thin film cathodes are free of the binders used in nanocomposite structures and may potentially provide direct basic insight to the evolution of the SEI passivation layer, electron and ion transport, and the electrochemical behavior of true complex phases. The present work consisted of three main tasks (1) Development of optimized processes to deposit FeF2 and LiPON thin-films with the required phase purity and microstructure; (2) Understanding their electron and ion transport properties and; (3) Obtaining insight to the correlation between structure and capacity in thin-film microbatteries with FeF2 thin-film cathode and LiPON thin-film solid electrolyte. Optimized pulsed laser deposition (PLD) growth produced polycrystalline FeF2 films with excellent phase purity and P42/mnm crystallographic symmetry. A schematic band diagram was deduced using a combination of UPS, XPS and UV-Vis spectroscopies. Room temperature Hall measurements reveal that as-deposited FeF2 is n-type with an electron mobility of 0.33 cm2/V.s and a resistivity was 0.255 Ω.cm. The LiPON films were deposited by reactive sputtering in nitrogen, and the results indicate that the ionic conductivity is dependent on the amount of nitrogen incorporated into the film during processing. The highest ionic conductivity obtained was 1.431.9E-6 Scm-1 and corresponded to a chemical composition of Li1.9PO3.3N.21. FeF2/LiPON thin films microbatteries were assembled using a 2032 coin cell configuration and subjected to Galvanostatic cycling. HRTEM and EELS spectroscopy where performed across the FeF2/LiPON interface of samples cycled once 15 times in their lithiated and delithiated states to understand the relationship between microstructural evolution and capacity. The EELS measurements provided evidence of a three-phase conversion reaction over the first discharge described by FeF2 +2e-+2Li+↔Fe +LiF, and of incomplete reconversion back to FeF2 after the 1st cycle resulting in new Fe0 and LiF phases in delithiated samples. This incomplete conversion results in (a) a smaller phase fraction of FeF2 participating in the conversion process subsequently and (b) the formation of LiF which is resistive to both electron and ion transport. This results in the observed drastic drop in capacity after the1st cycle. More study to understand the reconversion reaction pathways is required to fully exploit the potential of FeF2 and other conversion materials as cathodes in Li ion batteries.

No description available.

In this dissertation M02C and diamond films deposited by electrophoresis on flat Mo foils and tips have been studied to determine their suitability as field emission tips.