Applications of semiconductor nanocrystal in electronics are promising. Various techniques were developed to synthesize and analyze semiconductor nanocrystals for integrated circuit applications. In this study, silicon and germanium nanocrystals were synthesized in silicon dioxide matrix by magnetron sputtering deposition and following high temperature furnace annealing. Multilayer and single layer samples were prepared by co-sputtering depositions. Transmission electron microscopy measurements were carried out to analyze annealing effects on nanocrystal size distribution, change in shape, density and localization in silicon dioxide (SiO2). Ge-Ge Traverse Optical (TO) peak was monitored using Raman spectroscopy to investigate germanium nanocrystal formation and stress effects of silicon dioxide. Si-O-Si asymmetric stretching band is examined by Fourier transform infrared transmission spectroscopy to study silicon dioxide matrix recovery with germanium nanocrystal formation. Luminescence characteristics of silicon nanocrystals in visible and near infrared region (550nm-1050nm) with changing nanocrystal size and density were studied with photoluminescence spectroscopy.

In this study, silicon (Si) rich silicon dioxide (SiO2) films and terbium (Tb) embedded in three different Si containing films has been produced by e-beam evaporation and magnetron sputtering techniques. Post deposition annealing was done for different temperatures and durations to study its effect on both Si nanocrystal formation and Tb luminescence. It was verified by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) that Si nanocrystals were formed in Si rich matrices. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) spectroscopy analysis was carried out to determine the relative concentrations of the atoms inside the produced films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) gave the evidence of different bonding structures inside the Tb-Si-O containing films. Depth profile measurements were carried out to analyze changes in the relative concentration during sputtering of the layers after annealing of the Tb containing film. Luminescence characteristics of Si nanocrystals and Tb3+ ions were studied by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. It was observed that Tb3+ luminescence enhanced by an energy transfer from Si nanocrystals and trap levels in a matrix. This result supplies valuable information about the excitation paths of Tb3+ ion the way of intense luminescence.

The L10 FePt phase belongs to the most promising hard ferromagnetic materials for high density recording media. The main challenges for thin FePt films are: (i) to lower the process temperature for the transition from the soft magnetic A1 to the hard magnetic L10 phase, (ii) to realize c-axes preferential oriented layers independently from the substrate nature and (iii) to control layer morphology supporting the formation of FePt - L10 self-organized isolated nanoislands towards an increase of the signal-to-noise ratio. In this study, dc magnetron sputtered FePt thin films on amorphous substrates were inve-stigated. The work is focalized on the correlation between structural and magnetic properties with respect to the influence of deposition parameters like growth mode (co-sputtering vs. layer – by - layer) and the variation of the deposition gas (Ar, Xe) or pressure (0.3 - 3 Pa). In low-pressure Ar discharges, high energetic particle impacts support vacancies formation during layer growth lowering the phase transition temperature to (320 +/- 20)°C. By reducing the particle kinetic energy in Xe discharges, highly (001) preferential oriented L10 - FePt films were obtained on a-SiO2 after vacuum annealing. L10 - FePt nano-island formation was supported by the introduction of an Ag matrix, or by random ballistic aggregation and atomic self shadowing realized by FePt depositions at very high pressure (3 Pa). The high coercivity (1.5 T) of granular, magnetic isotropic FePt layers, deposited in Ar discharges, was measured with SQUID magnetometer hysteresis loops. For non-granular films with (001) preferential orientation the coercivity decreased (0.6 T) together with an enhancement of the out-of- plane anisotropy. Nanoislands show a coercive field close to the values obtained for granular layers but exhibit an in-plane easy axis due to shape anisotropy effects. An extensive study with different synchrotron X-ray scattering techniques, mainly performed at the ESRF, BM-20 (ROBL-Beamline), pointed out the importance of in-situ investigations to clearly understand the kinetic mechanism of the A1 to L10 transition and ordering and to control FePt nanoclusters evolution.

Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) based ferroelectric thin film devices have been popular over the last decade due to their versatile applications in tunable microwave devices such as delay lines, resonators, phase shifters, and varactors. BST thin films are promising candidates due to their high dielectric constant, tunability and low dielectric loss. Dielectric-tunable properties of BST films deposited by different deposition techniques have been reported which study the effects of factors, such as oxygen vacancies, film thickness, grain size, Ba/Sr ratio, etc. Researchers have also studied doping concentrations, high temperature annealing and multilayer structures to attain higher tunability and lower loss. The aim of this investigation was to study material properties of Barium Strontium Titanate from a comprehensive point of view to establish relations between various growth techniques and the film physical and electrical properties. The primary goal of this investigation was to synthesize and characterize RF magnetron sputtered Barium Strontium Titanate (Ba1-xSrxTiO3), thin film structures and compare their properties with BST thin films deposited by sol-gel method with the aim of determining relationships between the oxide deposition parameters, the film structure, and the electric field dependence. In order to achieve higher thickness and ease of fabrication, and faster turn around time, a `stacked' deposition process was adopted, wherein a thin film (around 200nm) of BST was first deposited by RF magnetron sputtering process followed by a sol-gel deposition process to achieve higher thickness. The investigation intends to bridge the knowledge gap associated with the dependence of thickness variation with respect to the tunability of the films. The film structures obtained using the three different deposition methods were also compared with respect to their analytical and electrical properties. The interfacial effect on these `stacked' films that enhance the properties, before and after annealing these structures was also studied. There has been significant attention given to Graphene-based supercapacitors in the last few years. Even though, supercapacitors are known to have excellent energy storage capability, they suffer from limitations pertaining to both cost and performance. Carbon (CNTs), graphene (G) and carbon-based nanocomposites, conducting polymers (polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), etc.) have been the fore-runners for the manufacture of supercapacitor electrodes. In an attempt to better understand the leakage behavior of Graphene Polyaniline (GPANI) electrodes, BST and BST thin films were incorporated as constituents in the process of making supercapacitor electrodes resulting in improved leakage behavior of the electrochemical cells. A detailed physical, chemical and electrochemical study of these electrochemical cells was performed. The BST thin films deposited were structurally characterized using Veeco Dektek thickness profilometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The interfacial structural characterization was carried out using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). This investigation, also presents noncontact electrical characterization of BST films using Corona Kelvin metrology (C-KM). The `stacked' BST thin films and devices, which were electrically tested using Corona Kelvin metrology, showed marked improvement in their leakage characteristics over both, the sputtered and the sol-gel deposited counterparts. The `stacked' BST thin film samples were able to withstand voltages up to 30V positive and negative whereas, the sol-gel and sputtered samples could hold only up to a few volts without charge leaking to reduce the overall potential. High frequency, 1GHz, studies carried out on BST thin film interdigitated capacitors yielded tunability near 43%. Leakage barrier studies demonstrated improvement in the charging discharging response of the GPANI electrochemical electrodes by 40% due to the addition of BST layer.

In this work columnar nanospirals of AlInN were grown on top of TiN-coated sapphire substrates by magnetron sputtering. A variety of samples with different growth parameters were fabricated and investigated. The main objectives in this work were to optimize the degree of circular polarization and to control the active wavelength region for where this polarization effect occurs. Attempts were made to achieve a high degree of circular polarization in both reflected and transmitted light. It is shown that for reflected light it is possible to achieve a high degree of circular polarization within the visible wavelength regions. For transmitted light the concept of achieving circularly polarized light is proven.

Darbe tiriamas magnetroniniu plazminiu būdu suformuotų Mg-Al-Zr lydinių anodinis tirpimas, bei antikorozinės savybės. Magnetroniniu plazminiu būdu buvo suformuotos dangos su skirtingu cirkonio kiekiu (t.y. 95%, 90,4%, 76,2%, 71% ir 67%). Dangos formuojamos ant stiklo paviršiaus. Voltamperiniais ir elektrocheminio impedanso metodais ištirtas Mg-Al-Zr lydinių anodinis atsparumas ir korozinė elgsena 0.1 M (NH4)3BO3 + 0.1 M NaCl tirpale, kurio pH 8,5. MP lydinių korozinis atsparumas didėja, didinant Zr koncentraciją lydinyje. Taip pat lydiniai, kuriuose didesnė Mg koncentracija, bet mažesnė Zr aktyviai anodiškai tirpsta. Atominės jėgos mikroskopo metodu (AJM) nustatyta lydinių morfologija, dangos su didesne Zr koncentracija charakterizuojamos mažesniais kristalitų dydžiais. Aptartos MP metodo pritaikymo galimybės. / The goal of this work was to study anodic dissolution and anticorrosion properties of Mg-Al-Zr alloys formed by magnetron sputtering. Magnetron sputtering technique was applied to deposit Mg-Al-Zr alloys with different amount of Zr, on glass substrates. Anodic dissolution and anticorrosive stability of the sputtered alloys were studied by voltammetric and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods in 0.1 M (NH4)3BO3 + 0.1 M NaCl solution (pH 8,5). EIS and voltammetric measurements indicated a lesser anodic dissolution and a superior anticorrosive resistance in Mg-Al-Zr alloys with higher Zr concentration. Atomic force microscopy demonstrated (AFM) that by increasing amount of Zr in sputtered samples the grain size decrease.

Darbe tiriamos magnetroniniu plazminiu (MP) būdu suformuotų Mg – Al – Zr lydinių morfologinės, korozinės ir puslaidininkinės savybės. Magnetroninio plazminio dulkinimo metodu buvo suformuotos 5Mg-Al-95Zr, 33Mg-Al-67Zr, 29Mg-Al-71Zr, 24Mg-Al-76Zr, 8Mg-Al-90Zr dangos ant stiklo paviršiaus. Atominės jėgos mikroskopo (AJM) metodu nustatyta, kad magnetroniniu plazminiu būdu suformuotos Mg – Al – Zr lydinių dangos charakterizuojamos mažesniais kristalitų dydžiais ir tolygesne mikrostruktūra. Fotoelektrocheminiais ir elektrocheminio impedanso spektroskopijos metodais ištirta lydinių korozinė elgsena 0,1 M (NH4)3BO3 + 0,1 M NaCl ( pH = 8,5) tirpale. Mott – Shottky analizės metodu nustatytas puslaidininkinių paviršiaus sluoksnių laidumo pobūdis: 5Mg-Al-95Zr, 33Mg-Al-67Zr, 29Mg-Al-71Zr, 24Mg-Al-76Zr, 8Mg-Al-90Zr dangų atveju jis donorinis (n – tipo). Aptartos Mott – Shottky metodo taikymo magnetroninėms dangoms tirti galimybės. / The aim of present work was to study corrosion properties of magnetron sputtered Mg – Al – Zr alloys and characterise semiconductor properties of the surface layers developed during corrosion. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) demonstrated, that sputtered alloys had a smaller grain size and a smoother surface. Fotocorrosion and electrochemical behaviour of tha alloys was studied in 0,1 M (NH4)3BO3 + 0,1 M NaCl ( pH = 8,5) solution. The Mott – Schottky plots of 5Mg-Al-95Zr, 33Mg-Al-67Zr, 29Mg-Al-71Zr, 24Mg-Al-76Zr, 8Mg-Al-90Zr electrodes showed a linear relationship between modified capacitance (C-2) on applied potential. It was concluded n – type semiconductivity for the layers on 5Mg-Al-95Zr, 33Mg-Al-67Zr, 29Mg-Al-71Zr, 24Mg-Al-76Zr, 8Mg-Al-90Zr alloys.

Recent studies of fcc metals with dense twins (~10 nm spacing) have revealed impressive mechanical properties, along with improved ductility and electrical conductivity in comparison to nanocrystalline metals with similar feature sizes. Many important fcc metals could benefit from these “nanotwinned” microstructures, however, not all fcc metals readily form such twins. The tendency of fcc metals to form twin boundaries is related to the twin boundary energy; those with low twin boundary energy, such as silver (Ag), easily form twins. Increasing twin boundary energy interferes with twin formation, to the point that in metals with high twin boundary energy, like aluminum (Al), twins are quite rare. This thesis focuses on the synthesis of nanotwinned Ag and Al via physical vapor deposition. Nanotwinned Ag is readily fabricated, however, a template approach had to be developed to induce twins in Al. The microstructures and their relationships to observed mechanical properties are also discussed. Grain boundaries interfere with dislocation transmission by posing a slip system discontinuity between grains. Twin boundaries are a special class of grain boundaries in which the grains on either side of the boundary are related by mirror symmetry. Twin boundaries inhibit dislocation transmission, providing strength in the same manner as grain boundaries. However, their symmetrical structure reduces the free volume and grain boundary energy. Accordingly, coherent twin boundaries are often more energetically stable than grain boundaries, and their coherency allows plasticity mechanisms to remain active under conditions where such mechanisms may be inhibited at grain boundaries. Hence, twin boundaries may provide a metal with unique combinations of high strength and good ductility, conductivity, and thermal stability.

This thesis present research on synthesis, microstructure, and properties of carbide- and boride- based thin films. The films have been synthesized by dc magnetron sputtering, and their microstructures have been characterized mainly by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy.  One of the main objectives with this research has been to evaluate the thin films potential as materials for sliding electrical contact applications and this have influenced, which properties that have been evaluated. Co-sputtered Nb-C films have a microstructure comprising of nanocrystalline NbCx  (nc-NbCx) grains embedded in a matrix of amorphous C (a-C). A thinner a-C matrix form in the Nb-C films compared to the well-studied Ti-C system. As a consequence, the Nb-C films have a higher hardness and conductivity than previously studied Ti-C sputtered under similar conditions. The promising electrical contact properties are attained for reactively sputtered Nb-C films under industrial conditions, at deposition rates two orders of magnitude higher. A reduction in crystallinity is seen when Si is added to the Nb-C films and amorphous films forms at Si content > 25 at.%. The alloying of Si was however not beneficial for the electrical contact properties. Substoichiometric CrB2-x (B/Cr = 1.5) and NbB2-x (B/Nb = 1.8) films are achieved when deposited from MeB2 targets. Boron segregates to grain boundaries forming a B-rich tissue phase. This result in superhardness for the NbB2-x films (42 ± 4 GPa) as well as a low friction attributed to the formation of a boric acid film. Carbon forms a solid solution in the MeB2 grains as well as segregating to grain boundaries forming an amorphous BCx (a-BCx) phase when alloyed to CrB2-x and NbB2-x films. The formation of the a-BCx phase drastically improves the electrical contact resistance of the NbB2-x films. However, the mechanical properties are degraded, which result in a high friction and wear rate. It was in TEM studies of the metastable amorphous structures for the Nb-Si-C films found that the electron beam induces crystallization. Hence, great care is required when studying these types of metastable structures.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / In this work a survey of the potentialities and limitations of magnetron sputtering as a tool for the production of MgB2 superconductors thin films has been made. Instead of the usual approaches, like co-deposition onto heated substract or room temperature deposition of MgB multilayers for ex situ annealing, the direct deposition of multilayers onto heated substract has been tested. The samples have been deposited onto Si waffers from Mg and B targets. They have been produced by the alternated grown of Mg and B layers, holding the substrate temperatur at 200 and 300 C during the depostion. Pos deposition annealings were performed at temperatures rangingo from 560 up to 800. In order to improve the sticking coefficient of Mg atoms at the substrate, the ayers thicknesses were held under ten monoatomic layers. The composition and structural properties were determined by X-Ray diffraction. The results have shown that, for the used temperatures, the Mg sticking coefficient onto B is just relevant ultil the second or third Mg monoatomic layer is completed. From this point, all Mg atoms impinging the substrate are re-emmitted to the chamber atmospherre. As a consequence, the direct production of MgB2 from the sucessive deposition of B and Mg are not effective, unless the layers thicknesses do not surpass a few tenths of nanometers. / Neste trabalho foram avaliadas as potencialidades e as limitações do "magnetron sputtering" como técnica de deposição de filmes finos de MgB2 supercondutores. No lugar das técnicas tradicionais, como a co-deposição em substrato aquecido ou a deposição de multicamadas para tratamentos térmicos ex-situ, foi testada a rotina de deposição de multicamadas diretamente sobre alvo aquecido, "in situ". As amostras foram depositadas sobre substratos de Si a partir de alvos de Mg e B. Elas foram obtidas pela deposição sucessiva e alternada de camadas de Magnésio e Boro, com temperaturas do substrato (in-situ) de 260oC e 300oC e ex-situ entre 560 e 800oC. Para aumentar a chance de fixação dos átomos de Mg no substrato já durante a deposição, as espessuras das camadas foram mantidas finas, com menos de uma dezena de planos atômicos. A composição e as propriedades estruturais das amostras produzidas foram analisadas a partir de difração de Raios-X. Os resultados obtidos mostram que, na faixa de temperatura usada, o coeficiente de fixação do Mg sobre o B é significativo apenas até que a segunda ou terceira camadas atômicas sejam concluídas. A partir deste ponto, todo o magnésio que atinge o substrato é re-emitido. Como consequência, a obtenção de MgB2 por sputtering na forma de multicamadas não é viável, pelo menos para espessuras maiores que décimos de nanometros.