Ca3−xSrxCo4O9 with different compositions (x=0, 0.15, 0.3, and 0.45) were synthesized from stoichiometric mixtures of Co3O4, CaCO3, and SrCO3, and their unit-cell parameters were determined. The powders were mixed with silicon standard powder, and XRD patterns were collected and analyzed using TOPAS. The compounds were determined to be monoclinic with space group of P2. Unit-cell parameters changed from a=4.8329(3) Å, b=4.5727(1) Å, c=10.8360(4) Å, and β=98.093(7)° when x=0, to a=4.8432(1) Å, b=4.6100(3) Å, c=10.8668(3) Å, and β=98.110(5)° when x=0.3. An unidentified second phase was observed when x=0.45.

Ferromagnetic Cu-doped GaN film was grown on a GaN-buffered sapphire (0001) substrate by a hybrid physical-chemical-vapor-deposition method (HPCVD). The GaCuN film (Cu: 3.6 at.%) has a highly c-axis-oriented hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, which is similar to GaN buffer but without any secondary phases such as metallic Cu, CuxNy, and CuxGay compounds. Two weak near-band edge (NBE) emissions at 3.38 eV and donor-acceptor-pair (DAP) transition at 3.2 eV with a typical strong broad yellow emission were observed in photoluminescence spectra for GaN buffer. In contrast, the yellow emission was completely quenched in GaCuN film because Ga vacancies causing the observed yellow emission in undoped GaN were substituted by Cu atoms. In addition, GaCuN film exhibits a blue shift of NBE emission, which could be explained with the +2 oxidation state of Cu ions, replacing +3 Ga ions resulting in band gap increment. The valance sate of Cu in GaCuN film was also confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The GaCuN film shows ferromagnetic ordering and possesses a residual magnetization of 0.12 emu/cm3 and a coercive field of 264 Oe at room temperature. The unpaired spins in Cu2+ ions (d9) are most likely to be responsible for the observed ferromagnetism in GaCuN.

TbMnO3 exists in an orthorhombic phase in nature. Recently, we successfully grew TbMnO3 thin films in the hexagonal phase using epitaxial stabilization techniques. In this article, we will show the details of the deposition conditions that allow us to fabricate the hexagonal TbMnO3 films on Pt–Al2O3(0001) substrates. The artificial hexagonal phase can be easily formed above 850 °C, irrespective of the oxygen partial pressure. The hexagonal TbMnO3 films showed ferroelectric properties, which are significantly enhanced compared to those of the orthorhombic TbMnO3 bulk phase. We find interesting anomalies in the magnetic and magnetodielectric properties of the TbMnO3 films at around 45 K, which should be related with the Mn3+ spin reorientation. We also find spin-glass-like behaviors in the magnetic susceptibility, which could be attributed to the geometric frustration of antiferromagnetically coupled Mn spins with an edge-sharing triangular lattice. This work shows details of the growth and properties of hexagonal TbMnO3 films.

Reducing interline capacitance and line resistance is required to minimize RC delays, reduce power consumption and crosstalk below 100nm node technology. For this purpose, various inorganic- and organic polymers have been tested to reduce dielectric constants in parallel with the use of copper as metal line. Lowering the dielectric constants, in particular, causes the detrimental effect on mechanical properties, and then leads to film damage and/or delamination during chemical-mechanical planarization CMP) or repeated thermal cure cycles. To overcome this issue, new carbon-bridged hybrid materials synthesized by organometallic silane precursors and sol-gel reaction are proposed.

In this work, we have developed new organic-inorganic hybrid low-k dielectrics with linear or cyclic carbon bridged structures. The differently bridged carbon structures were formed by a controlled reaction. 1H NMR, 29Si NMR analysis and GC/MSD analysis were conducted for the structural characterization of new hybrid low-k dielectric. The mechanical and dielectric properties of these hybrid materials were characterized by using nanoindentation with continuous stiffness measurement and Al dot MIS techniques. The results indicated that these organic-inorganic hybrid materials were very promising polymers for low-k dielectrics that had low dielectric constants with high thermal and mechanical properties. It has been also demonstrated that electrical and mechanical properties of the hybrid films could be tailored by copolymerization with PMSSQ and through the introduction of porogen.

Spin-on Low-K materials are potentially very attractive as interconnectionmaterials in a wide range of semiconductor structures. In this work, neworganic-inorganic hybrid materials synthesized by vinylsilane polymerizationwere proposed. According to compositions and additional fabrications,dielectric constants of these materials were evaluated to be 2.3∼3.1. Thehardness was 2.0GPa after 430°C curing. These materials had good adhesionstrength such that fracture toughness on silicon wafer was 0.22 MPam0.5 without any adhesion promoters. This result indicatesthat these organicinorganic hybrid materials are very promising candidatesfor low-K dielectrics.

Polycrystalline ZnO thin films were deposited on SiO2/Si(100) substrate using RF magnetron sputtering. The film deposition performed in this work was composed of following two procedures; the 1st-deposition for 30 min without oxygen at 100 W and the 2nd-deposition with oxygen in the range O2/(Ar+O2) = 10∼50 %. Deposited ZnO films revealed a strongly c-axis preferred-orientation (the corresponding texture coefficient ∼ 100 %) as well as a high resistivity (> 107 Ωcm). It was also observed that the crystallite size of ZnO was noticeably increased by thermal-annealing.

A new host-guest electro optic (EO) polymer, in which a chromophore can be reacted with the polymer main chain during poling to give the corresponding side-chain EO polymer, has been prepared for improving EO effect and its thermal stability. Polyisoimide (PII) synthesized from 2, 2-bis (4-aminophenyl) hexafluoropropane and oxydiphthalic anhydride and Disperse Red 1 (DR1) were used as a host and a guest, respectively. A model compound reaction and Infrared spectra of the host-guest film after annealing at various temperatures show that the reaction between the isoimide groups in PII and the hydroxyl groups in DR1 occurs around 140 °C. The glass transition temperatures of the resulting EO polyamic aicd ester-imide copolymer with 0, 10, 20 and 30 wt. % of chromophore concentration were 275, 219, 160, and 124 °C, respectively. The EO coefficient obtained at a wavelength of 1.55 νm was 5.3 and 10.5 pm/V from the EO polymer film with 20 and 30 wt. % DR1. The EO signals exhibited only a slight decay at high temperature due to the chemical reaction between the host and guest during poling.

Strip-shaped diamond-tip field emitter array was fabricated by using the transfer mold technique. The sharp turn-on characteristic was observed from the current-voltage measurement of the fabricated diamond-tip field emitter array. The turn-on characteristic of the diamond-tip field emitter array was compared with that of a flat diamond film. High emission current density was obtained from the diamond-tip field emitter array. The threshold voltage of the diamond-tip field emitter array was lower than that of a flat diamond film.

We have studied the structural properties of hydrogenated carbon films deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The substrate holder in reaction chamber could be biased and be heated. The Raman peak intensity at 1350 cm−1 was increased by reducing CH4 flow rate. The film structure changed from soft a-C:H to hard carbon with decreasing CH4 flow rate, resulted from increased self-bias. The 1520 cm−1 peak shifts to higher frequency by reducing the CH4flow rate, probably resulted from the increased internal stress.

We have studied the depositions of amorphous silicon, silicon carbon alloy, doped microcrystalline silicon in order to apply these films as the component materials for the p-i-n and double stacked solar cells. We have obtained low band gap a-Si:H by decreasing the deposition rate under the proper preparation conditions and highly conductive, thin microcrystalline Si and SiC layers. We have developed a stable a-Si/a-Si double stacked solar cell with a conversion efficiency of ∼ % using narrow band gap a-Si:H as a i-layer of bottom cell.The performance of this cell does not degrade until 100 hrs illumination under 350 mW/cm2.