Related papers: Thin films with precisely engineered nanostructure…
The orientation of the lamellae formed by the phase separation of symmetric diblock copolymer thin films is strongly affected by the wetting properties of the polymer blocks with respect to the substrate. On bare silicon wafers the lamellae…
We report the successful fabrication of superconducting tantalum nitride (TaN) thin films using a pulsed laser deposition technique with 1064 nm radiation. Films with thickness $ \sim $ 100 nm deposited on MgO (100) single crystals and on…
Nanoscale polymeric thin films are widely used in diverse applications such as energy devices, flexible electronics and biosensors, where a satisfactory mechanical performance is of vital importance to realize their full functionality. It…
Nanocrystalline metals and ceramics with <100 nm grain sizes and superior properties (e.g., mechanical strength, hardness, fracture toughness and stored dielectric energy) are of great interest. Much has been discussed about achieving nano…
We present an efficient and general method to identify promising candidate configurations for thin-film oxides and to determine structural characteristics of (metastable) thin-film structures using ab initio calculations. At the heart of…
Molecular spins are a versatile platform for quantum sensing. Not only are the spin-bearing molecules themselves widely tunable, they are also capable of being used as sensors as crystals, films and in solution. Using thin-films offers the…
We report on the structural and superconducting properties of nanocrystalline tungsten thin films growth by sputtering at room temperature with an N2:Ar mixture (N2 from 3% to 50%). The crystalline phases were identified by comparing…
Grain size engineering, particularly reducing grain size into the nanocrystalline regime, offers a promising pathway to further improve the strength-to-weight ratio of Al alloys. Unfortunately, the fabrication of nanocrystalline metals…
Thermally conductive polymers are of fundamental interest and can also be exploited in thermal management applications. Recent studies have shown stretched polymers can achieve high thermal conductivity. However, the transport mechanisms of…
Understanding the grain morphology, orientation distribution, and crystal structure of nanocrystals is essential for optimizing the mechanical and physical properties of functional materials. Synchrotron X-ray Laue microdiffraction is a…
The axial next-nearest neighbour Ising (ANNNI) model is studied for thin films of up to $L= 10$ layers, with a distinct phase diagram for each film thickness. The systematics of the ordered phases, as obtained from mean-field theory, Monte…
The structure and chemistry of grain boundaries (GBs) are crucial in determining polycrystalline materials' properties. Faceting and solute segregation to minimize the GB energy is a commonly observed phenomenon. In this paper, a deposition…
Crystalline films offer various physical properties based on the modulation of their thicknesses and atomic structures. The layer-by-layer assembly of atomically thin crystals provides powerful means to arbitrarily design films at the…
Miniaturizing nonlinear optical components is essential for integrating advanced light manipulation into compact photonic devices, enabling scalable and cost-effective applications. While monocrystalline lithium niobate thin films advance…
Thin films of MgB2 superconductor were prepared by three different procedures on sapphire and silicon substrates. Boron thin films, ex-situ annealed in magnesium vapour, resulted in textured polycrystalline films with crystal dimensions…
Periodic assemblies of nanoparticles are central to surface patterning, with applications in biosensing, energy conversion, and nanofabrication. Evaporation of colloidal droplets on substrates provides a simple yet effective route to…
The recent emergence of topological insulators (TI) has spurred intensive efforts to grow TI thin films on various substrates. However, little is known about how robust the topological surface states (TSS) are against disorders and other…
The rapid progress in 2D material research has triggered the growth of various quantum nanostructures-nanosheets, nanowires, nanoribbons, nanocrystals and the exotic nature originating through 2D heterostructures has extended the synthesis…
MX monopnictide compounds (M=Nb,Ta, X = As,P) are prototypical three-dimensional Weyl semimetals (WSMs) that have been shown in bulk single crystal form to have potential for a wide variety of novel devices due to topologically protected…
This thesis is focused on numerical simulations of the laser interaction with porous materials. A possibility of well-controlled processing is particularly important for the laser based micro-structuring of porous glass and nano-machining…