Related papers: Thin films of the alpha-quartz SixGe1-xO2 solid-so…

Piezoelectric quartz SiO2 crystals are widely used in industry as oscillators. As a natural mineral, quartz and its relevant silicates are also of interest of geoscience and mineralogy. However, the nucleation and growth of quartz crystals…

Ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors, such as GeO$_2$, are gaining significant attention for their potential in high-performance applications, particularly in piezoelectric devices. Despite extensive research, a comprehensive…

For the past two decades piezo MEMS technology are emerging for its low power consumption of ultrasonic sensing and actuation devices for biomedical applications. Still researchers are facing challenges in miniaturization of piezo-MEMS…

Among the wide bandgap semiconductors, TiO$_{2}$ is the highly stable and cost-efficient semiconductor used for the different photocatalysis processes like water splitting, chemical waste degradation, anti-micro bacterial activities, and…

(Ba0.6Sr0.4)(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 thin films were grown on IrO2 and Pt coated Si substrates. Film on Pt electrode showed large dielectric dispersion at lower frequency and on other hand film on IrO2 showed dielectric constant almost independent…

Very recently there was a report of the discovery using piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) of a switchable ferroelectric polarization in 1.6 % tensile strained TiO2 thin film with anatase crystal structure (see N. Deepak et al. Adv.…

To obtain crystalline thin films of alpha-Quartz represents a challenge due to the tendency for the material towards spherulitic growth. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that give rise to spherulitic growth can help regulate the growth…

Multifunctionality as a paradigm requires materials exhibiting multiple superior properties. Integrating second-order optical nonlinearity and large bandgap with piezoelectricity could, for example, enable broadband, strain-tunable…

We explore the U-Ge phase diagram using thin film growth by co-deposition of U and Ge via d.c. magnetron sputtering. Using three different single crystal substrates - MgO, CaF$_2$ and SrTiO$_3$ - we have stabilised mixed phase films of…

Superconducting films of alpha-Ta are promising candidates for the fabrication of advanced superconducting qubits. However, alpha-Ta films suffer from many growth-induced structural inadequacies that negatively affect their performance. We…

Co2FeAl (CFA) thin films with thickness varying from 10 nm to 115 nm have been deposited on MgO(001) substrates by magnetron sputtering and then capped by Ta or Cr layer. X-rays diffraction (XRD) revealed that the cubic $[001]$ CFA axis is…

Thin films of Co-TiO2 are deposited on silicon and quartz substrates using Pulse Laser Deposition (PLD) process at various oxygen partial pressures ranging from 6.6 x 10-3 Pascals (Pa) to 53 Pa. Crystal structure, transport and magnetic…

Large-area deposition of Aluminium-Scandium-Nitride (Al1-xScxN) thin films with higher Sc content (x) remains challenging due to issues such as abnormal orientation growth, stress control, and the undesired crystal phase. These anomalies…

A very large thermoelectric figure of merit ZT = 6 at 380 K has recently been reported in Fe$_2$V$_{0.8}$W$_{0.2}$Al under thin-film form (Hinterleitner et al., Nature 576 (2019) 85). Under this form, Fe$_2$V$_{0.8}$W$_{0.2}$Al…

We investigate domain formation and local morphology of thin films of $\alpha$-sexithiophene ($\alpha$-6T) on Au(100) beyond monolayer coverage by combining high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments with electronic…

We report the growth, structural and magnetic properties of the less studied Eu-oxide phase, Eu$_3$O$_4$, thin films grown on a Si/SiO$_2$ substrate and Si/SiO$_2$/graphene using molecular beam epitaxy. The X-ray diffraction scans show that…

Hafnium oxide (HfO2), particularly at low-dimensional scales, exhibits extensive promising applications in ultrahigh density devices like low-power logic and non-volatile memory devices due to its compatibility with current semiconductor…

Due to its far-reaching applications in geophysics and materials science, quartz has been one of the most extensively examined materials under dynamic compression. Despite 50 years of active research, questions remain concerning the…

Thin films of cerium dioxide (CeO2) were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 250 {\deg}C on both Si and TiN substrates. The ALD growth produces CeO2 films with polycrystalline cubic phase on both substrates. However, the films…

Recent works have shown that the domain walls of room-temperature multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films can display distinct and promising functionalities. It is thus important to understand the mechanisms underlying domain formation in…