Related papers: Binary separation in very thin nematic films: thic…
Thickness uniformity is regarded as an important parameter in designing thin film devices. However, some applications based on films with non-uniform thickness have recently emerged, such as gas sensors and optimized materials based on the…
The structural evolution of epitaxial mono-oriented (i.e. with the c-axis perpendicular to the interface) ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2,Ti0.8)O3 thin film has been investigated, using high resolution, temperature dependent, X-ray diffraction. The…
The nucleation mechanisms during solution deposition of organic semiconductor thin films determine the grain morphology and may influence the crystalline packing in some cases. Here, in-situ optical spectromicroscopy in reflection mode is…
Nanocrystalline superconducting films offer an excellent platform to explore the interplay between disorder, granularity, and dimensionality. In this work, we investigate two series of NbxSn thin films with near-stoichiometric (x =3) and…
First principles molecular dynamics simulations reveal a liquid-liquid phase transition in supercooled elemental silicon. Two phases coexist below $T_c\approx 1232K$. The low density phase is nearly tetra-coordinated, with a pseudogap at…
We study the properties of a thin film of topological insulator material. We treat the coupling between helical states at opposite surfaces of the film in the properly-adapted tunneling approximation, and show that the tunneling matrix…
NbN films are grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The structural and superconducting properties of the film are characterized to demonstrate that growth parameters such as substrate temperature and active…
We present a new route for the fabrication of ultrathin (~1 nm) carbon films and membranes, whose electrical behavior can be tuned from insulating to conducting. Self-assembled monolayers of biphenyls are cross-linked by electrons, detached…
Domain phases in ultrathin Fe/Ni/W(110) films with perpendicular anisotropy have been studied using the ac magnetic susceptibility. Dynamics on time scales of minutes to hours were probed by quenching the system from high temperature to the…
The spatial distribution of the differential conductance for ultrathin Pb films grown on Si(111)7x7 substrate is studied by means of low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The formation of the quantum--confined…
Heat transfer is a critical aspect of modern electronics, and a deeper understanding of the underlying physics is essential for building faster, smaller, and more powerful devices with an improved performance and efficiency. In such…
High-resolution ac-calorimetry has been carried out on dispersions of aerosils in the liquid crystal octyloxycyanobiphenyl (8OCB) as a function of aerosil concentration and temperature spanning the crystal to isotropic phases. The…
a-Nb(x)Si(1-x) thin films with thicknesses down to 25 {\AA} have been structurally characterized by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) measurements. As-deposited or annealed films are shown to be continuous and homogeneous in…
The expression of temperature distribution along a film thickness is derived and distribution of temperature in the film as the substrate is heated is shown. The variation of film resistance with different substrate temperature is…
Building usefully coherent superconducting quantum processors depends on reducing losses in their constituent materials. Tantalum, like niobium, has proven utility as the primary superconducting layer within highly coherent qubits. But,…
Experimental and theoretical studies of a smectic-hexatic transition in freely suspended films of 54COOBC compound are presented. X-ray investigations revealed a discontinuous first-order transition into the hexatic phase. Moreover, the…
The thermodynamics of phase transitions of binary solutions into spatially inhomogeneous one-dimensional states is studied theoretically with taking into account nonlinear effects. It is shown that below the spinodal decomposition…
Room temperature coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in a thin film of a novel material of nominal composition PbTi0.5Fe0.5O3-d is probed by standard ferroelectric and ferromagnetic hysteresis loop measurements and by…
Thin films of VO$_2$ on different substrates, Al$_2$O$_3$ and SiO$_2$/Si, have been prepared and characterized from room temperature up to 360 K. From the band structure in the rutile metallic phase and in the monoclinic insulating phase…
In spite of being highly relevant for the development of a new generation of information storage devices, not many single-phase materials displaying magnetic and ferroelectric orders above room temperature are known. Moreover, these…