Dielectric Thin Films Research Articles

Hybrid Fabrication of Prestrain-Locked Acrylic Dielectric Elastomer Thin Films and Multilayer Stacks.

Dielectric elastomers based on commercial acrylic dielectric elastomers (VHB adhesive films) are widely investigated for soft actuators due to their large electrically driven actuation strain and high work density. However, the VHB films require prestretching to overcome electromechanical instability, which adds fabrication complexity. In addition, their high viscoelasticity leads to a low response speed. Interpenetrated polymer networks (IPNs) are developed to lock the prestrain in VHB films, resulting in free-standing films that are capable of large-strain actuation. In this work, a prestrain-locked high-performance dielectric elastomer thin film (VHB-IPN-P) by introducing 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate to create an IPN in the VHB network and a plasticizer to enhance the actuation speed is reported. VHB-IPN-P based actuators exhibit stable actuation at 60% strain up to 10Hz and reach a peak energy density of 102 Jkg⁻1 . In addition, a hybrid process is also developed for the fabrication of multilayer stacks of VHB-IPN-P with strong inter-layer bonding and structural integrity. Four-layer stacks fabricated preserve the strain and energy density of single-layer VHB-IPN-P films but with linearly scaled force and work output.

Accurate measurement of thermal conductivity of micro-quantity liquids by dielectric transient current method

The thermal conductivity of liquids is of a great significant parameter for engineering applications that require the use of liquids to enhance heat transfer. Although a number of experimental methods for measuring thermal conductivity of liquids have been reported, many of these methods have limitations in principle or accuracy for small amounts of liquids, particularly for some nanofluids with low thermal conductivity or high electrical conductivity. This paper presents a novel method for measuring thermal conductivity of micro-quantity liquid based on the modified thermal pulse method. The main principle of the measurement is based on fitting the changing characteristics of the thermal response current of a thin dielectric film thermally coupled to the tested liquid. The paper analyses the factors affecting the measurement range and accuracy of the technique through numerical simulations and experiments. The feasibilities and uncertainties of the proposed technique are discussed in relation to six typical samples including pure water, insulating oil and conductive nanofluids. The experimental results show that the method for testing the thermal conductivity of liquids has the advantages of low measuring time down to 10 ms, low fluid usage down to 60 nL, wide measurement range from 0.01 to 10 W/(m·K), good sample compatibility and high accuracy. It should be noted that the method is highly dependent on the thermal conductivity and thickness of the dielectric film, which limits the measurement range of the method.

Towards low-temperature processing of lead-free BZT thin films for high-temperature energy storage performance

In this work, lead-free BaZr0.35Ti0.65O3 (BZT) thin films were grown on silicon by using pulsed laser deposition. The phase structures of the BZT thin films were controlled via the deposition temperature, and their effects on the breakdown strength and energy-storage performance were systematically investigated. Our results indicate that the BZT thin films deposited at a low temperature of 450 °C have a paraelectric phase and display the highest recoverable energy density of 121.2 J/cm3 and a medium energy efficiency of 88.2%. The ultrahigh energy storage achieved is mainly due to the remarkable improvement in the breakdown strength and the slimmer and slanted polarization hysteresis loop. Moreover, the BZT thin films demonstrate excellent thermal stability across a wide temperature measurement range (25–200 °C) and a superior fatigue endurance of up to 1010 switching cycles even under a high temperature measurement of 200 °C. This work provides a simple and effective way of improving the energy storage properties and stable performance of dielectric thin films for application in harsh environments.

Millisecond flash lamp curing for porosity generation in thin films

Flash lamp annealing (FLA) with millisecond pulse durations is reported as a novel curing method for pore precursor's degradation in thin films. A case study on the curing of dielectric thin films is presented. FLA-cured films are being investigated by means of positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in order to quantify the nm-scale porosity and post-treatment chemistry, respectively. Results from positron annihilation reveal the onset of the formation of porous voids inside the samples at 6 ms flash treatment time. Moreover, parameter's adjustment (flash duration and energy density) allows for identifying the optimum conditions of effective curing. Within such a systematic investigation, positron results indicate that FLA is able to decompose the porogen (pore precursors) and to generate interconnected (open porosity) or isolated pore networks with self-sealed pores in a controllable way. Furthermore, FTIR results demonstrate the structural evolution after FLA, that help for setting the optimal annealing conditions whereby only a residual amount of porogen remains and at the same time a well-densified matrix, and a hydrophobic porous structures are created. Raman spectroscopy suggests that the curing-induced self-sealing layer developed at the film surface is a graphene oxide-like layer, which could serve as the outside sealing of the pore network from intrusions.

High Chern number in strained thin films of dilute magnetic topological insulators

The quantum anomalous Hall effect was first observed experimentally by doping the ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Se}}_{3}$ materials family with chromium, where 5% doping induces an exchange field of around 0.1 eV. In ultrathin films, a topological phase transition from a normal insulator to a Chern insulator can be induced with an exchange field proportional to the hybridization gap. Subsequent transitions to states with higher Chern numbers require an exchange field larger than the (bulk) band gap, but are prohibited in practice by the detrimental effects of higher doping levels. Here, we show that threshold doping for these phase transitions in thin films is controllable by strain. As a consequence, higher Chern states can be reached with experimentally feasible doping, sufficiently dilute for the topological insulator to remain structurally stable. Such a facilitated realization of higher Chern insulators opens prospects for multichannel quantum computing, higher-capacity circuit interconnects, and energy-efficient electronic devices at elevated temperatures.

Exploration of Breakdown Strength Decrease and Mitigation of Ultrathin Polypropylene.

Polypropylene film is the most important organic dielectric in capacitor technology; however, applications such as power electronic devices require more miniaturized capacitors and thinner dielectric films. The commercial biaxially oriented polypropylene film is losing the advantage of its high breakdown strength as it becomes thinner. This work carefully studies the breakdown strength of the film between 1 and 5 microns. The breakdown strength drops rapidly and hardly ensures that the capacitor reaches a volumetric energy density of 2 J/cm3. Differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray, and SEM analyses showed that this phenomenon has nothing to do with the crystallographic orientation and crystallinity of the film but is closely related to the non-uniform fibers and many voids produced by overstretching the film. Measures must be taken to avoid their premature breakdown due to high local electric fields. An improvement below 5 microns will maintain a high energy density and the important application of polypropylene films in capacitors. Without destroying the physical properties of commercial films, this work employs the ALD oxide coating scheme to augment the dielectric strength of a BOPP in the thickness range below 5 μm, especially its high temperature performance. Therefore, the problem of the reduction in dielectric strength and energy density caused by BOPP thinning can be alleviated.

Thermal transport in multiple Majorana edge states of hybrid topological superconductor junctions

The hybrid topological superconductor (TSC) with multiple Majorana edge states can be formed in a system where a magnetic topological insulator (MTI) thin film is coupled with two s-wave superconductors in proximity. The band structure and thermal transport properties of the hybrid TSC hosting chiral and helical Majorana edge states are investigated. By using the nonequilibrium Green’s function method combined with the Landauer–Büttiker formula, the scattering coefficients (i.e., the normal tunneling T, the local Andreev reflection TLAR, the crossed Andreev reflection TCAR) and two-terminal electric thermal conductance κe are calculated. With the change of the exchange field Mz, the system goes through a series of topological phase transitions. The chiral Majorana edge states, the helical Majorana edge states and the multiple Majorana edge states possessing both chiral and helical edge modes are induced at the boundary of TSC. At the boundary of the central TSC, a single Majorana fermion edge state is equivalent to half an ordinary fermion to carry heat, leading to the generation of a half-integer quantized thermal conductance plateau. Thus, half-integer (i.e., 1/2, 3/2) and integer (i.e., 1, 2) quantized thermal conductance plateaus appear in different topological phases. These quantized plateaus that survive well over a certain range of temperatures can be used experimentally to detect chiral and helical Majorana fermions.

High‐Performance Graphene‐Dielectric Interface by UV‐Assisted Atomic Layer Deposition for Graphene Field Effect Transistor

AbstractThe deposition of high‐quality dielectric films on graphene surfaces is crucial in fabricating high‐performance graphene‐based electronics. In this study, the first application of UV‐assisted atomic layer deposition (UV‐ALD) to graphene surfaces and the fabrication of graphene field‐effect transistors (GFETs) with UV‐ALD Al2O3 dielectric thin films is demonstrated. Optimal UV irradiation (5 s per cycle) during the ALD process results in denser and smoother Al2O3 dielectric films deposited on the graphene surface with the intimate graphene‐dielectric interface, while excessive UV irradiation in turn prohibits the film nucleation. As a result, the GFETs with a high‐quality dielectric layer deposited by UV‐ALD show improved performance with a Dirac voltage close to 0 V and hole mobility of 1221 cm2 V−1 s−1, i.e., > 200% increase compared to those with thermal ALD. This study demonstrates that UV‐ALD is an effective and simple option to realize a high‐quality interface between 2D materials and ultra‐thin dielectric films.

Evolution of High Dielectric Permittivity in Low-Temperature Solution Combustion-Processed Phase-Pure High Entropy Oxide (CoMnNiFeCr)O for Thin Film Transistors

An investigation of dielectric permittivity on the sintered high entropy oxide (HEO) capacitor composed of Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Ni (i.e., (CoCrFeMnNi)O) developed using solution combustion synthesis is performed. Stabilization of the phase in HEO is extremely important as it has a direct influence on the properties. In order to explore phase stabilization, in-depth studies of thermal, structural, morphological, and compositional analyses are carried out. The optimized processing parameters are further implemented on depositing (CoCrFeMnNi)O dielectric thin films followed by a thin film transistor. Irrespective of the reaction medium, the precursors undergo combustion at a low temperature below 250 °C, resulting in amorphous HEO. Upon crystallization at 500 °C, no secondary impurity oxides were detected and phase-stabilized to a spinel structure (Fd3m). A homogeneous distribution of all five cations without any segregation and a completely disordered occupancy of the cations were displayed by the bulk and thin films of HEOs. The spinel (CoCrFeMnNi)O exhibited high permittivity, with values approximately 7.3 × 102 (in bulk) and 3 × 101 (in a thin film), measured at 1 kHz owing to the entropy stabilization effect of HEO. Due to their high permittivity and low leakage current density (∼10–8 A/cm2), the (CoMnNiFeCr)O thin film was integrated into thin film transistors (TFTs) with molybdenum disulfide-channel. TFTs showed a field effect mobility of 8.8 cm2 V–1 s–1, an on–off ratio of approximately 105, a threshold voltage of −1.5 V, and a subthreshold swing of 0.38 V/dec. The low voltage operation (<5 V) of these TFTs makes solution combustion-derived HEO (CoMnNiFeCr)O a potential candidate in microelectronics and optoelectronics applications.

Floquet engineering of magnetism in topological insulator thin films

Dynamic manipulation of magnetism in topological materials is demonstrated here via a Floquet engineering approach using circularly polarized light. Increasing the strength of the laser field, besides the expected topological phase transition (PT), the magnetically doped topological insulator thin film also undergoes a magnetic PT from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism, whose critical behavior strongly depends on the quantum quenching. In sharp contrast to the equilibrium case, the non-equilibrium Curie temperatures vary for different time scale and experimental setup, not all relying on change of topology. Our discoveries deepen the understanding of the relationship between topology and magnetism in the non-equilibrium regime and extend optoelectronic device applications to topological materials.

Highly efficient color-control technique for building-integrated photovoltaics using optical dielectric thin film

A color-control technique based on optical thin films on glass is investigated by means of numerical simulation and experiment, with a particular focus on building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications. We show that white-colored BIPV modules can be realized with a minimum optical loss by applying optical thin films that have multiple reflection peaks in a complementary color relationship, like the emission spectrum of white LEDs. The angular dependence of hue, which is an inherent drawback of optical thin film systems, is suppressed by modifying the design of the film to maintain the complementary color relationship of multiple reflection peaks. The simulated thin film design is confirmed by an experiment with a silicon solar cell, resulting in a white color and a low short-circuit current density loss (ΔJ SC) of 5.9%. These results indicate that our approach is a promising way to realize fascinating colors and a high energy yield simultaneously in BIPV modules.

Evolution of Dopant-Concentration-Induced Magnetic Exchange Interaction in Topological Insulator Thin Films

To date, the quantum anomalous Hall effect has been realized in chromium (Cr)- and/or vanadium(V)-doped topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2Te3 thin films. In this work, we use molecular beam epitaxy to synthesize both V- and Cr-doped Bi2Te3 thin films with controlled dopant concentration. By performing magneto-transport measurements, we find that both systems show an unusual yet similar ferromagnetic response with respect to magnetic dopant concentration; specifically the Curie temperature does not increase monotonically but shows a local maximum at a critical dopant concentration. We attribute this unusual ferromagnetic response observed in Cr/V-doped Bi2Te3 thin films to the dopant-concentration-induced magnetic exchange interaction, which displays evolution from van Vleck-type ferromagnetism in a nontrivial magnetic topological insulator to Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY)-type ferromagnetism in a trivial diluted magnetic semiconductor. Our work provides insights into the ferromagnetic properties of magnetically doped topological insulator thin films and facilitates the pursuit of high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect.

Quantum Oscillations of Interlayer Conductivity in a Multilayer Topological Insulator

Quantum and difference oscillations of interlayer conductivity in a multilayer system of thin films of topological insulators (TIs) are investigated. Due to the linearity of the carrier spectrum in such a system, new features of quantum oscillations arise. In particular, the frequencies of de Haas–van Alfvén and Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations depend quadratically on the chemical potential, rather than linearly as in systems with parabolic carrier spectrum. For the same reason, the temperature damping factor of oscillations contains the chemical potential. This is due to the nonequidistant character of the Landau levels: the higher the chemical potential, the smaller the distance between Landau levels. However, the beat frequencies, as well as the frequencies of slow oscillations, do not depend on the chemical potential; in this sense, the behavior of these systems is similar to that of conventional non-Dirac systems. Finally, in the Born approximation (in the second order cross-diagram technique), we considered the general case when the interlayer conductivity takes into account both intra- and interband transitions. We have shown that the contribution of intraband transitions is insignificant for the conductivity oscillations in the absence of magnetic impurities. However, in the presence of a Dirac point in the spectrum, a linear (in magnetic field) intraband contribution to conductivity arises from the zero Landau level. At low temperatures, this contribution is exponentially small compared to the intraband contribution and vanishes at zero temperature.

Green Reflector with Predicted Chromatic Coordinates

The color reflector with multiple-layer thin film scheme has attracted much attention because of the potential for massive production by wafer-scale deposition and the possibility to integrate with photonics (semiconductor) devices. Here, an angle-insensitive green reflector with a simple multilayer dielectric thin film structure was reported, with predicted chromatic coordinates based on CIE 1931 standard. The SiN/SiO2 multilayer thin film stack, including a special silicon-rich nitride material with ultrahigh refractive index, was grown alternatively by an inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICPCVD) system at a low stage temperature of 80 °C. The green reflector showed a maximum reflectivity of 73% around 561 nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 87 nm in the visible wavelength range, which contributed significantly to its color appearance. The measurement by an angle-resolved spectrometer under the illumination of p/s-polarized light wave with a variable angle of incidence indicated that the reflectance spectrum blue-shifted slightly with the increasing of incident angle such that the green color could be kept.

Side-surface-mediated hybridization in axion insulators

The axion insulator is believed to host half-quantized chiral currents running antiparallelly on its top and bottom surfaces. However, the experimental detection of the half quantization in axion insulators remains elusive. In this paper, we propose a mechanism to explain why the half quantization is hard to be probed by showing that the half-quantized counterpropagating currents in axion insulator thin films are strongly suppressed due to the hybridization mediated by the massless side-surface states. This side-surface-mediated hybridization leads to a different type of finite-size effect, which features a power-law decay with the increasing film thickness, different from the exponential decay in topological insulators. Moreover, we show that the half quantization can be extracted in the axion insulator phase by adopting the nonlocal transport measurement.

Optical characteristics of a monolayer of identical spherical particles in an absorbing host medium.

The problem of light interaction with a 2D ensemble of homogeneous spherical particles embedded into an unbounded homogeneous absorbing host medium is considered. Based on the statistical approach, the equations are derived to characterize optical response of such a system with taking into account multiple scattering of light. Numerical data are presented for the spectral behavior of coherent transmission and reflection, incoherent scattering, and absorption coefficients of thin dielectric, semiconductor, and metal films containing a monolayer of particles with various spatial organization. The results are compared with the characteristics of the inverse structure: particles consist of the host medium material and vice versa. Data for the redshift of the surface plasmon resonance of the monolayer of gold (Au) nanoparticles in the fullerene (C 60) matrix are presented as a function of the monolayer filling factor. They are in qualitative agreement with the known experimental results. The findings have potential applications in the development of new electro-optical and photonic devices.

Formation controllable two-dimensional surface optical lattices

The evanescent light field created by total internal reflection at a dielectric-vacuum interface has tight spatial confinement and high local intensity. These properties become more robust when a dual layer of dielectric thin films with different thicknesses is deposited on a planar dielectric surface. Optical construction is promising in nanoscale trapping of absorbed atoms congregating at extreme light field intensity distribution regions on the dielectric surface. Here, we theoretically demonstrate the controllable two-dimensional surface optical lattices based on the evanescent electric field generated by the Hermite-Gaussian light beam. By considering the coupling of lattice to quadrupole-active atomic transitions, we show that the topologies cannot just have high stability, but also the optical potential deep, and thus the dynamic trapping can be governed by changing the design parameters of the optical construction. We expect that this study may contribute to providing another unique method for fabricating spatially complicated two-dimensional nanostructures.

Strained topological insulator spin field effect transistor

The notion of a spin field effect transistor, where transistor action is realized by manipulating the spin degree of freedom of charge carriers instead of the charge degree of freedom, has captivated researchers for at least three decades. These transistors are typically implemented by modulating the spin orbit interaction in the transistor’s channel with a gate voltage, which causes gate-controlled spin precession of the current carriers, and that modulates the channel current flowing between the ferromagnetic source and drain contacts to implement transistor action. Here, we introduce a new concept for a spin field effect transistor which does not exploit spin-orbit interaction. Its channel is made of the conducting surface of a strained three dimensional topological insulator (3D-TI) thin film and the transistor function is elicited by straining the channel region with a gate voltage (using a piezoelectric under-layer) to modify the energy dispersion relation, or the Dirac velocity, of the TI surface states. This rotates the spins of the carriers in the channel and that modulates the current flowing between the ferromagnetic source and drain contacts to realize transistor action. We call it a strained-topological-insulator-spin-field-effect-transistor, or STI-SPINFET. Its conductance on/off ratio is too poor to make it useful as a switch, but it may have other uses, such as an extremely energy-efficient stand-alone single-transistor frequency multiplier.

Optimizing Photonic Annealing Technique for High-k Dielectric of Full-Solution-Processed Oxide Thin Film Transistor

In this article, it is demonstrated that the photonic annealing process of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation or rapid thermal annealing (RTA)-assisted LA technique can effectively enhance the bias and illumination stability of full-solution-processed oxide thin film transistor (TFT). Although both post-annealing treatments have comparable effects, UV irradiation has relatively less heat loss and time consumption of only 3 min, compared to the RTA process that heats at a temperature of 400 °C and holds 10 min. Depending on the laser annealing (LA)/UV technique, the amorphous hafnium-aluminum oxide (HAO) dielectric thin film exhibits a smooth surface with an rms value of 0.293 nm, a high optical bandgap of 6.19 eV, and good dielectric performance with high dielectric constants of 12.9, low leakage current densities, and high breakdown field of about 4 MV/cm. Moreover, full-solution-processed indium-tin-oxide (ITO)–HAO–tungsten-zinc-tin-oxide (WZTO) TFT shows excellent overall properties with the mobility ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) of 10.65 cm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{{2}}\cdot \text{V}^{-{1}}\cdot \text{s}^{-{1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , subthreshold swing (SS) of 198 mV/dec. And the device has good bias and illumination stability, especially the threshold voltage ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) shifts are all less than 3 V under positive bias illumination stress (PBIS) and negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) testing for 10000 s. These indicate the potential for the photonic annealing process of the UV-assisted LA technique on improving the stability of the full-solution-processed TFTs, which is attributed to high-throughput fabrication for large-area, transparent, and flexible electronics.

Insertion of Ga-MoO3 thin film at Cu/p-Si interface for the fabrication of MIS structure Schottky barrier diodes

The fabrication of a metal-insulator-semiconductor diode with a pure MoO3 and different weight % of Ga-MoO3 (5, 10, and 15 wt%) thin film insulator layer grown by JNSP techniques. The obtained films were characterized for structural analysis by XRD exposing multiphase of orthorhombic and monoclinic with 10 wt% of Ga-based film with higher crystallite size. FE-SEM images display plate-like structures. UV absorption measurements recorded a band gap of 3.15 eV for 10 wt% Ga doped film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) investigates is described by the utmost oxidation state. The DC electrical conductivity of the films increased for higher wt% of Ga up to 10 wt%. The I-V characteristic curve of the Cu/Ga-MoO3/p-Si diode parameters n, ФB, PS, R, QE, and D* shows that, current flows predominantly across the interfaces as a result of carrier missioning. In addition, we observed significantly high photocurrent performance from the Cu/Ga-MoO3/p-Si diode under visible light illumination.