Thin film
hideThin films are thin material layers ranging from fractions of a nanometre to several micrometres in thickness. Electronic semiconductor devices and optical coatings are the main applications benefiting from thin film construction.
Work is being done with ferromagnetic thin films for use as computer memory. It is also being applied to pharmaceuticals, via thin film drug delivery. Thin-films are used to produce thin-film batteries.
Ceramic thin films are in wide use. The relatively high hardness and inertness of ceramic materials make this type of thin coating of interest for protection of substrate materials against corrosion, oxidation and wear. In particular, the use of such coatings on cutting tools can extend the life of these items by several orders of magnitude.
Research is being done on a new class of thin film inorganic oxide materials, called amorphous heavy-metal cation multicomponent oxide, which could be used to make transparent transistors that are inexpensive, stable, and environmentally benign.
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News tagged with thin films
Scientists gain new understanding of disease-causing bacteria
Nov 30, 2009 |
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A team of scientists from The Forsyth Institute, the University of Connecticut Health Center, the CDC and the Wadsworth Center, have used state-of-the-art technology to elucidate the molecular architecture of Treponema pallidum, ...
Water droplets direct self-assembly process in thin-film materials
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 23, 2009 |
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You can think of it as origami - very high-tech origami. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a technique for fabricating three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon structures from thin films by coupling ...
Sculptured materials allow multiple channel plasmonic sensors
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sensors, communications devices and imaging equipment that use a prism and a special form of light -- a surface plasmon-polariton -- may incorporate multiple channels or redundant applications if manufacturers ...
Infrared Nanotube Films Offer Advantages for Solar Cells and More
Mar 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have already known that carbon nanotube thin films have mechanical and conductive advantages that could make them useful as electrodes in solar cells, solid state lighting, and ...
Using nanoparticles to increase the effiiciency of thin film solar cells
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jun 12, 2009 |
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Germany is one of the leading countries when it comes to efforts related to renewable energy sources. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Institute of Condensed Matter and Solid State Optics at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität ...
Will carbon nanotubes replace indium tin oxide?
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Up until now, George Grüner tells PhysOrg.com, most of the studies regarding the properties - and uses - of carbon nanotubes have been restricted to the visible spectral range. “We, however, were interested in the ...
Stretchable Nanotube Films May Advance Medical Electronics (Update)
May 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the issues hindering the development of medical electronic devices capable of being implanted in the human body is the lack of suitable materials. Most semiconducting materials are ...
Shocking: Environmental chemistry affects ferroelectric film polarity the same way electric voltage does
Feb 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- “Ferroelectric materials are interesting scientifically, and, while they are used for some things now, they are potentially useful for even more applications in the future,” Brian Stephenson tells PhysOrg.com. Stephe ...
Researchers create nanoparticle coating to prevent freezing rain buildup (w/ Video)
Oct 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Preventing the havoc wrought when freezing rain collects on roads, power lines, and aircrafts could be only a few nanometers away. A University of Pittsburgh-led team demonstrates in the Nov. 3 edition of ...
Plastics that convert light to electricity could have a big impact
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Aug 04, 2009 |
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University of Washington researchers have found a way to measure exactly how much electrical current is carried by tiny bubbles and channels that form inside nanoscale solar cells, paving the way for development ...
New organic material may speed Internet access
Mar 15, 2009 |
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The next time an overnight snow begins to fall, take two bricks and place them side by side a few inches apart in your yard.
New nanostructure technology provides advances in eyeglass, solar energy performance
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemical engineers at Oregon State University have invented a new technology to deposit "nanostructure films" on various surfaces, which may first find use as coatings for eyeglasses that ...
Thinnest superconducting metal created
Jun 08, 2009 |
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A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin.
Self-destructing messages: Light-reactive coatings make metal nanoparticles into inks for self-erasing paper
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Aug 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Those who like to watch spy movies like “Mission Impossible” are familiar with the self-destructing messages that inform the secret agents of the details of their mission and then dissolve in a puff of smoke. ...
Controlling the electronic surface properties of a material
Jul 17, 2009 |
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A recent breakthrough by researchers at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute sees for the first time the creation of thin films with controllable electronic properties. This discovery could have a large impact ...
