National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a consecrated biomaterial for bone reconstruction. In the form of thin films deposited by pulsed laser technologies, it can be used to cover metallic implants aiming to increase biocompatibility and osseointegration rate. HA of animal origin (bovine, BHA) reinforced with MgF2 (2 wt.%) or MgO (5 wt.%) were used for deposition of thin coatings with improved adherence, biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity. For pulsed laser deposition experiments, a KrF* (lambda = 248 nm, T-EWHM <= 25 ns) excimer laser source was used. The deposited structures were characterized from a physical-chemical point of view by X-Ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy in top- and cross-view modes, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy and Pull-out adherence tests. The microbiological assay using the HEp-2 cell line revealed that all target materials and deposited thin films are non-cytotoxic. We conducted tests on three strains isolated from patients with dental implants failure, i.e. Microccocus sp., Enterobacter sp. and Candida albi cans sp. The most significant anti-biofilm effect against Microcococcus sp. strain, at 72 h, was obtained in the presence of BHA:MgO thin films. For Enterobacter sp. strain a superior antimicrobial activity at 72 h was noticed, in respect with simple BHA or Ti control. The enhanced antimicrobial performances, correlated with good cytocompatibility and mechanical properties recommend these biomaterials as an alternative to synthetic HA for the fabrication of reliable implant coatings for dentistry and other applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrochemical deposition allows the preparation of ZnO nanostructures with precisely controlled morphology and properties, by finely tuning the process parameters. ZnO nanowires were deposited onto gold substrates by electrodeposition from a low concentration zinc nitrate bath Photolithography was employed for patterning interdigitated electrode systems onto silicon/silicon dioxide substrates and ZnO electrodeposition lead to wires connected to each other by bridging neighboring interdigits allowing electronic transport characterization. Optical measurements, i.e. reflection and photoluminescence spectroscopy, were performed and the results were correlated to electronic transport data. We found that we deal with a system for which one can apply a model of space charge limited currents with different traps energy distribution as a consequence of electrodeposition rate. Current versus temperature measurements show different behavior for lower and higher range of temperatures. Such nanowires, fabricated and contacted in a straightforward way, allow a wide area of applications ranging from conductometric bio- or chemo-sensors to optoelectronic devices. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We report a study on the biocompatibility vs. thickness in the case of titanium nitride (TiN) films synthesized on 410 medical grade stainless steel substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The films were grown in a nitrogen atmosphere, and their in vitro cytotoxicity was assessed according to ISO 10993-5 [1]. Extensive physical-chemical analyses have been carried out on the deposited structures with various thicknesses in order to explain the differences in biological behavior: profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction and surface energy measurements. XPS revealed the presence of titanium oxynitride beside TiN in amounts that vary with the film thickness. The cytocompatibility of films seems to be influenced by their TiN surface content. The thinner films seem to be more suitable for medical applications, due to the combined high values of bonding strength and superior cytocompatibility.

The depth composition of the thin layer alloy, AuGeNi, devoted to acting as an ohmic contact on n-GaAs(110) has been investigated by in situ XPS combined with Argon ion sputtering techniques. The fresh cleaved surfaces, supposed to be free of oxygen, were usually deposited with a 200nm metallic layer in high vacuum conditions (better than 10(-7) torr), by thermal evaporation, and annealed at a 430-450 degrees Celsius temperature for 5 minutes. About 18 sessions of ion Ar surfaces etching and intermediate XPS measurements were performed in order to reveal the border of the metal/semiconductor interface. The atomic concentrations of the chemical elements have been approximated. Au4f, Ga3d, Ga2p, As3d, As2p, Ni2p(3/2), Ge3d, O1s, and C1s spectral lines were recorded. The Au, Ge, and Ni have a homogenous distribution while Ga and As tend to diffuse to the surface. Oxygen is present in the first layers of the surface while carbon completely disappears after the second etching step. The existence of an Au-Ga alloy was detected and XPS spectra show only metal Ni and Ge within the layer and at the interface. We tried to perform a study about the depth chemical composition profile analysis of AuGeNi layer on cleaved n-GaAs(110) by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) technique.

This paper presents the research results on the thermal behavior of the 48.5% at Ti-Ni alloys, obtained by spark plasma sintering in vacuum under a pressure of 50 MPa, at temperatures of 850 degrees C and 900 degrees C and holding time of 5 minutes, and subsequently aged in argon for up to 30 minutes at 450 degrees C. Differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical and dilatometry analysis were used to characterize the transformation properties of the TiNi samples. All the results of differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis confirmed the hypothesis that the stress-free thermally induced martensitic transformation exists in the investigated TiNi alloys. Annealing at lower temperatures (450 degrees C) in Ni-rich TiNi alloys led to precipitation process which facilitates the formation of the R-phase due to internal stress contributed by precipitates.

Carbon layers grown on lead zirco-titanate (PZT) weakly interact with the substrate and exhibit a nearly two dimensional character, up to a carbon surface density approaching that of graphene. The first feature is evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the second by angle resolved near-edge-absorption spectroscopy (NEXAFS). The binding energies and lineshape parameters of C 1s are similar to that of graphene. The dichroism of C K-edge NEXAFS shows the prevalence of in-plane sp(2) bonds for layers whose effective coverage is below the graphene surface density. The polarization state of the substrate, oriented outwards, is preserved upon carbon deposition. The surface Pb content is strongly affected by the carbon ad-layers.

This paper presents a comparison between dielectric resonator antennas with different dielectric constant parameter of the resonator. The antenna is fed with microstrip line. The dielectric resonators have cylindrical geometry. In HFSS software program, the simulations are up to compare the antennas' behavior as a function of different parameters, such as: center frequency, gain, frequency bandwidth etc.

Epitaxial La0.67Ba0.33Ti0.02Mn0.98O3 (denoted as LBTMO hereafter) thin films of approximately 95 nm thickness were deposited by a pulsed laser deposition technique onto SrTiO3 (STO) (001) substrates. High-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations revealed that the films are epilayers with a four-fold symmetry around the [001] direction. Cross-sectional TEM and the presence of Pendellosung fringes in the XRD profiles demonstrate smooth interfaces. The STO substrate induces an in-plane compressive strain, which leads to a slight tetragonality of the film structure. The epilayers exhibit paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase transitions at the Curie temperature T-C (286 K), close to room temperature. The magnetization easy axis lies in the film plane along the [100] direction of the (001) substrate. The magnetic entropy change (Delta S-M) associated with the second-order magnetic phase transition was determined via magnetization measurements in the temperature range between 210 and 350 K under different magnetic fields. The relative cooling power (RCP) of this film is about 220 J kg(-1), somewhat lower than that of bulk Gd (410 J kg(-1)) for a 50 kOe field change, making the LBTMO ferromagnetic thin films a promising candidate for micro/nanomagnetic refrigeration around room temperature. The proposed universal curve provides a simple method for extrapolating Delta S-M in a wide range of fields and temperatures, thus confirming the order of the magnetic transition in this system. The magnetic entropy (Delta S-M)(max) around T-C is proportional to (mu H-0/T-C)(2/3) in agreement with the mean-field theory, indicating the existence of long-range ferromagnetic interactions in epitaxial LBTMO thin films.

The leakage current for a thin film metal-ferroelectric-metal device was modelled using an electron tunnelling approach. The potential energy through the device was obtained from an electrostatic argument and a balance equation was imposed for the incoming and outgoing currents. Using the obtained leakage current, experimental data was fitted in order to obtain qualitative values for the model parameters. Good agreement between the obtained dielectric constant and numerical calculations performed in the literature.

Bioactive materials play an increasingly important role in the biomaterials industry, and are extensively used in a range of applications, including biodegradable metallic implants. We report on Bioactive Glasses (BG) films deposition by pulsed laser techniques onto biodegradable substrates. The BG coatings were obtained using a KrF* excimer laser source (lambda= 248 nm, t(FWHM) <= 25 ns). Their thickness has been determined by Profilometry measurements, whilst their morphology has been analysed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The obtained coatings fairly preserved the targets composition and structure, as revealed by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction, and Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy analyses.