National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Single-phase Ba(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O-3 thin films were prepared by radiofrequency plasma beam assisted pulsed laser deposition (RF-PLD) starting from a bulk ceramic target synthesized by solid state reaction. Atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic ellipsometry were used for morphological, structural and optical characterization of the BMT thin films. The X-ray diffraction spectra show that the films exhibit a polycrystalline cubic structure. From spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis, the refractive index varies with the thin films deposition parameters. By using the transmission spectra and assuming a direct band to band transition a band gap value of approximate to 4.72 eV has been obtained. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigations on dielectric on compact resonators antennas with enhanced characteristics are described in this paper. The dielectric resonators were of (Zr(0.8)Sn(0.2))TiO(4) ceramic material (ZST). It is shown that the doping with Mg reduces the sintering temperature and provides a high dielectric constant, low loss and high thermal stability in microwaves. The coupling with an extra resonator can offer a substantial bandwidth enhancement. Moreover, antenna array with four antenna elements provides a higher gain and a more directive radiation pattern.

We report on the synthesis of 700 nm thick bioglass thin films by magnetron sputtering from 45S5 bioglass targets in the argon atmosphere. The adhesion of films to Ti substrates increased 1 75 times when introducing an similar to 70 nm thick mixed glass-Ti buffer layer (BG(1-x)Ti(x) (x = 0-1)) with gradient of composition by co-sputtering. The morphological and structural properties of the films were studied by XRD, ETIR and microscopic techniques, showing an improvement after the two-hour thermal air treatment at 650 degrees C. We investigated in vitro the viability and proliferation of human osteoblast cells cultivated onto the surface of the films The osteoblasts spread over the surface adopting typical polyhedral shapes with numerous focal adhesion points and protrusions infiltrating deep into the films. We assigned this evolution to the improved mechanical properties and enhanced bioactivity due to the prevalent formation of combeite and wollastonite crystalline phases in the heat treated bioglass films (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved

A single ferroelectric Schottky diode was obtained on a SrRuO3-Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O-3-Ta (SRO-PZT20/80-Ta) structure in which the SRO-PZT20/80 interface is the rectifying contact and the PZT20/80-Ta interface behaves as a quasiohmic contact. Both the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics show the memory effect due to the ferroelectric polarization. However, retention studies had revealed that only the "down" orientation of ferroelectric polarization is stable in time (polarization oriented from top to bottom contact). The analysis of the experimental results suggests that the PZT20/80 is n type and that the stable orientation of polarization is related to the presence of a depletion region at the SRO-PZT20/80 Schottky interface.

Electron states at the SiO2/4H-SiC interface have been investigated using capacitor structures and especially, the influence of excess nitrogen, introduced by ion implantation, at the interface is studied in detail. Implanted and nonimplanted n-type samples with an interfacial concentration of nitrogen of similar to 10(19) cm(-3) and 10(16) cm(-3), respectively, were analyzed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, performed at different temperatures and probe frequencies, and thermal dielectric relaxation current (TDRC) measurements performed in the temperature range of 35-295 K. Three main categories of electron states are disclosed, true interface states (D-it), fast near interface states (NIToxfast) and slow near interface states (NIToxslow). The density versus energy distributions of D-it and NIToxfast have been deduced from the TDRC data and they are shown to give a close quantitative agreement with the shape and frequency dependence of the C-V curves. Further, the amount of NIToxslow extracted from TDRC is demonstrated to be responsible for the parallel shifts and hysterezis effects occurring in the C-V characteristics. All three categories of electron states are reduced in concentration in the implanted samples. This holds particularly for NIToxfast with a peak at similar to 0.1 eV below the conduction band edge of 4H-SiC that is suppressed by at least two orders of magnitude relative to the nonimplanted samples. The decrease for D-it is also substantial (a factor of similar to 10) while the loss for NIToxslow is considerably smaller (only similar to 30%). The results provide firm evidence that NIToxfast and NIToxslow do not originate from the same kind of defect center. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3457906]

Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) and Lithium doped Zinc Oxide (LZO) thin films are obtained by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) method. These films are characterized by using Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Photoluminescence (PL). By modeling the ellipsometry spectra we get the dielectric functions, the optical band gap E(g), and the electrical properties. Our results show the influence of the processing parameters on the optical and structural properties of doped ZnO thin films. The post-annealing treatment applied to AZO thin films, changes strongly the optical properties, by lowering the resistivity and red-shifting the band gap. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The short-circuit photocurrent was measured in ferroelectric capacitors of polycrystalline and epitaxial quality. The interest was to study the possible relation between photocurrent and back-switching phenomena due to ferroelectric polarization imprint, as suggested by Pintilie [J. Appl. Phys. 101, 064109 (2007)]. An interesting relation between the shape of the ferroelectric hysteresis loop and the shape of the photocurrent spectral distribution was found. In polycrystalline samples, the shape of spectral distribution and the sign of photocurrent are changing in time, although the hysteresis is almost symmetrical. However, the hysteresis is not rectangular as in the case of epitaxial films. This behavior suggests a subtle relation between polarization back-switching and photocurrent. In epitaxial samples a peculiar dependence between photocurrent and polarization imprint was found. All these are explained assuming the presence of an internal field, possibly generated by charged defects, which can change its direction and magnitude under illumination, with consequence on the orientation and magnitude of the ferroelectric polarization, and on the sign/shape of the short-circuit photocurrent spectral distribution. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3445877]

Functionalized implants represent an advanced approaching in implantology, aiming to improve the biointegration and the long-term success of surgical procedures. We report on the synthesis of hydroxyapatite (HA) thin films on polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) substrates - used as cranio-spinal implant-type structures - by two alternative methods: pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and radio-frequency magnetron sputtering (MS). The deposition parameters were optimized in order to avoid the substrate overheating. Stoichiometric HA structures were obtained by PLD with incident laser fluences of 1.4-2.75 J/cm(2), pressures of 30-46.66 Pa and 10 Hz pulses repetition rate. The MS depositions were performed at constant pressure of 0.3 Pa in inert and reactive atmospheres. SEM-EDS, XRD, FTIR and pull-out measurements were performed assessing the apatitic-type structure of the prepared films along with their satisfactory mechanical adhesion. Cell viability, proliferation and adhesion tests in osteosarcoma SaOs2 cell cultures were performed to validate the bioactive behaviour of the structures and to select the most favourable deposition regimes. For PLD, this requires a low thence of 1.4 J/cm2, reduced pressure of water vapours and a 100 degrees C/4 h thermal treatment. For MS, the best results were obtained for 80% Ar + 20% O-2 reactive atmosphere at low RF power (similar to 75 W). Cells grown on these coatings exhibit behaviour similar to those grown on the standard borosilicate glass control: increased viability, good proliferation, and optimal cell adhesion. In vitro tests proved that HA/PMMA neurosurgical structures prepared by PLD and MS are compatible for the interaction with human bone cells. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implant type coatings were prepared by magnetron sputtering (MS) technique onto medical grade Ti6Al4V alloy substrates starting from biological 45S5 glass system powders. The as-deposited thin layers were annealed 2 h at 700 degrees C in ambient air, followed by a slow cooling (2 degrees C/min) in order to induce crystallization. The behavior of the coatings was investigated by soaking the samples in simulated body fluids (SBF) and extracting them after 24 and 72 h. The changes in the films' structure were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis and by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). A pitched, pore free microstructure with 6 mu m agglomerates of submicron grains in a continuous matrix was revealed by the SEM images of the annealed samples. Complex silicates as Na(4)Ca(4)Si(6)O(18)-combeite and phosphates NaCaPO(4) as crystalline phases were identified in the XRD diffraction patterns. In-growths after 24 h show the enrichment in Si-O (s) non-bonding oxygen (NBO). The polymerization reaction in the surface layer appears for the sample immersed 72 h in SBF. No crystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) was evidenced for those samples. Subsequent dissolution processes of the surface layers were noticed from XRD patterns and SEM images. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The to study of the total oxide (SiO2+SiOx) thickness, SiO2 and SiOx (e.g. Si2O, SiO, Si2O3) thicknesses on Si(100) crystalline substrate with take-off angles ranging from 30 degrees to 80 degrees has been carried out by spectrometric method. The d(s) X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) thicknesses were compared with d(EL) thicknesses obtained by fitting the Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) spectra. A qualitatively good correlation is revealed. However, from these estimations of film thicknesses it results that ellipsometry analysis cannot be as accurate as in XPS evaluation. This is due to uncertainty of used optical constants as well due to very thin oxide films used in this work.