A Bilayer High-Temperature Dielectric Film with Superior Breakdown Strength and Energy Storage Density

The further electrification of various fields in production and daily life makes it a topic worthy of exploration to improve the performance of capacitors for a long time,including thin-film capacitors.The discharge energy density of thin-film capacitors that serves as one of the important types directly depends on electric field strength and the dielectric constant of the insulation material.However,it has long been a great challenge to improve the breakdown strength and dielectric constant simultaneously.Considering that boron nitride nanosheets(BNNS)possess superior insulation and thermal conductivity owing to wide band gap and 2-dimensional structure,a bilayer polymer film is prepared via coating BNNS by solution casting on surface of polyethylene terephthalate(PET)films.By revealing the bandgap and insulating behavior with UV absorption spectrum,leakage current,and finite element calculation,it is manifested that nanocoating contributes to enhance the bandgap of polymer films,thereby suppressing the charge injection by redirecting their transport from electrodes.Worthy to note that an ultrahigh breakdown field strength(~736 MV m^(−1)),an excellent discharge energy density(~8.77 J cm^(−3))and a prominent charge-discharge efficiency(~96.51%)are achieved concurrently,which is ascribed to the contribution of BNNS ultrathin layer.In addition,the modified PET films also have superior comprehensive performance at high temperatures(~120°C).The materials and methods here selected are easily accessible and facile,which are suitable for large-scale roll-to-roll process production,and are of certain significance to explore the methods about film modification suitable for commercial promotion.

Optimized growth and dielectric properties of barium titanate thin films on polycrystalline Ni foils

Barium titanate（BTO） thin films were deposited on polycrystalline Ni foils by using the polymer assisted deposition（PAD） technique.The growth conditions including ambient and annealing temperatures were carefully optimized based on thermal dynamic analysis to control the oxidation processing and interdiffusion.Crystal structures,surface morphologies,and dielectric performance were examined and compared for BTO thin films annealed under different temperatures.Correlations between the fabrication conditions,microstructures,and dielectric properties were discussed.BTO thin films fabricated under the optimized conditions show good crystalline structure and promising dielectric properties with εr～ 400 and tan δ 〈 0.025 at 100 kHz.The data demonstrate that BTO films grown on polycrystalline Ni substrates by PAD are promising in device applications.

Deposition of Thin Titania Films by Dielectric Barrier Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure

A homogeneous atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge is studied. It is in argon with small admixtures of titanium tetrachloride vapour and oxygen for the deposition of thin titania films on glass substrates. A special electrode configuration was applied in order to deposit the titania film uniformly. The sustaining voltage （6 kV to 12 kV）, current density （about 3 mA/cm^2） and total optical emission spectroscopy were monitored to characterize the discharge in the gap of 2 mm. Typical deposition rates ranged from approximately 30 nm/min to 120 nm/min. The film morphology was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and the composition was determined with an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy （EDS） analysis tool attached to the SEM. The crystal structure and phase composition of the films were studied by x-ray diffraction （XRD）. Several parameters such as the discharge power, the ratio of carrier gas to the precursor gas, the deposition time on the crystallization behavior, the deposition rate and the surface morphology of the titania film were extensively studied.

Growth of Fluorocarbon Films by Low-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Plasma polymerized fluorocarbon （FC） films have been deposited on silicon substrates from dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） plasma of C4Fs at room temperature under a pressure of 25～125 Pa. The effects of the discharge pressure and frequency of power supply on the films have been systematically investigated. FC films with a less cross linked structure may be formed at a relatively high pressure. Increase in the frequency of power supply leads to a significant increase in the deposition rate. Static contact angle measurements show that deposited FC films have a stable, hydrophobic surface property. All deposited films show smooth surfaces with an atomic surface roughness. The relationship between plasma parameters and the properties of the deposited FC films are discussed.

Phase control of magnetron sputtering deposited Gd_2O_3 thin films as high-κ gate dielectrics

Gd2O3 thin films as high-κ gate dielectrics were deposited directly on Si（001） substrates by magnetron sputtering at a pressure of 1.3 Pa and different temperatures. X-ray diffraction results revealed that all the films grown from 450 to 570 ℃ were crystalline, and the Gd2O3 thin films consisted of a mixture of cubic and monoclinic phases. The growth temperature was a critical parameter for the phase constituents and their relative amount. Low temperature was favorable for the formation of cubic phase while higher temperature gave rise to more monoclinic phase. All the Gd2O3 thin films grown from different temperatures exhibited acceptable electrical properties, such as low leakage current density （JL） of 10-5 A/cm^2 at zero bias with capacitance equivalent SiO2 thickness in the range of 6-13 nm. Through the comparison between films grown at 450 and 570 ℃, the existence of monoclinic phase caused an increase in JL by nearly one order of magnitude and a reduction of effective dielectric constant from 17 to 9.

High Refractive Index Ti3O5 Films for Dielectric Metasurfaces

Ti33O55 films are deposited with the help of an electron beam evaporator for their applications in metasurfaces. The film of subwavelength （632nm） thickness is deposited on a silicon substrate and annealed at 400℃. The ellipsometry result shows a high refractive index above 2.5 with the minimum absorption coefficient in the visible region, which is necessary for high efficiency of transparent metasurfaces. Atomic force microscopy analysis is employed to measure the roughness of the as-deposited films. It is seen from micrographs that the deposited films are very smooth with the minimum roughness to prevent scattering and absorption losses for metasurface devices. The absence of grains and cracks can be seen by scanning electron microscope analysis, which is favorable for electron beam lithography. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals the transmission and reflection obtained from the film deposited on glass substrates. The as-deposited film shows high transmission above 60%, which is in good agreement with metasurfaces.

High-Pressure Plasma Deposition of a-C:H Films by Dielectric-Barrier Discharge

The fabrication of a-C:H films from methane has been performed using dielectric-barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure. The effect of combined-feed gas, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide or acetylene on the formation of a-C:H films has been investigated. It has been demonstrated that the addition of carbon monoxide or acetylene into methane leads to a remarkable improvement in the fabrication of a-C:H films. The characterization of carbon film obtained has been conducted using FT-IR, Raman and SEM.

Helium Plasma Damage of Low-k Carbon Doped Silica Film:the Effect of Si Dangling Bonds on the Dielectric Constant

The low-k carbon doped silica film has been modified by radio frequency helium plasma at 5 Pa pressure and 80 W power with subsequent XPS, FTIR and optical emission spec- troscopy analysis. XPS data indicate that helium ions have broken Si-C bonds, leading to Si-C scission with C（1s） lost seriously. The Si（2p）, O（ls）, peak obviously shifted to higher binding en- ergies, indicating an increasingly oxidized Si（2p）. FTIR data also show that the silanol formation increased with longer exposure time up to a week. Contrarily, the CHa stretch, Si-C stretching bond and the ratio of the Si-O-Si cage and Si-O-Si network peak sharply decreased upon exposure to helium plasma. The OES result indicates that monovalent helium ions in plasma play a key role in damaging carbon doped silica film. So it can be concluded that the monovalent helium ions besides VUV photons can break the weak Si-C bonds to create Si dangling bonds and free methyl radicals, and the latter easily reacts with O_2 from the atmosphere to generate CO_2 and H_2O. The bonds change is due to the Si dangling bonds combining with H_2O, thereby, increasing the dielectric constant k value.

Influence of lateral size on dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin films with structure transition zones

By taking into account structural transition zones near the lateral and thickness direction edges,this paper uses a modified transverse Ising model to study dielectric properties of a finite size ferroelectric thin film in the framework of the mean-field approximation.The results indicate that the influence of the lateral size on the dielectric susceptibility cannot be neglected and lateral structural transition zones could be a crucial factor that improves the mean susceptibility of the fixed size film.

Plasma-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition of Titanium Oxide Films by Dielectric Barrier Discharge in TiCl_4/O_2/N_2 Gas Mixtures

Low-pressure dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） TiCl4/O2and N2 plasmas have been used to deposit titanium oxide films at different power supply driving frequencies. A homemade large area low pressure DBD reactor was applied, characterized by the simplicity of the experimental set-up and a low consumption of feed gas and electric power, as well as being easy to operate. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy,and contact angle measurements have been used to characterize the deposited films. Experimental results show all deposited films are uniform and hydrophilic with a contact angle of about 15 o.Compared to titanium oxide films deposited in TiCl4/O2gas mixtures, those in TiCl4/O2/N2gas mixtures are much more stable. The contact angle of titanium oxide films in TiCl4/O2/N2gas mixtures with the addition of 50% N2 and 20% TiCl4 is still smaller than 20 o, while that of undoped titanium oxide films is larger than 64 owhen they are measured after one week. The low-pressure TiCl4/O2plasmas consist of pulsed glow-like discharges with peak widths of several microseconds, which leads to the uniform deposition of titanium oxide films. Increasing a film thickness over several hundreds of nm leads to the film’s fragmentation due to the over-high film stress. Optical emission spectra（OES） of TiCl4/O2DBD plasmas at various power supply driving frequencies are presented.

Dielectric and Structural Properties of SrTiO_3 Thin Films Grown by Laser Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Here I will review recent progress on the study of dielectric SrTiO3 （STO） thin films. In our work, laser molecular beam epitaxy has been used to prepare multilayer heterostructures consisting of dielectric STO and high temperature superconducting YBa2Cu3Oy （YBCO） thin films for tunable applications. Since the tunability of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of STO are the key parameters determining the performance of tunable devices and hence the feasibility of this technology, the correlations between the deposition parameters of STO thin films, their structural characteristics, and dielectric properties were studied. An enhanced tunability of 74.7%, comparable to that of STO single-crystal, was observed in our grown STO thin films suitable for tunable YBCO applications. On the other hand, we have grown epitaxial STO （110） films on Si without any buffer layer. The nature of epitaxial growth and interfacial structures of the grown films were examined by various techniques, such as Laue diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The in-plane alignments for the STO （110） films grown directly on Si （100） was found as STO//Si and STO//Si . HRTEM study has showed a crystalline transition across the STO/Si interface, indicating it is free from any amorphous oxide layer. We provide clear evidence that the interface mainly consists of Sr silicate phase. The results suggest that such Sr silicate interfacial layer exhibits favourable structural and chemical properties that are particularly useful for epitaxial STO （110） growth on Si. Such STO thin films will be useful for practical applications.

Strain tunability of dielectric and ferroelectric properties in epitaxial lead titanate thin films

Many distinguished properties of epitaxial ferroelectric thin films can be tunable through the misfit strain.The strain tunability of ferroelectric and dielectric properties in epitaxial lead titanate ultrathin films is numerically investigated by using a phase field model,in which the surface effect of polarization is taken into account.The response of polarization to the applied electric field in the thickness direction is examined with different misfit strains at room temperature.It is found that a compressive misfit strain increases the coercive field and the remanent polarization while a tensile misfit strain decreases both of them.The nonlinear dielectric constants of the thin films with tensile misfit strains are much larger than those of the thin films without misfit strains,which are attributed to the existence of the a/c/a/c multiple domains in the thin films under tensile misfit strains.

Improvement of dielectric （Ba,Sr）TiO3 thin tunability and loss tangent of films with K doping

Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films doped with K were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by the chemical solution deposition method. The structure, surface morphology and the dielectric and tunable properties of Bao.6Sro.4TiO3 thin films have been studied in detail. The K content in Ba0.6Sro.4TiO3 thin films has a strong influence on the material＇s properties including surface morphology and the dielectric and tunable properties. It was found that the Curie temperature of K-doped Bao.6Sr0.4TiO3 films shifts to a higher value compared with that of undoped Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films, which leads to a dielectric enhancement of K-doped Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 films at room temperature. At the optimized content of 0.02 mol, the dielectric loss tangent is reduced significantly from 0.057 to 0.020. Meanwhile, the tunability is enhanced obviously from 26% to 48% at the measured frequency of 1 MHz and the maximum value of the figure of merit is 23.8. This suggests that such films have potential applications for tunable devices.

Effects of HfO_2 buffer layers on the dielectric property and leakage current of Ba_(0.6)Sr_(0.4)TiO_3 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 （BST） thin films with and without HfO 2 buffer layer were fabricated on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Dependences of HfO 2 thickness on the dielectric property and leakage current of BST thin films were focused. The dielectric constant of BST thin films increased and then decreased with the increase of HfO 2 thickness, while the dielectric relaxation was gradually improved. The loss tangent and leakage current under positive bias decreased with the HfO 2 thickness increasing. The leakage current analysis based on the Schottky emission indicated an improvement of the BST/Pt interface with HfO 2 buffer layer. The loss tangent, tunability and figure of merit of optimized HfO 2 buffered BST thin film achieved 0.009 8, 21.91% （E max = 200 kV/cm）, 22.40 at 10 6 Hz, respectively.

Electric-Field Tunability of Dielectric in Polycrystalline Sr1-xMnxTiO3 Thin Films

The electric-field tunability of dielectric constant （ε-E） in Sr1-xMnxTiO3 films （x = 0, 0.005, 0.010, 0.020 and 0.030） prepared by the metal organic decomposition method on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates is studied in the frequency range from 100Hz to 1MHz with different Mn contents at different temperatures. The frequencyindependent tunability increases strongly with decreasing the temperature from 300 K to 150K. The tunability （-31%） in thin films （x = 0.005） at 150K is obtained and the temperature for the same tunability in ceramics is about 60 K lower than the present one. This tunability is comparable with that in one of ferroelectric Sr1-1.sxBixTiO3 thin films. Similarly, the well-defined P（E） hysteresis 10013 and 2Pr （1.2 μC/cm^2） can be obtained at 300 K in Sr1-xMnxTiO3 films with z = 0.005. Both the existence of electric dipole or poled micro domain introduced by the doped Mn2＋ located in the off-center position at Sr sites and the strain between the thin film and the substrate are the origins of the tunable and polar behavior in Sr1-xMnxTiO3 films.

Effect of substitution group on dielectric properties of 4H-pyrano [3,2-c] quinoline derivatives thin films

The AC electrical conductivity and dielectrical properties of 2-amino-6-ethyl-5-oxo-4-（3-phenoxyphenyl）-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrano[3, 2-c]quinoline-3-carbonitrile（Ph-HPQ） and 2-amino-4-（2-chlorophenyl）-6-ethyl-5-oxo-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrano [3, 2-c] quinoline-3-carbonitrile（Ch-HPQ） thin films were determined in the frequency range of 0.5 k Hz–5 MHz and the temperature range of 290–443 K. The AC electrical conduction of both compounds in thin film form is governed by the correlated barrier hopping（CBH） mechanism. Some parameters such as the barrier height, the maximum barrier height, the density of charges, and the hopping distance were determined as functions of temperature and frequency. The phenoxyphenyl group has a greater influence on those parameters than the chlorophenyl group. The AC activation energies were determined at different frequencies and temperatures. The dielectric behaviors of Ph-HPQ and Ch-HPQ were investigated using the impedance spectroscopy technique. The impedance data are presented in Nyquist diagrams for different temperatures. The Ch-HPQ films have higher impedance than the Ph-HPQ films. The real dielectric constant and dielectric loss show a remarkable dependence on the frequency and temperature. The Ph-HPQ has higher dielectric constants than the Ch-HPQ.

Fabrication and Characterization of Semi-Crystalline and Amorphous Dielectric Polymer Films for Energy Storage

Dielectric polymer films are energy storage materials that are used in pulse power operations, power electronics and sustainable energy applications. This paper reviews energy storage devices with focus on dielectric film capacitors. Two prominent examples of polymer dielectrics Polyetherimide (PEI) and Poly (tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene-vinylidene fluoride) (THV) have been discussed. Polyetherimide (PEI) is an amorphous polymer recognized for its high-temperature capability, low dielectric loss and high dielectric strength. THV is a semi-crystalline polymer with high dielectric constant, high-temperature capability and charge-discharge efficiency. The primary focus of this paper is to introduce the reader to the fabrication procedures and characterization techniques used in research labs for processing of dielectric polymers. The fabrication and characterization process of both polymers has been discussed in detail to shed the light on experimental process in this area of research.

Dielectric Properties of ZrTiO4 Thin Films Prepared by Reactive DC Magnetron Co-sputtering

ZrTiO4 is a small ceramic constituent material which has very good thermal and electrical properties. ZrTiO4 thin films were deposited by reactive dc magnetron co-sputtering method. The crystal structure, surface morphology, thickness and dielectric properties were characterized by XRD （X-ray diffraction）, AFM （atomic force microscopy）, FE-SEM （field emission scanning electron microscope）, and precision impedance analyzer respectively. These films were crystallization of the orthorhombic phase （111） of ZrTiOa. The microstructure of well-crystallized ZrTiO4 thin films had the surface morphology was smooth with 1.695 nmrms roughness. The high dielectric constant width decreases from 129.2 to 110.6 when sputtering current increases which are higher more than that had researched because of higher energy but impedance; ｜Z｜ increases from 1.97 to 2.47 kΩ. These results are consistent with the RMS roughness results, which are the RMS roughness decrease with increasing sputtering current.

Structural and Dielectric Properties of Dy-doped(Ba,Sr,Ca) TiO_3 Thick Films

Preparation and electrocatalytic activities of Pt-TiO_2 nanotubes(Ba_ 0.57Sr_ 0.33Ca_ 0.10)TiO_3 powders,prepared by the sol-gel method,were doped MnCO_3 as acceptor and Dy_2O_3 as donor.This powder was mixed with an organic vehicle and BSCT thick films were fabricated by the screen-printing techniques on alumina substrate.The structural and dielectric properties of BSCT thick films were investigated with variation of Dy_2O_3 amount.As a result of the differential thermal analysis(DTA),exothermic peak was observed at around 670℃ due to the formation of the polycrystalline perovskite phase.All the BSCT thick films showed the XRD patterns of a typical polycrystalline perovskite structure.The average grain size of BSCT thick films decreased with increasing amount of Dy_2O_3.The relative dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the BSCT thick film doped Dy_2O_3 0.1mol% were 4637.4 and 1.6% at 1kHz,respectively.

Dielectric properties of BiFeO_3-PbTiO_3 thin films prepared by PLD

BiFeO3-PbTiO3 (BFO-PT) thin films were prepared on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique under different oxygen pressures. The structures of the films were characterized by means of XRD. The current densities were performed to check the conductivity of the films. The dielectric constant and loss factor (tanδ) of the films were measured. The results show that the BFO-PT layers are mainly perovskite structured; the film deposited under 6.665 Pa exhibits low leakage current, low dielectric loss (0.017-0.041) and saturated hysteresis loop with polarization (Pr) value and coercive field (Ec) of 3 μC/cm2 and 109 kV/cm.