Superconductivity of bilayer titanium/indium thin film grown on SiO2/Si(001)

Bilayer superconducting films with tunable transition temperature（Tc） are a critical ingredient to the fabrication of high-performance transition edge sensors. Commonly chosen materials include Mo/Au, Mo/Cu, Ti/Au, and Ti/Al systems. Here in this work, titanium/indium（Ti/In） bilayer superconducting films are successfully fabricated on SiO2/Si（001）substrates by molecular beam epitaxy（MBE）. The success in the epitaxial growth of indium on titanium is achieved by lowering the substrate temperature to-150？C during indium evaporation. We measure the critical temperature under a bias current of 10 μA, and obtain different superconducting transition temperatures ranging from 645 m K to 2.7 K by adjusting the thickness ratio of Ti/In. Our results demonstrate that the transition temperature decreases as the thickness ratio of Ti/In increases.

Preparation and Properties of Cu-Containing High-entropy Alloy Nitride Films by Magnetron Sputtering on Titanium Alloy

Magnetron sputtering deposition with regulated Cu target power was used for depositing Cu-containing high-entropy alloy nitride(Cu-(HEA)N)films on TC4 titanium alloy substrates.The microscopic morphologies,surface compositions,and thicknesses of the films were characterized using SEM+EDS;the anti-corrosion,wear resistance and antibacterial properties of the films in simulated seawater were investigated.The experimental results show that all four Cu-(HEA)N films are uniformly dense and contained nanoparticles.The film with Cu doping come into contact with oxygen in the air to form cuprous oxide.The corrosion resistance of the(HEA)N film without Cu doping on titanium alloy is better than the films with Cu doping.The Cu-(HEA)N film with Cu target power of 16 W shows the best wear resistance and antibacterial performance,which is attributed to the fact that Cu can reduce the coefficient of friction and exacerbate corrosion,and the formation of cuprous oxide has antibacterial properties.The findings of this study provide insights for engineering applications of TC4 in the marine field.

Fabrication of titanium oxide films at low temperature from aqueous solution

Titanium oxide thin films were prepared on self-assembled monolayers-coated silicon substrate using layer-by-layer self-assembly method and chemical bath deposition from an aqueous solution. The effects of temperature on structural properties, thickness and morphologies of titanium oxide thin films were investigated. The results show that the absorption peak of peroxo complexes of titanium at 410 nm decreases gradually with increasing the temperature. The deposited films consisting of titanium oxide nanocrystals are believed to be fully amorphous by XRD. Titanium oxide thin films fabricated at 60 °C for 2 h are continuous, dense and homogeneous with a size in the range of 20-40 nm by SEM. The chemical compositions of deposited thin films were studied by EDS, and the mole ratio of O to Ti is 2.2：1.

Fabrication and characterization of anodic oxide films on a Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al titanium alloy

Anodic oxide films of the titanium alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al in ammonium tartrate electrolyte without hydrofluoric acid or fluoride were fabricated. The morphology, components, and microstructure of the films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, and Raman spectroscopy. The results showed that the films were thick, uniform, and nontransparent. Such films exhibited sedimentary morphology, with a thickness of about 3 μm, and the pore diameters of the deposits ranged from several hundred nanometers to 1.5 μm. The films were mainly titanium dioxide. Some coke-like deposits, which may contain or be changed by OH, NH, C-C, C-O, and C=O groups, were doped in the films. The films were mainly amorphous with a small amount of anatase and rutile phase.

Biodegradable starch/poly(vinyl alcohol) film reinforced with titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Biodegradable starch/poly （vinyl alcohol）/nano-titanium dioxide （ST/PVA/nano-Ti02） nanocomposite films were prepared via a solution casting method. Their biodegradability, mechanical properties, and thermal properties were also studied in this paper. A general full factorial experimental approach was used to determine effective parameters on the mechanical properties of the prepared films. ST/PVA/TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The results of mechanical analysis show that ST/PVA films with higher contents of PVA have much better mechanical properties. In thermal analysis, it is found that the addition of Ti02 nanoparticles improves the thermal stability of the films. SEM micrographs, taken from the fracture surface of samples, illustrate that the addition of PVA makes the film softer and more flexible. The results of soil burial biodegradation indicate that the biodegradability of ST/PVA/TiO2 films strongly depends on the starch proportion in the film matrix. The degradation rate is increased by the addition of starch in the films.

Surface Analysis of Chemical Stripping Titanium Alloy Oxide Films

The chemical stripping method of titanium alloy oxide films was studied. An environment friendly solution hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide without hydrofluoric acid or fluoride were used to strip the oxide films. The morphologies of the surface and cross-section of the oxide films before and after the films stripping were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The microstructure and chemical compositions of the oxide films before and after the films stripping were investigated by using Raman spectroscopy （Raman） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）. It was shown that the thickness of the oxide film was in the range of 5-6 μm. The oxide films were stripped for 2 to 8 min in the solution. Moreover, the effect of the stripping time on the efficiency of the film stripping was investigated, and the optimum stripping time was between 6-8 min. When the stripping solution completely dissolved the whole film, the α/β microstructure of the titanium alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al was partly revealed. The stripping mechanism was discussed in terms of the dissolution of film delamination. The hydrogen peroxide had a significant effect on the dissolution of the titanium alloy anodic oxide film. The feasibility of the dissolution reaction also was evaluated.

Preparation of High Quality Indium Tin Oxide Film on a Microbial Cellulose Membrane Using Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Microbial cellulose （MC） membranes produced by Acetobacter xylinum NUST4.1,were used as flexible substrates for the fabrication of transparent indium tin oxide （ITO） electrodes.Transparent and conductive ITO thin films were deposited on MC membrane at room temperature using radio frequency （RF） magnetron sputtering.The optimum ITO deposition conditions were achieved by examining crystalline structure,surface morphology and op-toelectrical characteristics with X-ray diffraction （XRD）,scanning electron microscopy （SEM）,atomic force mi-croscopy （AFM）,and UV spectroscopy.The sheet resistance of the samples was measured with a four-point probe and the resistivity of the film was calculated.The results reveal that the preferred orientation of the deposited ITO crystals is strongly dependent upon with oxygen content （O2/Ar,volume ratio） in the sputtering chamber.And the ITO crystalline structure directly determines the conductivity of ITO-deposited films.High conductive [sheet resis-tance ～120 Ω·square-1 （Ω·sq-1）] and transparent （above 76%） ITO thin films （240 nm thick） were obtained with a moderate sputtering power （about 60 W） and with an oxygen flow rate of 0.25 ml·min-1 （sccm） during the deposi-tion.These results show that the ITO-MC electrodes can find their potential application in optoelectrical devices.

Electrical and optical properties of indium tin oxide/epoxy composite film

The electrical and optical properties of the indium tin oxide （ITO）/epoxy composite exhibit dramatic variations as functions of the ITO composition and ITO particle size. Sharp increases in the conductivity in the vicinity of a critical volume fraction have been found within the framework of percolation theory. A conductive and insulating transition model is extracted by the ITO particle network in the SEM image, and verified by the resistivity dependence on the temperature. The dependence of the optical transmittance on the particle size was studied. Further decreasing the ITO particle size could further improve the percolation threshold and light transparency of the composite film.

In vitro biocompatibility of titanium-nickel alloy with titanium oxide film by H_2O_2 oxidation

Titanium oxide film with a graded interface to NiTi matrix was synthesized in situ on NiTi shape memory alloy(SMA) by oxidation in H2O2 solution. In vitro studies including contact angle measurement, hemolysis, MTT cytotoxicity and cell morphology tests were employed to investigate the biocompatibility of the H2O2-oxidized NiTi SMAs with this titanium oxide film. The results reveal that wettability, blood compatibility and fibroblasts compatibility of NiTi SMA are improved by the coating of titanium oxide film through H2O2 oxidation treatment.

Temperature-dependent bias-stress-induced electrical instability of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors

The time and temperature dependence of threshold voltage shift under positive-bias stress（PBS） and the following recovery process are investigated in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide（a-IGZO） thin-film transistors. It is found that the time dependence of threshold voltage shift can be well described by a stretched exponential equation in which the time constant τ is found to be temperature dependent. Based on Arrhenius plots, an average effective energy barrier Eτ stress= 0.72 eV for the PBS process and an average effective energy barrier Eτ recovery= 0.58 eV for the recovery process are extracted respectively. A charge trapping/detrapping model is used to explain the threshold voltage shift in both the PBS and the recovery process. The influence of gate bias stress on transistor performance is one of the most critical issues for practical device development.

Low Temperature DC Sputtering Deposition on Indium-Tin Oxide Film and Its Application to Inverted Top-emitting Organic Light-emitting Diodes

Indium tin oxide （ITO） ultrathin films were prepared on glass substrate by DC （direct current） magnetron sputtering technique with the assistance of H2O vapor to avoid potential surface damage. The film properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD） technique, four-point probe method and spectrophotometer. The results show that the deposited ITO film with introduced H2O during sputtering process was almost amorphous. The average visible light transmission of 100 nm ITO film was around 85% and square resistivity was below 80 Ω/square. The film was used as the transparent anode to fabricate an inverted top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes （IT-OLEDs） with the structure of glass substrate/Alq3 （40 nm）/NPB （15 nm）/CuPc （x nm）/ITO anode （100 nm）, where the film thickness of CuPc was optimized. It was found that the luminance of this IT-OLEDs was improved from 25 cd/m^2 to more than 527 cd/m^2 by increasing the thickness of CuPc, and luminance efficiency of 0.24 lm/W at 100 cd/m^2 was obtained, which indicated that the optimized thickness of CuPc layer was around 15 nm.

Cellular response to titanium discs coated with polyelectrolyte multilayer films

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects ofpolyelectrolyte multilayer （PEM） coatings on the biological behavior of titanium （Ti） substrates. Collagen type I/hyaluronic acid （Col/HA） and chitosan/hyaluronic acid （Chi/HA） multilayer PEM coatings were introduced onto Ti substrates using layer-by-layer assembly. Contact angle instruments and quartz crystal microbalance were used for film characterization. The results obtained showed that both Col/HA and Chi/HA surfaces had high hydrophilicity and promoted cell adhesion in MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast and human gingival fibroblast cells. In addition, the synthesis of function-related proteins and gene expression levels in both MC3T3-E1 and fibroblast cells was higher for the Col/HA coating compared with the Chi/HA coating, indicating better cellular response to the Col/HA coating.

Effects of Different Titanium Sub-oxide on the Properties of Titanium Dioxide Thin Films Prepared by E-beam Evaporation Deposition with Ion Auxiliary

TiO2 thin films were prepared with Ti2O3, Ti3O5 and TiO2 as raw materials, by electron-beam evaporation deposition, using O^2- ion beam （ O2 purity up to 99.99% ） as auxiliary means. The crystal structures of the samples were inspected by the X-ray diffraction （XRD） method, and the evaporation character of warious raw materials was analyzed. Transmittance spectra were measured through a U-3310 spectrophotometer （ wavelength ranging from 200 nm to 900 nm）. The refractive index n and the thickness of films were determined from transmission spectra. The experimental results show that the thin films taking Ti2O3 as their raw material have a strong absorption, when taking Ti3O5 and TiO2 as raw materials, the thin films would have good optical properties. The experiments also show that, the crystal structure of all thin films is amorphous before post-annealing and the Ti3O5 is a congruent evaporation phase in the Ti-O system.

SURFACE MODIFICATION OF TITANIUM FILMS WITH SODIUM ION IMPLANTATION:SURFACE PROPERTIES AND PROTEIN ADSORPTION

Sodium implanted titanium films with different ion doses were characterized to correlate their ion implantation parameters. Native titanium films and ion implanted titanium films were characterized with combined techniques of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, atomic force microscopy （AFM）, and light microscopy （LM）. The surface presented increased sodium concentration on treated titanium films with ion dose increasing, except for the group with the highest ion dose of 4×10^17ions/cm^2. XPS depth profiling displayed that sodium entered titanium film around 25-50nm depth depending on its implantation ion dose. AFM characterization showed that sodium ion implantation treatment changed the surface morphology from a relatively smooth titanium film to rough surfaces corresponding to different implantation doses. After sodium implantation, implanted titanium films presented big particles with island structure morphology. The surface morphology and particle growth displayed the corresponding trend. Fibrinogen adsorption on these titanium films was performed to correlate with the surface properties of treated titanium films. The results show that protein adsorption on ion-implanted samples with dose of 2×10^17 and 4×10^17 are statistically higher （p 〈0.01） than samples treated with dose of 5×10^16 and 1×10^17, as well as the control samples.

Double-layer indium doped zinc oxide for silicon thin-film solar cell prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Indium doped zinc oxide （ZnO：In） thin films were prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis on corning eagle 2000 glass substrate. 1 and 2 at.% indium doped single-layer ZnO：In thin films with different amounts of acetic acid added in the initial solution were fabricated. The 1 at.% indium doped single-layers have triangle grains. The 2 at.% indium doped single-layer with 0.18 acetic acid adding has the resistivity of 6.82 × 10^-3 Ω. cm and particle grains. The doublelayers structure is designed to fabricate the ZnO：In thin film with low resistivity （2.58 × 10^-3 Ω. cm） and good surface morphology. It is found that the surface morphology of the double-layer ZnO：In film strongly depends on the substratelayer, and the second-layer plays a large part in the resistivity of the doublewlayer ZnO：In thin film. Both total and direct transmittances of the double-layer ZnO：In film are above 80% in the visible light region. Single junction a-Si：H solar cell based on the double-layer ZnO：In as front electrode is also investigated.

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.

Preparation and bioactivity of SiO_2 functional films on titanium by PACVD

SiO2 functional films were deposited on the surface of titanium by plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition(PACVD) and the composition of films was studied by XPS. Samples deposited with SiO2 films were immersed in different concentration simulated body fluid(SBF) for biomimetic deposition of hydroxyapatite(HA). The results show that SiO2 functional films deposited on titanium surface with PACVD have good bioactivity. Hydroxyapatite is formed while titanium coated with SiO2 is immersed in simulated body fluid for seven days.

Fabrication of Titanium Dioxide Thin Films by DBD-CVD Under Atmosphere

Titanium dioxide films were firstly deposited on glass substrate by DBD-CVD （dielectric barrier discharge enhanced chemical vapor deposition） technique. The structure of the films was investigated by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. TiO2 films deposited under atmosphere pressure show preferred orientation, and exhibit columnar-like structure, while TiO2 films deposited under low gas pressure show no preferred orientation. The columnar-like structure with preferred orientation exhibits higher photocatalytic efficiency, since the columnar structure has larger surface area. However, it contributes little to the improvement of hydrophilicity. DBD-CVD is an alternative method to prepare photocatalytic TiO2 for its well-controllable property.

Nanometer Thick Diffused Hafnium and Titanium Oxide Light Sensing Film Structures

We examine 10 nm thick film structures containing either Hf or Ti sandwiched between two respective oxide layers. The layers are deposited onto heated substrates to create a diffusion region. We observe a high degree of light sensitivity of the electric current through the film thickness for one polarity of an applied voltage. For the other polarity, the current is not affected by the light. We explain the observed phenomenology using the single-particle model based on the existence of interface states on the metal-oxide interfaces.

Sulphurization of the Electrochemically Deposited Indium Sulphide Oxide Thin Film and Its Photovoltaic Applications

The post-deposition heat treatment (annealing) for the electrochemically deposited thin film is often necessary in order to improve its crystallinity. In the present study, the electrochemically deposited indium sulfide oxide thin film was annealed in sulphure atmosphere for 60 min at 150℃ and 300℃. The impact of the annealing process on the composition, crystal structure, and surface morphology of the thin film was investigated. In addition, superstrate heterojunction solar cells based on the annealed film as a buffer layer and tin sulphide as an active layer were fabricated and characterized. They showed diode-like behavior under dark condition and a relatively small photovoltaic effect under AM1.5 illumination condition.