We present a new type of atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for intermetallic thin films, where diethyl zinc (DEZ) serves as a coreactant. In our proof-of-concept study, FeCl is used as the second precursor. The FeCl + DEZ process yields in situ crystalline FeZn thin films, where the elemental purity and Fe/Zn ratio are confirmed by time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (TOF-ERDA), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. The film thickness is precisely controlled by the number of precursor supply cycles, as expected for an ALD process. The reaction mechanism is addressed by computational density functional theory (DFT) modeling. We moreover carry out preliminary tests with CuCl and Ni(thd) in combination with DEZ to confirm that these processes yield Cu-Zn and Ni-Zn thin films with DEZ as well. Thus, we envision an opening of a new ALD approach based on DEZ for intermetallic/metal alloy thin films.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00907 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Harmonic generation, a notable non-linear phenomenon, has promising applications in information processing. For spin-waves in ferromagnetic materials, great progress has been made in the generation higher harmonics, however probing the coherence of these higher harmonics is challenging. Here, using in-situ diamond sensors, we study the coherent harmonic generation of spin waves in a soft ferromagnet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
The construction of thin film heterostructures has been a widely successful archetype for fabricating materials with emergent physical properties. This strategy is of particular importance for the design of multilayer magnetic architectures in which direct interfacial spin-spin interactions between magnetic phases in dissimilar layers lead to emergent and controllable magnetic behavior. However, crystallographic incommensurability and atomic-scale interfacial disorder can severely limit the types of materials amenable to this strategy, as well as the performance of these systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Converg
January 2025
Advanced Radiation Technology Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 29 Geumgu-gil, Jeongeup-si, Jeolabuk-do, 56212, Republic of Korea.
Metal-oxide thin-film semiconductors have been highlighted as next-generation space semiconductors owing to their excellent radiation hardness based on their dimensional advantages of very low thickness and insensitivity to crystal structure. However, thin-film transistors (TFTs) do not exhibit intrinsic radiation hardness owing to the chemical reactions at the interface exposed to ambient air. In this study, significantly enhanced radiation hardness of AlO-passivated ZnO TFTs against high-energy protons with energies of up to 100 MeV is obtained owing to the passivation layer blocking interactions with external reactants, thereby maintaining the chemical stability of the thin-film semiconductor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Chem Lett
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States.
Dark-field and confocal approaches to circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy of uniaxial thin films examine the relationship between symmetry and incoherence in the nonreciprocal CD response, or the component that is antisymmetric about the light propagation direction. Modifying a conventional CD spectrometer for low-angle scattering detection isolates incoherent contributions to nonreciprocal CD of drop-cast thin films, boasting 5-to-10-fold enhancements in CD dissymmetry parameters. Conversely, confocal detection suppresses the nonreciprocal CD response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Chem
January 2025
Nanophotonics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.
An interesting approach of including an upconverter in the MoS counter electrode can yield broadband light harvesting Pt-free DSSC assembly. Here different upconverter (UC) nanoparticles (Yb, Er incorporated NaYF, YF, CeO & YO) were synthesized and loaded in MoS thin film by hydrothermal method. The inclusion of UCs in MoS films exposed without any secondary formation of upconverters and the uniform deposition of the films are confirmed through XRD and FESEM analysis respectively.
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