The Annealing Effects of ZnO Thin Films on Characteristic Parameters of Au/ZnO Schottky Contacts on n-Si

200 nm ZnO thin films have been grown on n type Silicon substrates by DC sputtering technique. One of the thin films has been annealed at 300 ºC for 45 minutes. The Au front contacts on ZnO thin films have been formed by evaporation of Au metal by means of shadow mask. It has been seen that the rectification ratio of Au/ZnO device obtained using annealed ZnO thin film is higher than the one obtained using unannealed ZnO thin film. The characteristic parameters of Au/ZnO junctions such as ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance obtained by current-voltage (I-V) measurements of the structures at room temperature and in dark have been compared with each others. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2490

The effects of water on the morphology and the swelling behavior of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) films

Thin sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) films swell excessively in water. The extent of water-induced swelling is shown to be correlated with the optical anisotropy of the films, due to two distinct phenomena. Firstly, the optical anisotropy is directly related to the amount of water taken up from the surrounding ambient atmosphere, and thus to amount of water present in the material just prior to swelling. Secondly, the optical anisotropy corresponds to internal stresses in the film that affect the free energy of the film, and thus the potential of the film to swell. The anisotropy vanishes upon sorption of liquid water and returns when the water is desorbed. When the water is completely removed, the film changes from more or less colorless to an intense yellow color that can be attributed to molecular assembly of the aromatic rings in the polymer backbone. The color change is reversible and occurs immediately upon exposure to low humidity. For films prepared in the absence of water, the lack of hydration of the sulfonic acid groups affects the microphase separation behavior of the polymer. This is manifested by an apparent lower propensity to water-induced swelling. The possibility to affect the properties of sulfonated polymer films by varying the hydration state of the polymer during preparation can have important implications for applications of such films

Use of SU8 as a stable and biocompatible adhesion layer for gold bioelectrodes.

Gold is the most widely used electrode material for bioelectronic applications due to its high electrical conductivity, good chemical stability and proven biocompatibility. However, it adheres only weakly to widely used substrate materials such as glass and silicon oxide, typically requiring the use of a thin layer of chromium between the substrate and the metal to achieve adequate adhesion. Unfortunately, this approach can reduce biocompatibility relative to pure gold films due to the risk of the underlying layer of chromium becoming exposed. Here we report on an alternative adhesion layer for gold and other metals formed from a thin layer of the negative-tone photoresist SU-8, which we find to be significantly less cytotoxic than chromium, being broadly comparable to bare glass in terms of its biocompatibility. Various treatment protocols for SU-8 were investigated, with a view to attaining high transparency and good mechanical and biochemical stability. Thermal annealing to induce partial cross-linking of the SU-8 film prior to gold deposition, with further annealing after deposition to complete cross-linking, was found to yield the best electrode properties. The optimized glass/SU8-Au electrodes were highly transparent, resilient to delamination, stable in biological culture medium, and exhibited similar biocompatibility to glass