thin films

Nanoscale goldbeating: Ancient Egyptian technique adapted for fabricating 2D thin films

By Guest Contributor / October 20, 2023

Two-dimensional thin films are often fabricated using bottom-up solution-based techniques, such as electrochemical deposition and atomic layer deposition. Now researchers have reported a top-down, solid-state method based on the age-old Egyptian craft of goldbeating that they say is generalizable to various metallic, polymeric, or ceramic nanoparticles.

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Small scale, big discoveries: Reducing thickness of antiferroelectric films turns them ferroelectric

By Lisa McDonald / February 14, 2023

While size effects in ferroelectric materials have been extensively studied, there are far fewer studies on how structure and properties evolve in antiferroelectric materials with reduced dimensions. In a recent open-access paper, researchers report the surprising discovery that below a certain thickness, antiferroelectric films will become completely ferroelectric.

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Good things come in even smaller packages: ZrO2 thin films on silicon show ferroelectricity down to 5 angstroms

By Guest Contributor / December 9, 2022

Ferroelectric materials are expected to revolutionize the next generation of ultralow-power microelectronics. In a recent study, researchers led by the University of California, Berkeley achieved atomic-scale ferroelectricity in fluorite-structured zirconium dioxide thin films on silicon.

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Toward next-gen thermochromic glass: Researchers improve understanding of insulator-metal transition in vanadium dioxide films

By Lisa McDonald / September 18, 2020

Vanadium dioxide is being actively investigated for use in thermochromic glass due to its insulator-metal transition. However, the mechanism behind this transition is still not well understood. Researchers in Russia used the framework of blow-up overheating instability to improve understanding of this transition.

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New materials for flexible electronics: Deposition technique bends possibilities with MXene thin films

By April Gocha / March 13, 2018

A team of scientists from Texas A&M University has developed an aqueous deposition technique to build flexible MXene thin films that could enable new possibilities for future flexible electronics.

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MXene materials may enable more sensitive gas sensors for medical diagnostics and more—but dog noses are still superior

By April Gocha / February 6, 2018

A group of researchers from Drexel University and KAIST in South Korea has shown that titanium carbide MXene thin films have superior gas sensing ability over existing gas sensor materials, making them particularly suitable for enabling the next generation of medical diagnostic sensor technologies.

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Celebrating ACerS 2017 awards and honors, plus more inside September ACerS Bulletin

By April Gocha / August 17, 2017

The September 2017 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring ACerS 2017 class of awards, an interagency report on ceramic coatings to improve engine efficiency, and a novel bauxite porcelain microstructure for high-voltage insulation—is now available online.

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Perovskite oxide with record high conductivity could replace indium tin oxide in display screens and beyond

By April Gocha / May 9, 2017

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and beyond may have found the ideal indium tin oxide replacement in a transparent perovskite oxide material that displays record high conductivity despite having a wide bandgap.

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MXene films provide option for better, thinner electromagnetic shielding for electronic devices

By April Gocha / September 20, 2016

Researchers at Drexel University and Korea Institute of Science & Technology are working together to develop new materials into incredibly thin and lightweight films than can more effectively block electromagnetic radiation.

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Layered perovskites surprise scientists with disappearing polarity under strain

By April Gocha / July 28, 2016

A team of scientists at Northwestern University has discovered that some ferroelectric materials are hiding a surprise. Layered perovskites don’t conform to conventional wisdom—instead, these materials completely turn off polarization if enough strain is applied to them.

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