| 1. |
- Kubart, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling of Magnetron Sputtering of Tungsten Oxide with Reactive Gas Pulsing
- 2007
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Ingår i: Plasma Processes and Polymers. - : Wiley. - 1612-8850 .- 1612-8869. ; 4, s. S522-S526
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reactive sputtering is one of the most commonly employed processes for the deposition of thin films. However, the range of applications is limited by inherent instabilities, which necessitates the use of a complex feedback control of reactive gas (RG) partial pressure. Recently pulsing of the RG has been suggested as a possible alternative. In this report, the concept of periodically switching the RG flow between two different values is applied to the deposition of tungsten oxide. The trends in the measured time dependent RG pressure and discharge voltage are reproduced by a dynamical model developed for this process. Furthermore, the model predicts the compositional depth profile of the deposited film reasonably well, and in particular helps to understand the formation of the interfaces in the resulting multi-layer film.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Polcar, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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Nanoscale colour control : W-O graded coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nanotechnology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0957-4484 .- 1361-6528. ; 19:39, s. 395202-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new design of decorative tungsten oxide coatings is presented. The coatings were deposited with a graded refractive index by magnetron sputtering from a tungsten target and pulsing the reactive gas. The controlled injection of the reactive gas can produce a concentration profile gradient from pure tungsten to tungsten trioxide, determining the final apparent colour of the coating. A dynamic sputtering model was built to simulate the growth of the coating during the reactive gas pulsing which was validated by direct measurement of the gradient of the oxygen content in the deposited coatings. Finally, these results were used for an optical model allowing the optical properties of the deposited tungsten oxide layer to be described, again validated by experimental analysis. This procedure allows the deposition of coatings with the desired colour by using the models to finding the optimal oxygen pulse parameters. This proposed method can be easily applied to almost any metal/metal oxide system.
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| 4. |
- Borges, J., et al.
(författare)
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Broadband Optical Absorption Caused by the Plasmonic Response of Coalesced Au Nanoparticles Embedded in a TiO2 Matrix
- 2016
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 120:30, s. 16931-16945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of Au nanopattides' (NPs) concentration, site, and spatial distribution within a TiO2 dielectric matrix on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band characteristics was experimentally and theoretically studied. The results of the analysis of the Au NPs' size distributions allowed us to conclude that isolated NPs grow only up to 5 to 6 nm in site, even for the highest annealing temperature used. However, for higher volume fractions of Au, the coalescence of closely located NPs yields elongated clusters that are much larger in size and cause a considerable broadening of the LSPR band. This effect was confirmed by Monte Carlo modeling results. Coupled dipole equations were solved to find the electromagnetic modes of a supercell, where isolated and coalesced NPs were distributed, from which an effective dielectric function of the nanocomposite material was calculated and used to evaluate the optical transmittance and reflectance spectra. The modeling results suggested that the observed LSPR band broadening is due to a wider spectral distribution of plasmonic modes, caused by the presence of coalesced NPs (in addition to the usual damping effect). This is particularly important for detection applications via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), where it is desirable to have a spectrally broad LSPR band in order:to favor the fulfillment of the conditions of resonance matching, to electronic transitions in detected species.
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| 5. |
- Borges, J., et al.
(författare)
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Thin films composed of Ag nanoclusters dispersed in TiO2 : Influence of composition and thermal annealing on the microstructure and physical responses
- 2015
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Ingår i: Applied Surface Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-4332 .- 1873-5584. ; 358, s. 595-604
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Noble metal powders containing gold and silver have been used for many centuries, providing different colours in the windows of the medieval cathedrals and in ancient Roman glasses. Nowadays, the interest in nanocomposite materials containing noble nanoparticles embedded in dielectric matrices is related with their potential use for a wide range of advanced technological applications. They have been proposed for environmental and biological sensing, tailoring colour of functional coatings, or for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Most of these applications rely on the so-called localised surface plasmon resonance absorption, which is governed by the type of the noble metal nanoparticles, their distribution, size and shape and as well as of the dielectric characteristics of the host matrix. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the composition and thermal annealing on the morphological and structural changes of thin films composed of Ag metal clusters embedded in a dielectric TiO2 matrix. Since changes in size, shape and distribution of the clusters are fundamental parameters for tailoring the properties of plasmonic materials, a set of films with different Ag concentrations was prepared. The optical properties and the thermal behaviour of the films were correlated with the structural and morphological changes promoted by annealing. The films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering and in order to promote the clustering of the Ag nanoparticles the as-deposited samples were subjected to an in-air annealing protocol. It was demonstrated that the clustering of metallic Ag affects the optical response spectrum and the thermal behaviour of the films.
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| 6. |
- Borges, J., et al.
(författare)
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Thin films composed of gold nanoparticles dispersed in a dielectric matrix : The influence of the host matrix on the optical and mechanical responses
- 2015
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Ingår i: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier BV. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 596, s. 8-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gold nanoparticles were dispersed in two different dielectric matrices, TiO2 and Al2O3, using magnetron sputtering and a post-deposition annealing treatment. The main goal of the present work was to study how the two different host dielectric matrices, and the resulting microstructure evolution (including both the nanoparticles and the host matrix itself) promoted by thermal annealing, influenced the physical properties of the films. In particular, the structure and morphology of the nanocomposites were correlated with the optical response of the thin films, namely their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) characteristics. Furthermore, and in order to scan the future application of the two thin film system in different types of sensors (namely biological ones), their functional behaviour (hardness and Young's modulus change) was also evaluated. Despite the similar Au concentrations in both matrices (similar to 11 at.%), very different microstructural features were observed, which were found to depend strongly on the annealing temperature. The main structural differences included: (i) the early crystallization of the TiO2 host matrix, while the Al2O3 one remained amorphous up to 800 degrees C; (ii) different grain size evolution behaviours with the annealing temperature, namely an almost linear increase for the Au:TiO2 system (from 3 to 11 nm), and the approximately constant values observed in the Au:Al2O3 system (4-5 nm). The results from the nanoparticle size distributions were also found to be quite sensitive to the surrounding matrix, suggesting different mechanisms for the nanoparticle growth (particle migration and coalescence dominating in TiO2 and Ostwald ripening in Al2O3). These different clustering behaviours induced different transmittance-LSPR responses and a good mechanical stability, which opens the possibility for future use of these nanocomposite thin film systems in some envisaged applications (e.g. LSPR-biosensors).
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| 7. |
- Gustavsson, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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A High-Resolution TEM/EELS Study of the Effect of Doping Elements on the Sliding Mechanisms of Sputtered WS2 Coatings
- 2013
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been shown many times that cosputtering low-friction coatings of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten disulfide (WS2) with other elements can improve the structural, mechanical, and tribological properties. To achieve the lowest friction, MoS2 or WS2 should be doped with element(s) improving the hardness and density of the coatings. On the other hand, such elements, or their compounds, should not be present in the outermost molecular layers at the sliding interface. This article suggests that there are important differences between how MoS2 and WS2 coatings respond to or react with doping elements, despite the almost identical structure and behavior of the undoped materials. Two systems have been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning TEM (STEM) electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), W-S-C-Cr and W-S-C-Ti, and showed significant amounts of oxides, which typically formed a layer just underneath the crystalline WS2 top layer. Further, carbon was almost completely absent in the tribofilms, despite the fact that the as-deposited coatings contained as much as 40-50 at% C. An interesting observation here is that WS2 basal planes surround or embed Fe wear particles, suggesting a relatively strong adhesion or a Fe-S chemical bonding between iron/steel and WS2. The result of this is that the wear particles become pacified and remain in the contact as low-friction material.
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| 8. |
- Gustavsson, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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A High-Resolution TEM/EELS Study of the Effect of Doping Elements on the Sliding Mechanisms of Sputtered WS2 Coatings
- 2015
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Ingår i: Tribology Transactions. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1040-2004 .- 1547-397X. ; 58:1, s. 113-118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been shown many times that cosputtering low-friction coatings of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten disulfide (WS2) with other elements can improve the structural, mechanical, and tribological properties. To achieve the lowest friction, MoS2 or WS2 should be doped with element(s) improving the hardness and density of the coatings. On the other hand, such elements, or their compounds, should not be present in the outermost molecular layers at the sliding interface. This article suggests that there are important differences between how MoS2 and WS2 coatings respond to or react with doping elements, despite the almost identical structure and behavior of the undoped materials. Two systems have been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning TEM (STEM) electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), W-S-C-Cr and W-S-C-Ti, and showed significant amounts of oxides, which typically formed a layer just underneath the crystalline WS2 top layer. Further, carbon was almost completely absent in the tribofilms, despite the fact that the as-deposited coatings contained as much as 40-50 at% C. An interesting observation here is that WS2 basal planes surround or embed Fe wear particles, suggesting a relatively strong adhesion or a Fe-S chemical bonding between iron/steel and WS2. The result of this is that the wear particles become pacified and remain in the contact as low-friction material.
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| 9. |
- Gustavsson, Fredrik, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Frictional behavior of self-adaptive nanostructural Mo-Se-C coatings in different sliding conditions
- 2013
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Ingår i: Wear. - : Elsevier BV. - 0043-1648 .- 1873-2577. ; 303:1-2, s. 286-296
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sliding properties of Mo-Se-C coatings with two different carbon content deposited by magnetron sputtering were investigated in different sliding environments (argon, nitrogen, dry and humid air). Both coatings had a structure that was identified as randomly oriented structures of MoSe2 embedded into amorphous carbon matrix. The worn surfaces, i.e. the wear tracks and the wear scars of the balls, were analyzed by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The material transferred to the ball steel surfaces was almost exclusively MoSe2, whereas the wear tracks on the coatings were more complex, with areas rich in MoSe2 and areas similar to that of as-deposited coatings. The friction was lowest in argon (0.012 at a load of 10 N) and highest in humid air, but still remarkably low; as best 0.05 at 10 N load; however, the exceptionally low wear rate was almost identical. Thus, we focused our detailed analysis on these two examples to understand the mechanisms responsible for the difference between the friction coefficients. SEM, EDX, XPS, Raman and TEM with EELS and EDX were applied to investigate the composition and structure of localized spots of interest on the tested surfaces. In both cases, we observed well-ordered MoSe2 tribofilms with negligible amount of oxides. Carbon was not present in the sliding interfaces, although large amount of carbon was found outside the contacts on both surfaces. Based on our investigations, we suggest the increase in friction of Mg-Se-C in humid air is primarily due to the increase in shear strength of the MoSe2 structure by the presence of water molecules in the sliding interface
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| 10. |
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