Monoclinic scheelite BiVO 4 thin films have been successfully prepared by a chemical solution approach of polymer-assisted deposition. The films are transparent yellow with granular morphology and show a strong absorption in the visible light region. The band gap of BiVO 4 films is estimated to be 2.54 eV. The photoresponse of the films on conducting oxide electrode substrates is observed, and the photocurrent increases with the higher energy absorption bands.

We report a solution based synthesis of epitaxial thin films of neptunium oxide and plutonium oxide. Actinides represent a challenge to first principle calculations due to features that arise from f orbital interactions. Conventional semi-local density functional theory predicts NpO 2 and PuO 2 to be metallic, when they are well known insulators. Improvements in theory are dependent on comparison with accurate measurements of material properties, which in turn demand high-quality samples. The high melting point of actinide oxides and their inherent radioactivity makes single crystal and epitaxial film formation challenging. We report on the preparation of high quality epitaxial actinide films. The films have been characterized through a combination of X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption fine structure (XANES and EXAFS) measurements. We report band gaps of 2.80 6 0.1 eV and 2.85 6 0.1 eV at room temperature for PuO 2 and NpO 2 , respectively, and compare our measurements with state-of-the-art calculations. V

Articles you may be interested inFormation of nickel silicide and germanosilicide layers on Si(001), relaxed Si Ge ∕ Si ( 001 ) , and strained Si/relaxed Si Ge ∕ Si ( 001 ) and effect of postthermal annealingThe formation of NiSi films on Si was studied using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, and ellipsometry. NiSi is an attractive candidate for use as a gate contact material due to its low metal-like resistivity and large processing window ͑350-750°C͒. Three phases, Ni 2 Si, NiSi, and NiSi 2 , were identified in this temperature range, and their optical databases in the 2-4 eV photon range were established, and used to model real-time ellipsometry data. It is shown that real-time ellipsometry can be used to monitor and follow the formation of the various Ni-Si phases. We have also observed the onset of agglomeration of the silicide for longer time anneals at temperatures of 500-700°C, which is much lower than 1000°C where agglomeration has been reported to occur.

We have demonstrated the ability to apply thin conformal films onto complex nanostructures using a polymer assisted deposition technique. Sequestering the metal by binding it to a polymer results in a bottom‐up growth process that leads to conformal film deposition. We have deposited a thin film of the phosphor Eu:YVO4 on 60 μm thick anodiscs® with 200 nm pores resulting in highly luminescent nanostructures.

Ba .5 Sr .5 TiO 3 (BST) film growth by ion sputtering on bare and thermally oxidized silicon was observed in real time using in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry and time of flight ion scattering and recoil spectrometry techniques. At the outset of BST film deposition on silicon, an approximately 30 Å film with intermediate static dielectric constant (K∼12) and refractive index (n∼2.6 at photon energies of 1.5–3.25 eV) interface layer formed on bare silicon. The interface layer growth rate was greatly reduced on an oxidized silicon substrate. The results have profound implications on the static dielectric constant of BST.