Articles you may be interested inFormation of Pd nanocrystals in titanium-oxide film by rapid thermal annealing of reactively cosputtered TiPdO films J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 29, 021006 (2011); 10.1116/1.3549112 Thermal oxidation of polycrystalline tungsten nanowire J. Appl. Phys. 108, 094312 (2010); 10.1063/1.3504248 Relieving Sn whisker growth driven by oxidation on Cu leadframe by annealing and reflowing treatments J. Appl. Phys. 102, 043521 (2007); 10.1063/1.2770832 Room-temperature semiconductor gas sensor based on nonstoichiometric tungsten oxide nanorod film Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 213105 (2005); 10.1063/1.1929872X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy study on the thermal stability of WO 3 thin films Tungsten oxide whiskers were prepared on a tungsten thin film by oxidation with H 2 O and a subsequent annealing treatment at a temperature of over 900°C in a vacuum. The tungsten oxide formed by oxidation was transformed into smooth, straight whiskers with a monoclinic-crystalline structure after the vacuum annealing treatment. The whiskers showed an oxygen-deficient stoichiometry and a crystalline structure consistent with W 18 O 49 , which was dependent on the annealing temperature and vacuum used. The competition between the whisker growth and the dissociation of W oxide has a significant effect on the crystal shape, as well as the size of the whiskers. A change in the binding state during whisker formation indicates that some of the dissociated W oxide contributes to whisker formation and that crystalline whiskers are grown at nucleation sites through this process.

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A chemical sensor was fabricated using indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films printed on biodegradable plastic substrates. The ITO layers were printed on polylactic acid (PLA) films. To optimize the printing procedure, the thermal properties of the PLA substrate were investigated using the differential scanning calorimetry method. The structural and electrical properties of the fabricated ITO films (P-ITO) were compared with commercial sputtered ITO films (S-ITO). X-ray diffraction and Hall effect measurements were used to estimate the grain size and the carrier transportation mechanism of the ITO films. The small grain size of P-ITO was attributed to its scattering mechanism. Grain boundary scattering was shown to be dominant in the P-ITO. The chemical sensing properties were also evaluated using a droplet of methanol (20 µl), indicating that the response rate of the P-ITO film was considerably higher (650%) than that of the S-ITO film. These results were attributed to the large surface area of the P-ITO film.

AlN thin films were grown by using pulsed sputter deposition (PSD), and the cause of the crystallinity change caused by heat treatment was investigated. The AlN thin films were grown on a sapphire substrate and annealed at temperatures of 700 ∼ 1100 • C by flowing nitrogen gas through a horizontal furnace. The change in the surface morphology, the crystallinity, and the vibration mode were investigated. The PSD-grown samples showed relatively good crystallinity with a very flat surface. Furthermore, the effect of residual strain, which is commonly observed in thin AlN films deposited by sputtering, was confirmed using X-ray diffraction. When the heat treatment temperature was above 900 • C, surface oxidation proceeded rapidly, and the surface morphology and the changes in the crystal phase were confirmed. From the results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, the oxidation observed during annealing was found to be related to the interstitial Al defects occurring during film formation.