Nanotribology and fractal analysis of ZnO thin films using scanning probe microscopy

Abstract

Characteristics of crystalline structure, roughness and nanotribology of ZnO thin films deposited under various power conditions were achieved by means of x-ray diffraction and scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The ZnO thin films were deposited on the silicon (100) substrates by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering system. Fractal analysis was derived from SPM images, to calculate the fractal dimension complexity of the surface geometry, via a substituting structure function. The results show that the roughness decreases and nanowear rate increases as the sputtering power increases. In addition, the fractal dimensions of the ZnO thin films are also presented.

Synthesis and Antibacterial Properties of ZnO:Ag Films Prepared from a TritonMR Containing Solution

“…A different approach is the use of a relatively low-cost ZnO matrix, since it has been largely demonstrated its capacity to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, as well to act as a high-range antibacterial agent [9 ,10]. Furthermore, it´s possible to be obtained as thin films with high durability and enhanced mechanical properties [11,12]; as well as high transparency, which makes it ideally for glass-windows [13]. These properties makes ZnO attractive in places where high hygiene it´s necessary [14].…”

Investigation of the Surface Properties of Diamond-Like Carbon Films Using Multifractal Analysis

“…A promising approach to describe such self-similar state to the surface is the multifractal analysis [1][2][3]. Introduced by Benoit Mandelbrot, general pattern of geometric properties of the physical world, which is manifested in the self-similarity of its structure, has found numerous applications in materials science and has provided new opportunities for describing disordered materials microstructures using rigorous quantitative terms, such as fractal dimension.…”

“…To date, it has been found that to describe the self-similarity of Corresponding author: Narek Margaryan, Ph.D., research fields: semiconductor phsics, nanotechnology, carbón films, quantum physics. natural materials is not enough just to use one of the fractal dimensions, and the works of different authors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] show that the multifractal formalism provides such an opportunity. One of the important physical parameters of the nanostructured films is surface potential, which we can calculate using the results obtained by multifractal analysis.…”

“…Coordinates of the pixels on the plane are numbers of rows and columns of pixels in the matrix (by which the image represented in digital form) and also are a set of integers. Thus, using the color characteristics of pixels as the usual number, we can imagine a flat image of the surface topography in three dimensions [3,7,[10][11][12][13][14][15]. Examples of such structures may be three-dimensional digital images of the surface of materials obtained by AFM (atomic force microscope) (Fig.1).…”

Nanomechanical characteristics of BaxSr1−xTiO3 thin films

“…Modern nanoindentation testing equipment allows penetration depth curves to be measured as a function of load where the loads extend down to the range of micro-Newtons, resulting in typical penetration depths in the range of nanometers. This technique is well suited for examining the mechanical properties of thin films [9,10].…”