Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.7
3.4
Journals
Coatings
Special Issues
Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and...
share announcement

Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2022) | Viewed by 9015

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Imogen Birney

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Thin Films, Surfaces and Imaging, Department of Physics, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland PA1 2BE, UK
Interests: gravitational wave detection; thin film coatings; optics, optical coatings; ion beam technology; tribological coatings; biomedical coatings; vacuum deposition; material characterisation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Shigeng Song

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Institute of Thin Films, Sensors & Imaging, School of Engineering and Computing, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK
Interests: deposition process; device simulation and modelling; optical interference filters; photovoltaics; SERS based on sculptured nano thin films; flexible electronics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the success of the first edition of this Special Issue, we now invite you to submit your work to the second edition, again dedicated to recent and current research in the field of vacuum-deposited thin film coatings.

Today, thin films are near-ubiquitous and are utilised in a very wide range of industrially and scientifically important areas; from familiar everyday instances such as  antireflective coatings on ophthalmic lenses, smartphone optics, photovoltaics, decorative and tool coatings; to somewhat more exotic applications, such as astronomical instrumentation (e.g., ultra-low loss dielectric mirrors and beamsplitters in gravitational wave detectors, such as Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)), gas sensing, medical devices and implants, and particle accelerator coatings (e.g., coatings for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) experiments at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)).

Some of the topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  • Thin film Deposition techniques and technology, e.g., ion beam sputtering, CVD, e-beam, thermal evaporation, magnetron sputtering, ALD;
  • Vacuum technology;
  • Theoretical studies of thin film materials and deposition / growth processes;
  • Novel materials for thin film applications, e.g., graphene, stanene, silicene, germanene, nanoparticle coatings, metamaterials;
  • New applications for thin film coatings;
  • Novel fabrication / deposition techniques;
  • Optical coatings, e.g., for UV, visible, IR, X-ray Bragg mirrors, quantum optics;
  • Tribological/barrier/protective coatings, e.g., gas barrier coatings, anticorrosion coatings, antifouling coatings;
  • Characterisation of thin film coatings: Methods, techniques and theory;
  • Reviews of prior research;
  • Biomedical coatings.

Dr. Imogen Birney
Dr. Shigeng Song
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 8462 KiB  
Article
Multiscale Simulation of Shot-Peening-Assisted Low-Pressure Cold Spraying Based on Al-Zn-Al2O3 Coatings
by Kaoshi Zhang, Yanqiao Song, Shun Cai, Ziyu Wang, Wenliang Chen and Lingling Xie
Coatings 2022, 12(10), 1490; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12101490 - 07 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1462
Abstract
Low-pressure cold spraying has gained much significance for its good economy in recent years. However, compared with high-pressure cold spraying, the unsatisfactory performance of coatings prepared by this method is a key problem restricting its further development. To improve the properties of the [...] Read more.
Low-pressure cold spraying has gained much significance for its good economy in recent years. However, compared with high-pressure cold spraying, the unsatisfactory performance of coatings prepared by this method is a key problem restricting its further development. To improve the properties of the coating without incorporating severe conditions, the paper proposed an original shot-peening-assisted low-pressure cold-spraying method (i.e., SP-LPCS). By proceeding with cold spraying and shot peening alternately, SP-LPCS was proved to enhance the mechanical property of the coating effectively. Mixed particles of Zn, Al, and Al2O3 were adopted as the coating powder. Effects of shot-peening pressure, flow rate, and shot size on the micromorphology and the microhardness variance were studied. Results shows that the thickness of the plastic deformation layer stabilizes as the impact time increases to 6. The microscopic simulation of the deformation shows that according to the different metal characteristics of the powder, brittle grains fracture while plastic grains go through deformation and refinement. Meanwhile, the porosity decreases greatly after the impacts, resulting in a higher denseness of the coating. Several factors mutually contribute to the performance improvement of the coating. The microhardness of the material was increased after SP-LPCS, and obvious strengthening belts were observed, with the highest microhardness being 90.93Hv. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

7 pages, 1792 KiB  
Article
Growth of Highly Transparent Amorphous Carbon Films Using Beam Plasma Source
by Youngsuk Kim, Nina Baule, Maheshwar Shrestha and Qi Hua Fan
Coatings 2022, 12(8), 1159; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12081159 - 11 Aug 2022
Viewed by 1607
Abstract
A single beam plasma source was used to deposit hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) coatings at room temperature. Using methane source gas, a-C:H coatings were deposited at different radio frequency (RF) power to fabricate transparent and durable coatings. The film deposition rate was almost [...] Read more.
A single beam plasma source was used to deposit hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) coatings at room temperature. Using methane source gas, a-C:H coatings were deposited at different radio frequency (RF) power to fabricate transparent and durable coatings. The film deposition rate was almost linearly proportional to the ion source power. Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films of ~100 nm thickness appeared to be highly transparent from UV to the infrared range with a transmittance of ~90% and optical bandgap of ~3.7 eV. The coatings also possess desirable mechanical properties with Young’s modulus of ~78 GPa and density of ~1.9 g/cm3. The combined material properties of high transmittance and high durability make the ion-source-deposited a-C:H coatings attractive for many applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

8 pages, 1713 KiB  
Article
Research on Fabrication Techniques and Focusing Characteristics of Metalens
by Yuhui Zhang, Yuegang Fu, Chenhao Ma, Bowei Yang and Yuanzhi Zhao
Coatings 2022, 12(3), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12030359 - 08 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2186
Abstract
Metalenses have recently attracted increased attention due to their remarkable characteristics. The fabrication technology of metalenses has also become an important research direction. In this study, we propose a metalens structure based on Au–MgF2–Au in infrared waveband. The preparation process of [...] Read more.
Metalenses have recently attracted increased attention due to their remarkable characteristics. The fabrication technology of metalenses has also become an important research direction. In this study, we propose a metalens structure based on Au–MgF2–Au in infrared waveband. The preparation process of the metalens included magnetron sputtering, electron beam evaporation, and electron beam exposure. A dose test was performed during the exposure process, adjusting the exposure dose to minimize the proximity effect after exposure. Then, SEM was used to measure the processed metalens structure, and FDTD software was used to build a model based on the metalens, simulating and analyzing its focusing characteristics. The results show that the size deviation produced during the processing has little effect on the functionality of the metalens. The processed metalens can also focus different polarized light incidences at different spatial positions: The metalens can focus at 4.97 μm for x-polarized light and focus at 13.5 μm for y-polarized light. Additionally, the metalens has good focusing effects with different working wavelengths. We believe that the processing method of metalens proposed in this paper provides guidance for the preparation of subwavelength metasurface structures, and our findings are beneficial in developing new methods of near-infrared regime manipulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 6387 KiB  
Article
Design and Fabrication of an Integrated Dual-Channel Thin-Film Filter for the Mid-Infrared
by Shun Zhou, Liyu Zhang, Feng Guo, Chunfang Wu, Junqi Xu, Kaifeng Zhang, Kun Li, Zheng Liu, Xiangguo Xiao, Shigeng Song and Weiguo Liu
Coatings 2021, 11(7), 803; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11070803 - 02 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2770
Abstract
Micro-filters fabricated using integration methods is now the trend for multichannel filters in imaging spectrum systems. Traditional multichannel bandpass filters are mainly fabricated separately by multilayered thin films and then glued together. This approach involves the complexity of precision cutting, dicing, and adhesive [...] Read more.
Micro-filters fabricated using integration methods is now the trend for multichannel filters in imaging spectrum systems. Traditional multichannel bandpass filters are mainly fabricated separately by multilayered thin films and then glued together. This approach involves the complexity of precision cutting, dicing, and adhesive bonding; therefore, the possibility of miniaturization is quite limited. In this work, a dual channel bandpass thin film filter for the mid-infrared was fabricated by using the lift-off process. The structure of a 4-cavity Fabray–Perot (F-P) type filter was designed and optimized. The bandpass filter over the range 3.55–3.75 µm with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 274 nm and the bandpass filter over the range 4.85–4.95 µm with FWHM of 246 nm were obtained with a 4.5 µm joint width. The average transmittance of the filters is more than 83.5% and optical density value of the cutoff is 3. The thickness of 3.55–3.75 µm bandpass filter was measured and the thickness error was analyzed. The results show that the thickness error, especially the thickness error of spacer layers, induces the degradations of peak transmission and bandwidth. This kind of mid-infrared filter has important application in space remote sensing, military, and civil fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 13658 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Experimental Investigations of Nanostructured Ag Thin Films Produced by Oblique-Angle Deposition and Its SERS Performance
by Datai Hui, Shun Zhou, Changlong Cai, Shigeng Song, Zhentao Wu, Jian Song, Da Zhang, Xiao Meng, Bo Lu, Yingbu Duan, Hayrigul Tursun and Des Gibson
Coatings 2021, 11(4), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11040458 - 15 Apr 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2346
Abstract
The growth mechanism of nanocolumnar silver thin film deposited on a smooth silicon substrate using electron beam evaporation process at an oblique angle was simulated with the Kinetic Monte Carlo method. Following the simulated silver nanostructured thin film, a further computational simulation was [...] Read more.
The growth mechanism of nanocolumnar silver thin film deposited on a smooth silicon substrate using electron beam evaporation process at an oblique angle was simulated with the Kinetic Monte Carlo method. Following the simulated silver nanostructured thin film, a further computational simulation was done using COMSOL for surface-enhanced Raman scattering effects. The simulation results were compared against corresponding experimental results, which demonstrated high agreement between simulation results and experimental data. It was found that as the incident deposition angle increased, the density of the Ag thin film significantly decreased and the surface roughness increased. When the incident deposition angle was at 75° and 85°, the resulting nanocolumnar structure was significantly tilted. For Ag thin films deposited at all investigated angles, surface-enhanced Raman scattering effects were observed. Particularly, the Ag nanocolumns deposited at 85° showed remarkable Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering effects. This was seen in both COMSOL simulations and experimental results: Enhancement factors were 2 × 107 in COMSOL simulation and 3.3 × 105 in the experiment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research in Thin Film Deposition: Applications, Theory, Processing, and Characterisation II)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop