Optical Coatings: From Materials to Applications

Dear Colleagues,

This section is interested in the use of thin films in various fields of science and technology, such as the production of electronic, photonic and optoelectronic devices and their integration into various types of devices. The thin-film materials discussed in this section include semiconductors, transparent conducting oxides (TCO), organic and amorphous semiconductors, nanostructured materials, and various other products. The deposition processes of various optical materials with characteristics such as high sensitivity, robust structure, and clear recognition are interesting in terms of their capacity to improve the performance of fiber-optic sensors. Antireflective coatings (ARC) are required for various optical components.

Equally, it is important to develop layers with a high refractive index and with high reflectivity for broadband applications, such as TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅ and others. High-efficiency thin-film materials can be used for photovoltaic applications and in industrial devices.

Thin-film materials can be used more broadly as photodetectors, infrared and quantum infrared photodetectors, semiconductor and quantum cascade lasers, photovoltaic cells, and integrated circuits. Other uses include their roles as semiconductor devices, wireless devices, telecommunications, integrated circuits, and computer chips.  

This section welcomes the submission of articles on topics that include:

• Scientific aspects of methods of deposition and processing of thin films. Growth and crystallization of thin films, atomic layer crystallization, nucleation and processes during the growth and heat treatment of thin films. Formation of crystal structure during growth of films, epitaxial thin films, and expectations versus real structure of monocrystalline films. In situ growth and classification of cluster morphologists: study of growth of composite thin films.
• Thin-film and coating technologies, including physical vapor deposition (PVD), magnetron sputtering (MS), sol–gel technology (SLGL), pulsed laser deposition methods (PLD), plasma/ion beam deposition (PIBD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
• Diagnosis of the characteristics of thin films—using optical, electrical, thermal, spectroscopic, mechanical, X-ray and electron microscopic methods. Low-energy electron diffraction spectroscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy of ultrathin films.

In particular, the topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Technologies and mechanisms of growth of thin films;
• Wide-bandgap, narrow-bandgap semiconductor and metal thin films;
• Thin-film structures for fiber-optic elements, optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices;
• Thin-film coatings for biomedicine and bioelectronics devices;
• Thin films for lenses, mirrors and other optical elements.

Prof. Dr. Ihor S. Virt
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.