Heteroepitaxial VO2 thin films on GaN: Structure and metal-insulator transition characteristics J. Appl. Phys. 112, 074114 (2012) Investigation of nonuniformity phenomenon in nanoscale SiO2 and high-k gate dielectrics J. Appl. Phys. 112, 064119 (2012) Strain dependent stabilization of metallic paramagnetic state in epitaxial NdNiO3 thin films Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 132101 (2012) Electrical and optical properties of vanadium dioxide containing gold nanoparticles deposited by pulsed laser deposition Appl.Spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑SE͒ was employed to get insights on the optical, electronic, and transport properties of nanocrystalline titanium nitride (TiN x ) films with respect to their microstructure and stoichiometry. The films' properties can be tailored by varying the energy of bombarding ions during sputter deposition and the substrate temperature (T d ). The best metallic behavior of TiN x ͑resistivity 40 ⍀ cm and conduction density 5.5ϫ10 22 electrons/cm 3 ͒ has been observed in films developed with energy above 100 eV and T d у400°C. A redshift of the optical gaps has been observed for overstoichiometric films, suggesting it as a sensitive probe to investigate the TiN x stoichiometry. The energy, strength, and broadening of the interband transitions were studied with respect to the energy of ions and T d and they were explicitly correlated with the TiN x crystal cell size and grain orientation. On the other hand, the study of intraband absorption has provided the conduction electron density with respect to ion energy and T d , which promotes the densification of TiN x films due to different mechanisms. Combined SE and x-ray analysis was used to identify the electron scattering mechanisms, showing that the main electron scattering sites are the grain boundaries and the Ti vacancies for stoichiometric (xϭ1) and overstoichiometric (xϳ1.1) films, respectively.

Titanium nitride (TiN) is one of the most well-established engineering materials nowadays. TiN can overcome most of the drawbacks of palsmonic metals due to its high electron conductivity and mobility, high melting point and due to the compatibility of its growth with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. In this work, we review the dielectric function spectra of TiN and we evaluate the plasmonic performance of TiN by calculating (i) the Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) dispersion relations and (ii) the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band of TiN nanoparticles, and we demonstrate a significant plasmonic performance of TiN.

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Engineering of solution-grown metal oxide heterointerfaces presents an alternative strategy for thin-film transistor development.

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Improving the charge carrier mobility of solution‐processable organic semiconductors is critical for the development of advanced organic thin‐film transistors and their application in the emerging sector of printed electronics. Here, a simple method is reported for enhancing the hole mobility in a wide range of organic semiconductors, including small‐molecules, polymers, and small‐molecule:polymer blends, with the latter systems exhibiting the highest mobility. The method is simple and relies on admixing of the molecular Lewis acid B(C6F5)3 in the semiconductor formulation prior to solution deposition. Two prototypical semiconductors where B(C6F5)3 is shown to have a remarkable impact are the blends of 2,8‐difluoro‐5,11‐bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene:poly(triarylamine) (diF‐TESADT:PTAA) and 2,7‐dioctyl[1]‐benzothieno[3,2‐b][1]benzothiophene:poly(indacenodithiophene‐co‐benzothiadiazole) (C8‐BTBT:C16‐IDTBT), for which hole mobilities of 8 and 11 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively, are obtained. Doping of the 6,13‐bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene:PTAA blend with B(C6F5)3 is also shown to increase the maximum hole mobility to 3.7 cm2 V−1 s−1. Analysis of the single and multicomponent materials reveals that B(C6F5)3 plays a dual role, first acting as an efficient p‐dopant, and secondly as a microstructure modifier. Semiconductors that undergo simultaneous p‐doping and dopant‐induced long‐range crystallization are found to consistently outperform transistors based on the pristine materials. Our work underscores Lewis acid doping as a generic strategy towards high performance printed organic microelectronics.

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