High quality indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were grown without oxygen by both dc and RF magnetron sputtering techniques on glass substrates. The effects of substrate temperature, film thickness and sputtering method on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the as-grown films were investigated. The results showed that the substrate temperature had substantial effects on the film properties, in particular on the crystallization and resistivity. When the substrate temperature was increased to 150 • C, crystallization in the (2 2 2) plane started appearing for both dc and RF sputtered films. We additionally found that with further increments of substrate temperature, the preferred crystallization orientation changed differently for dc and RF sputtered films. Optical transmission in the visible region for a film thickness of 70 nm was found to be above 85%. The bandgap was calculated to be about 3.64 eV for the substrate temperature of 150 • C for a 70 nm thick film. The value of the bandgap increased with respect to the increment in film thickness as well as substrate temperature. We also measured the temperature dependence of the resistivity and Hall coefficient of the films, and calculated the carrier concentration and Hall mobility. Very low room temperature resistivities for dc and RF magnetron sputtered grown films of about 1.28 × 10 −4 cm and 1.29 × 10 −4 cm, respectively, were obtained.

The effects of Li substitution on the properties of high temperature superconductor Bi 17 Pb 0.3 Sr 2 C 2 Cu 3−x Li x O y were investigated. The samples were prepared by substituting Li (x = 0.00-0.20) with changing ratios by a solid state reaction method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, DC electrical resistivity, AC magnetic susceptibility, and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The X-ray diffraction studies were done at room temperature and the lattice constants of the material were determined by indexing all the peaks observed.This study shows that there are two coexisting phases; high-T c (2223) phase and low-T c (2212) phase. The lattice structure of the material belongs to the orthorhombic unit cell. The volume fraction was estimated from the intensities of Bi-(2223) and Bi-(2212) phases. The sample with 20 wt% of added Li showed the higher volume fraction of Bi-(2223) phase formed (81%) compared to the other samples. The DC electrical resistivity of all the samples decreased as the wt% of Li increased. Both the onset critical temperatures T c (onset) and zero electrical resistivity critical temperatures T c (R = 0) of the samples were determined from the DC electrical resistivity measurements. The observed value of the onset critical T c (onset) temperature was 110 K agreeing well with the magnetic susceptibility measurements. We obtained T c onset at 112 K from AC magnetic susceptibility measurements.

Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) was prepared by exposing the graphene transferred to different substrates to atomic nitrogen plasma.

HgTe/Hg 0.05 Cd 0.95 Te superlattices (SLs) were grown on (112)B oriented Cd 0.96 Zn 0.04 Te substrates using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The SLs, consisting of 100 periods of 80-Å-thick HgTe wells alternating with 77-Å-thick Hg 0.05 Cd 0.95 Te barriers, were designed to operate as detectors in the far-infrared (FIR) region. Infrared absorption spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Hall effect measurements, and x-ray diffraction were used to characterize the superlattice layers. A series of annealing experiments were initiated to quantify the temperature-dependent interdiffusion of the HgTe wells and Hg 0.05 Cd 0.95 Te barriers and consequently their degradation, which shifts the absorption edges of the SLs to higher energies, since a hightemperature ex situ anneal is normally required in order to produce the p-type material required for a photovoltaic detector. Results from infrared absorption spectroscopy, TEM, and Hall effect measurements for the annealed samples are presented. A FIR SLs single-element photoconductive (PC) device was designed and fabricated. Both material characterization and device testing have established the applicability of the HgTe/Hg 0.05 Cd 0.95 Te SLs for the FIR region.

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