Polymer-assisted deposition of metal-oxide films.
Metal oxides are emerging as important materials for their versatile properties such as high-temperature superconductivity, ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, piezoelectricity and semiconductivity. Metal-oxide films are conventionally grown by physical and chemical vapour deposition. However, the high cost of necessary equipment and restriction of coatings on a relatively small area have limited their potential applications. Chemical-solution depositions such as sol-gel are more cost-effective, but many metal oxides cannot be deposited and the control of stoichiometry is not always possible owing to differences in chemical reactivity among the metals. Here we report a novel process to grow metal-oxide films in large areas at low cost using polymer-assisted deposition (PAD), where the polymer controls the viscosity and binds metal ions, resulting in a homogeneous distribution of metal precursors in the solution and the formation of uniform metal-organic films. The latter feature makes it possible to grow simple and complex crack-free epitaxial metal-oxides.
Jia
Q X
QX
Superconductivity Technology Center, Division of Materials Science and Technology, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. qxjia@lanl.gov
McCleskey
T M
TM
Burrell
A K
AK
Lin
Y
Y
Collis
G E
GE
Wang
H
H
Li
A D Q
AD
Foltyn
S R
SR
D000327:Adsorption; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D003461:Crystallography / Q000379:methods; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D008420:Manufactured Materials; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008669:Metallurgy / Q000379:methods*; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
D005740:Gases; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides; D011108:Polymers; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium