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Society of Vacuum Coaters | June 2014 |
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Pulsed Plasma Lubricator Technology for the In Situ Replenishment of Dry Lulbricants in Extreme Environments
From NASA Tech Briefs, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, April 1, 2014
"NASA missions employing mobility systems and other moving mechanical assemblies for application on Mars, the Moon, and in deep space depend on the reliable operation in these assemblies and their tribological components. Wet lubricants are sometimes used in space applications, but in order to avoid solidification they often require active heating due to the extreme cold temperatures that are encountered. Dry lubricants, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) are more commonly chosen for space mechanisms. A major drawback of dry lubricants is low wear resistance that eventually lead to failure of the assembly as the lubricant is removed.
A practical near-term solution to extending the life of dry lubricants is to replenish the material in situ. A pulsed plasma lubricator (PPL) has been developed that can deposit films of lubricating materials such as MoS2, copper, Teflon on a remote substrate with lubricating and wear resistance properties equal to or greater than pre-applied films or dry lubricant. The testing revealed that PPL-deposited films had better wear properties than pre-applied films such as Teflon."
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Identifying the Complex Growth Process of Strontium Titanate Thin Films
From National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS, Japan), April 11, 2014
"The research group at the National Institute for Materials Science [NIMS]) and the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) of Tohoku University have for the first time, successfully observed the growth of metal-oxide thin films at an atomic level on the surface of single-crystal strontium titanate (SrTiO3)."
Image: NIMS |
'Smart Window' Material May Make Better Batteries
From SLAC, April 2, 2014, by Glenn Roberts Jr.
"High-tech "smart windows," which darken to filter out sunlight in response to electric current, function much like batteries. Now, X-ray studies at SLAC, Stanford Univ., provide a crystal-clear view into how the color-changing material in these windows behaves in a working battery - information that could benefit next-generation rechargeable batteries.
Researchers installed ultrathin sheets of smart-window material, nickel oxide, as the anode in a lithium-ion battery, and used SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) and equipment at other labs to study its changing chemistry and 3-D structure."
Source: SLAC, https://www6.slac.stanford.edu Image: Huolin Xin/Brookhaven Lab and Feng Lin/LBNL Berkeley |
Scalable CVD Process for Making 2-D Molybdenum Diselenide
From Rice University, April 8, 2014, by Jade Boyd
"Nanoengineering researchers at Rice University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have unveiled a potentially scalable method for making one-atom-thick layers of molybdenum diselenide - a highly sought semiconductor that is similar to graphene but has better properties for making certain electronic devices like switchable transistors and light-emitting diodes.
The CVD process is used for making two-dimensional molybdenum diselenide and is described online in a new paper in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano."
Image: Rice University |
First Solar and Hanergy Solar: Different Strategies but Overlapping Thin-Film Dreams
From PV-Tech, March 31, 2014, by Finlay Colville
"Recently, two of the leading custodians of thin-film solar PV technology have restated or amended their long-term industry plans. The two companies in question are First Solar and Hanergy Solar."
Image: Beck Energy, NREL 14726
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Flexible Battery, No LIthium Required
From Rice University, April 28, 2014, by Mike Williams
"Rice chemist James Tour and his colleagues have developed a flexible material with nanoporous nickel-fluoride electrodes layered around a solid electrolyte to deliver battery-like supercapacitor performance that combines the best qualities of a high-energy battery and a high-powered supercapacitor without the lithium found in commercial batteries."
Image: James Fitlow /Rice University |
Unlocking Secrets of New Solar Material
From NREL, April 15, 2014 by Bill Scanlon
"Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are analyzing the new material, perovskite, using the lab's unique testing capabilities and broad spectrum of expertise to uncover the secrets and potential of the semiconducting cube-like mineral.
NREL has already produced three scientific papers on perovskite, reporting on the science behind the very large length of the electron pairs in mesostructured perovskite solar cells. What makes perovskite device structures so remarkable is that when processed in a liquid solution, they have unusual abilities to diffuse photons a long distance through the cell. As a result, the number of electrons recombining with their hole pairs increases and solar cell efficiency increases."
Image: NREL/Dennis Schroeder |
A Lab on Fiber
From IEEE Spectrum, April 2014, by Jacque Albert
"Ever since optical fibers became cheap and abundant in the 1980s, researchers have experimented with all sorts of ways to build lab-on-fiber sensors. A research group at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada and their collaborators, including engineers at the Universit� de Mons, in Belgium, and Jinan University, in China, are developing a lab on fiber that is simple to make and yet can provide extremely precise measurements. They begin the fabrication process with a standard telecom fiber."
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How to Create Nanowires Only Three Atoms Wide with an Electron Beam
From Vanderbilt University, April 28, 2014, by David Salisbury
"Junhao Lin, a Vanderbilt University Ph.D. student and visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has found a way to use a finely focused beam of electrons to create some of the smallest wires ever made. The flexible metallic wires are only three atoms wide. One thousandth the width of the microscopic wires used to connect the transistors in today's integrated circuits."
Image: Vanderbilt University / Junhao Lin
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The Future is Paper Based
From Information Display Vol. 30, No. 2, March/April 2014, by Rodrigo Martins, Luis Pereira, and Elvira Fortunato
"Printed-paper electronics, with their promise of low cost, flexibility and full recyclability are attracting more and more interest among product developers. At the same time, the packaging industry is working to develop packaging that can interact with end users. Thus, we are observing a number of companies that are developing paper not only as a surface on which to print ink but also as a surface for electronics."
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Highlights from the Berlin Printed Electronics Europe Event in Berlin
IDTechEx, April 10, 2014
"The 11th annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics event took place in Berlin. The conference and tradeshow looked at a diverse range of technologies - both within printed electronics, and also related technologies, such as Graphene, Wearable Technology, and Internet of Things, Energy harvesting and 3D Printing, reflect the broad opportunities for the technology."
Image: IDTechEx
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Scientists Build Thinnest-Possible LEDs to be Stronger, More Energy Efficient
From University of Washington, March 10, 2014, by Michelle Ma
"University of Washington scientists have built the thinnest-known LED that can be used as a source of light energy in electronics. The LED is based off of two-dimensional, flexible semiconductors, making it possible to stack or use in much smaller and more diverse applications than current technology allows."
Image: University of Washington |
Thermoelectric Generator on Glass Fabric for Wearable Electronic Devices
From KAIST (Korea), April 21, 2014
"Wearable computers or devices have been hailed as the next generation of mobile electronic gadgets, from smart watches to smart glasses to smart pacemakers. For electronics to be worn by a user, they must be light, flexible, and equipped with a power source, which could be a portable, long-lasting battery or no battery at all but a generator.
A team of KAIST researchers headed by Byung Jin Cho, a professor of electrical engineering, proposed a solution to this problem by developing a glass fabric-based thermoelectric (TE) generator that is extremely light and flexible and produces electricity from the heat of the human body. In fact, it is so flexible that the allowable bending radius of the generator is as small as 20 mm. There are no changes in performance even if the generator bends upward and downward for up to 120 cycles."
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'Exotic' Material is Like a Switch When Super Thin
From Cornell University, April 18, 2014, by Vasyl Kacapyr
"Researchers from Cornell University and Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown how to switch a particular transition metal oxide, a lanthanum nickelate (LaNiO3), from a metal to an insulator by making the material less than a nanometer thick.
Using the extremely precise growth technique called molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), researchers synthesized atomically thin samples of the lanthanum nickelate and discovered that the material changes abruptly from a metal to an insulator when its thickness is reduced to below 1 nanometer. When that threshold is crossed, its conductivity switches off like a light, a characteristic that could prove useful in nanoscale switches or transistors."
Image: Cornell University |
Thinnest Feasible Membrane Produced
From ETH Zurich, April 17, 2014, by Fabio Bergamin
"A new nano-membrane made out of graphene is extremely light and breathable. Not only can this open the door to a new generation of functional waterproof clothing, but also to ultra-rapid filtration.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have produced a stable porous membrane that is thinner than a nanometer. This is a 100,000 times thinner than the diameter of a human hair. The membrane consists of two layers of graphene on which the team of researchers etched tiny pores of a precisely defined size. The membrane can thus permeate tiny molecules. Larger molecules or particles, on the other hand, can pass only slowly or not at all."
Image: ETH Zurich/Ben Newton |
The 2014 SVC TechCon Conference held in Chicago, IL USA on May 3-8 was a tremendous success.
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One of the highlights of the conference featured the SVC Awards Ceremony. Rolf Illsley. Optical Coating Laboratory (OCLI) was honored to receive the 2014 Nathaniel Sugerman Award. The Award Citation reads: For his entrepreneurship in leading the creation of the optical vacuum coating industry in the United States. The Awards Ceremony and the Welcome Reception were both sponsored by JDSU (previously OCLI) and Materion Corporation.
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An E-mail was distributed to SVC Conference attendees and members on Friday May 30 containing many details and photos of the Highlights of the TechCon. A full version of this document will be posted shortly on the SVC website.
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Upcoming Events
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7th Symposium on Functional Coatings and Surface Engineering
(FCSE-2014)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The symposium will feature the latest advances in the area of deposition and surface engineering processes, materials and properties of coatings and thin film systems suitable for optical, optoelectronic, aerospace, energy-control, biomedical, micro-system and other applications. This event includes invited lectures by leading experts, original oral and poster presentations, short courses, hands-on workshops, table top exhibits, and social and networking events.
Registration: April 30, 2014
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Upcoming Events
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5th Int'l Conference on Fundamentals & Industrial
Applications of HIPIMS
HIPIMS 2014 Conference
Featuring a full-day and two half-day Tutorial Courses offered by the Society of Vacuum Coaters
Monday June 30, 2014 SVC C-323: High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering - full day Instructors: Prof. Arutiun P. Ehiasarian of Sheffield Hallam University & Dr. Andr� Anders, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
Tuesday, July 1, 2014 SVC C-338: Application of Reactive Sputtering - half day AM Instructor: Dr. Ralf Bandorf, Fraunhofer IST, Germany SVC C-333: HIPIMS Applications - half day PM Instructors: Prof. Arutiun P. Ehiasarian of Sheffield Hallam University & Ralf Bandorf, Fraunhofer IST, Germany
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Upcoming Events
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14th International Conference on Plasma Surface Engineering
Conference and Exhibition
September 15-19, 2014
Kongresshaus, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Deadlines:
Early Bird Registration up to: July 1, 2014 (on-line only)
Featuring a full-day Tutorial Course offered by the Society of Vacuum Coaters
Thursday, September 18, 2014
C-306:
Non-Conventional Plasma Sources and Methods in Processing Technology
Instructors:
Hana Bar�nkov� and Ladislav B�rdos, Uppsala University, Sweden
The biennial PSE conference series is organized by the European Joint Committee on Plasma and Ion Surface Engineering. PSE provides an opportunity to present recent progress in research and development and industrial applications. Its topics span a wide range from fundamentals such as process modeling and simulation of plasmas or thin film physics, through empirical studies, which establish the relationships between process parameters and the structural and functional properties of modified surfaces and/or thin films, towards the application in industrial production.
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Interested in sharing the latest news in vacuum coating technology? Forward us a link to an article you want to share with the rest of the SVC readership to [email protected]. Purchase advertising space in this newsletter by contacting SVC at
[email protected].
Society of Vacuum Coaters
71 Pinon Hill Place NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87122
505-856-7188
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