Mar 25, 2021 |
Technology uses 'single' approach to develop electronics, acoustics
(Nanowerk News) A Purdue University innovator has developed a new approach to creating popular thin films used for devices across a broad range of fields, including optics, acoustics and electronics.
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Epitaxial lithium niobate (LNO) thin films are an attractive material for electronics and other devices. These films offer flexibility and other properties that are important to manufacturers.
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The challenge is that these devices demand high-quality thin films that can be difficult to grow and produce. Haiyan Wang, a Purdue materials engineer, developed a new approach to creating these films.
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Purdue University innovators developed a new approach to creating popular thin films used for devices. This image shows work on a sample of that innovation while it was heating up. (Image: Robynne Paldi, Purdue University)
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The work is published in Advanced Photonics Research ("Nanocomposite-Seeded Epitaxial Growth of Single-Domain Lithium Niobate Thin Films for Surface Acoustic Wave Devices").
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"We created an approach that makes these films easier to produce," said Wang, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering in Purdue's College of Engineering. "We developed a versatile nanocomposite-seeded approach that allows us to create single-layer films. Typically, engineers have used a double-layer approach, which adds to the complicated production process."
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This work is supported by Sandia National Laboratories through its Academic Alliance initiative. This technology work also is supported through Sandia's Diversity Initiative.
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"Our approach offers an efficient new option for optics, acoustics and electronics," said Robynne Paldi, a Ph.D. candidate at Purdue who helped lead the research. "Our films are grown through a pulsed laser deposition method and growth conditions are optimized to achieve high-quality films that can be easily integrated into devices."
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