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Hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) has been studied intensively due to its potential application to memory and logic devices based on its outstanding dielectric and ferroelectric properties. Because many process factors can significantly impact the properties of HZO thin film, an optimized process or post‐treatment is necessary to ensure its performance. Herein, the effect of hydrogen on HZO thin film can make the film degraded. Analysis of the polarization–voltage hysteresis loops and I–V measurements indicate a leaky behavior in the film. To address this issue, post‐oxygen‐plasma treatment is performed on the film, which results in the decrease in hydrogen ions inside the film and consequently reduces the leakage current density. This finding can provide new insight into the effect of hydrogen incorporation for HZO thin films and methodology to remove leaky components inside ferroelectric films using O2 plasma treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 coating on Al 2 O 3 substrate was prepared by atmospheric plasma spray (APS). Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was carried out to predict the state of in-flight Y 2 O 3 particles at different powder feeding rates. Microstructure and mechanical properties were found to be affected by the spray distance and powder feeding rate. In this study, the hardness was calculated using a field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) because the indentation in the coating is too small to measure using a hardness test machine. The formation of pores causes a decrease in the mechanical property, and the pore length of over 10 μm substantially decreases the hardness. Meanwhile, the solidification behavior is affected by the maximum temperature of the in-flight particles. Based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, the maximum temperature of the in-flight particles was found to decrease with increase of the powder feeding rate at the same spray distance. At the powder feeding rate of 60 g/min, a lower adhesion strength was confirmed than that at feeding rate of 30 g/min because splats were insufficiently spread due to the lower maximum temperature of the in-flight particles. The roughness and height of the coating surface were evaluated by confocal microscopy and atomic force microscopy(AFM) analyses. The roughness is the resultant of accumulated splats and the accumulation mechanism of splats is affected by the state of the in-flight particles. Furthermore, there were nano-scale differences of height on the splat surface, on which the nucleation looks like 'rugged bark' during solidification of splats when the in-flight particles impact the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured electrodes and their flexible integrated systems have great potential for many applications, including electrochemical energy storage, electrocatalysis and solid-state memory devices, given their ability to improve faradaic reaction sites by large surface area. Although many processing techniques have been employed to fabricate nanostructured electrodes onto flexible substrates, these present limitations in terms of achieving flexible electrodes with high mechanical stability. In this study, the adhesion, mechanical properties and flexibility of TiN nanotube arrays on a Pt substrate were improved using a Ti interlayer. Highly ordered and well-aligned TiN nanotube arrays were fabricated on a Pt substrate using a template-assisted method with an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and atomic layer deposition (ALD) system. We show that with the use of a Ti interlayer between the TiN nanotube arrays and Pt substrate, the TiN nanotube arrays could perfectly attach to the Pt substrate without delamination and faceted phenomena. Furthermore, the I-V curve measurements confirmed that the electric contact between the TiN nanotube arrays and substrate for use as an electrode was excellent, and its flexibility was also good for use in flexible electronic devices. Future efforts will be directed toward the fabrication of embedded electrodes in flexible plastic substrates by employing the concepts demonstrated in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]