Templated non-oxide sol-gel preparation of well-ordered macroporous (inverse opal) Ta3N5 films.

Reactions of Ta(NMe2)5 and n-propylamine are shown to be an effective system for sol-gel processing of Ta3N5. Ordered macroporous films of Ta3N5 on silica substrates have been prepared by infiltration of such a sol into close-packed sacrificial templates of cross-linked 500 nm polystyrene spheres followed by pyrolysis under ammonia to remove the template and crystallize the Ta3N5. Templates with long-range order were produced by controlled humidity evaporation. Pyrolysis of a sol-infiltrated template at 600 °C removes the polystyrene but does not crystallize Ta3N5, and X-ray diffraction shows nanocrystalline TaN plus amorphous material. Heating at 700 °C crystallizes Ta3N5 while retaining a high degree of pore ordering, whereas at 800 °C porous films with a complete loss of order are obtained.

Next generation device grade silicon-germanium on insulator.

High quality single crystal silicon-germanium-on-insulator has the potential to facilitate the next generation of photonic and electronic devices. Using a rapid melt growth technique we engineer tailored single crystal silicon-germanium-on-insulator structures with near constant composition over large areas. The proposed structures avoid the problem of laterally graded SiGe compositions, caused by preferential Si rich solid formation, encountered in straight SiGe wires by providing radiating elements distributed along the structures. This method enables the fabrication of multiple single crystal silicon-germanium-on-insulator layers of different compositions, on the same Si wafer, using only a single deposition process and a single anneal process, simply by modifying the structural design and/or the anneal temperature. This facilitates a host of device designs, within a relatively simple growth environment, as compared to the complexities of other methods, and also offers flexibility in device designs within that growth environment.