Abstract: Systems for and methods for improving mechanical properties of ceramic material are provided. The system comprises a heat source for heating the ceramic material to a temperature greater than a brittle-to-ductile transition temperature of the ceramic material; a probe for mounting the ceramic material and configured to extend the ceramic material into the heat source; a plasma-confining medium and a sacrificial layer disposed between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium; and an energy pulse generator such as a laser pulse generator. The sacrificial layer is utilized to form plasma between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium.

Abstract: Systems for and methods for improving mechanical properties of ceramic material are provided. The system comprises a heat source for heating the ceramic material to a temperature greater than a brittle-to-ductile transition temperature of the ceramic material; a probe for mounting the ceramic material and configured to extend the ceramic material into the heat source; a plasma-confining medium and a sacrificial layer disposed between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium; and an energy pulse generator such as a laser pulse generator. The sacrificial layer is utilized to form plasma between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium.

Abstract: Systems for and methods for improving mechanical properties of ceramic material are provided. The system comprises a heat source for heating the ceramic material to a temperature greater than a brittle-to-ductile transition temperature of the ceramic material; a probe for mounting the ceramic material and configured to extend the ceramic material into the heat source; a plasma-confining medium and a sacrificial layer disposed between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium; and an energy pulse generator such as a laser pulse generator. The sacrificial layer is utilized to form plasma between the ceramic material and the plasma-confining medium.

Abstract: A method of ion cleaving using microwave radiation is described. The method includes using microwave radiation to induce exfoliation of a semiconductor layer from a donor substrate. The donor substrate may be implanted, bonded to a carrier substrate, and heated via the microwave radiation. The implanted portion of the donor substrate may include increased damage and/or dipoles (relative to non-implanted portions of the donor substrate), which more readily absorb microwave radiation. Consequently, by using microwave radiation, an exfoliation time may be reduced to 12 seconds or less. In addition, a presented method also includes the use of focused ion beam implantation to achieve a pattern-less transfer of a semiconductor layer onto a carrier substrate.

Abstract: The transfer of strained semiconductor layers from one substrate to another substrate involves depositing a multilayer structure on a substrate having surface contaminants. An interface that includes the contaminants is formed in between the deposited layer and the substrate. Hydrogen atoms are introduced into the structure and allowed to diffuse to the interface. Afterward, the deposited multilayer structure is bonded to a second substrate and is separated away at the interface, which results in transferring a multilayer structure from one substrate to the other substrate. The multilayer structure includes at least one strained semiconductor layer and at least one strain-induced seed layer. The strain-induced seed layer can be optionally etched away after the layer transfer.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus uses a single crystalline silicon substrate disposed adjacent to a flexible substrate. The electronic apparatus may be a flexible flat panel display, or a flexible printed circuit board. The flexible substrate can be made from polymer, plastic, paper, flexible glass, and stainless steel. The flexible substrate is bonded to the single crystalline substrate using an ion implantation process. The ion implantation process involves the use of a noble gas such as hydrogen, helium, xenon, and krypton. A plurality of semiconductor devices are formed on the single crystalline silicon substrate. The semiconductor devices may be thin film transistors for the flat panel display, or active and passive components for the electronic device.

Abstract: The transfer of strained semiconductor layers from one substrate to another substrate involves depositing a multilayer structure on a substrate having surface contaminants. An interface that includes the contaminants is formed in between the deposited layer and the substrate. Hydrogen atoms are introduced into the structure and allowed to diffuse to the interface. Afterward, the deposited multilayer structure is bonded to a second substrate and is separated away at the interface, which results in transferring a multilayer structure from one substrate to the other substrate. The multilayer structure includes at least one strained semiconductor layer and at least one strain-induced seed layer. The strain-induced seed layer can be optionally etched away after the layer transfer.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus uses a single crystalline silicon substrate disposed adjacent to a flexible substrate. The electronic apparatus may be a flexible flat panel display, or a flexible printed circuit board. The flexible substrate can be made from polymer, plastic, paper, flexible glass, and stainless steel. The flexible substrate is bonded to the single crystalline substrate using an ion implantation process. The ion implantation process involves the use of a noble gas such as hydrogen, helium, xenon, and krypton. A plurality of semiconductor devices are formed on the single crystalline silicon substrate. The semiconductor devices may be thin film transistors for the flat panel display, or active and passive components for the electronic device.

Abstract: A method for transferring a thin semiconductor layer from one substrate to another substrate involves depositing a thin epitaxial monocrystalline semiconductor layer on a substrate having surface contaminants. An interface that includes the contaminants is formed in between the deposited layer and the substrate. Hydrogen atoms are introduced into the structure and allowed to diffuse to the interface. Afterward, the thin semiconductor layer is bonded to a second substrate and the thin layer is separated away at the interface, which results in transferring the thin epitaxial semiconductor layer from one substrate to the other substrate.

Abstract: A method for transferring a monocrystalline, thin layer from a first substrate onto a second substrate involves deposition of a doped semiconductor layer on a substrate and epitaxial growth of a thin, monocrystalline, semiconductor layer on the doped layer. After bonding the thin epitaxial monocrystalline semiconductor layer to a second substrate, hydrogen is introduced into the doped layer, and the thin layer is cleaved and transferred to the second substrate, with the cleaving controlled to happen at the doped layer.

Abstract: A method for transferring a monocrystalline, thin layer from a first substrate onto a second substrate involves epitaxial growth of a sandwich structure with a strained epitaxial layer buried below a monocrystalline thin layer, and lift-off and transfer of the monocrystalline thin layer with the cleaving controlled to happen within the buried strained layer in conjunction with the introduction of hydrogen.

Abstract: Very high strength single phase stainless steel coating has been prepared by magnetron sputtering onto a substrate. The coating has a unique microstructure of nanometer spaced twins that are parallel to each other and to the substrate surface. For cases where the coating and substrate do not bind strongly, the coating can be peeled off to provide foil.

Abstract: Very high strength single phase stainless steel coating has been prepared by magnetron sputtering onto a substrate. The coating has a unique microstructure of nanometer spaced twins that are parallel to each other and to the substrate surface. For cases where the coating and substrate do not bind strongly, the coating can be peeled off to provide foil.

Abstract: Fluorinated, diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) films are produced by a pulsed, glow-discharge plasma immersion ion processing procedure. The pulsed, glow-discharge plasma was generated at a pressure of 1 Pa from an acetylene (C2H2) and hexafluoroethane (C2F6) gas mixture, and the fluorinated, diamond-like carbon films were deposited on silicon <100>substrates. The film hardness and wear resistance were found to be strongly dependent on the fluorine content incorporated into the coatings. The hardness of the F-DLC films was found to decrease considerably when the fluorine content in the coatings reached about 20%. The contact angle of water on the F-DLC coatings was found to increase with increasing film fluorine content and to saturate at a level characteristic of polytetrafluoroethylene.

Abstract: Process for forming adherent coatings using plasma processing. Plasma Immersion Ion Processing (PIIP) is a process where energetic (hundreds of eV to many tens of keV) metallic and metalloid ions derived from high-vapor-pressure organometallic compounds in a plasma environment are employed to deposit coatings on suitable substrates, which coatings are subsequently relieved of stress using inert ion bombardment, also in a plasma environment, producing thereby strongly adherent coatings having chosen composition, thickness and density. Four processes are utilized: sputter-cleaning, ion implantation, material deposition, and coating stress relief. Targets are placed directly in a plasma and pulse biased to generate a non-line-of-sight deposition without the need for complex fixturing. If the bias is a relatively high negative potential (20 kV-100 kV) ion implantation will result.

Abstract: A plasma-based method for the deposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings is described. The process uses a radio-frequency inductively coupled discharge to generate a plasma at relatively low gas pressures. The deposition process is environmentally friendly and scaleable to large areas, and components that have geometrically complicated surfaces can be processed. The method has been used to deposit adherent 100-400 nm thick DLC coatings on metals, glass, and polymers. These coatings are between three and four times harder than steel and are therefore scratch resistant, and transparent to visible light. Boron and silicon doping of the DLC coatings have produced coatings having improved optical properties and lower coating stress levels, but with slightly lower hardness.

Abstract: Fluorinated, diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) films are produced by a pulsed, glow-discharge plasma immersion ion processing procedure. The pulsed, glow-discharge plasma was generated at a pressure of 1 Pa from an acetylene (C2H2) and hexafluoroethane (C2F6) gas mixture, and the fluorinated, diamond-like carbon films were deposited on silicon <100>substrates. The film hardness and wear resistance were found to be strongly dependent on the fluorine content incorporated into the coatings. The hardness of the F-DLC films was found to decrease considerably when the fluorine content in the coatings reached about 20%. The contact angle of water on the F-DLC coatings was found to increase with increasing film fluorine content and to saturate at a level characteristic of polytetrafluoroethylene.

Abstract: Processing of hydroxylapatite sol-gel films on titanium alloy bone prostheses. A method utilizing non-line-of-sight ion beam implantation and/or rapid thermal processing to provide improved bonding of layers of hydroxylapatite to titanium alloy substrates while encouraging bone ingrowth into the hydroxylapatite layers located away from the substrate, is described for the fabrication of prostheses. The first layer of hydroxylapatite is mixed into the substrate by the ions or rapidly thermally annealed, while subsequent layers are heat treated or densified using ion implantation to form layers of decreasing density and larger crystallization, with the outermost layers being suitable for bone ingrowth.

Abstract: A process for forming an adherent diamond-like carbon coating on a workpiece of suitable material such as an aluminum alloy is disclosed. The workpiece is successively immersed in different plasma atmospheres and subjected to short duration, high voltage, negative electrical potential pulses or constant negative electrical potentials or the like so as to clean the surface of oxygen atoms, implant carbon atoms into the surface of the alloy to form carbide compounds while codepositing a carbonaceous layer on the surface, bombard and remove the carbonaceous layer, and to thereafter deposit a generally amorphous hydrogen-containing carbon layer on the surface of the article.