The 532nm excitation wavelength also delivers higher spatial resolution for Raman microscopy measurements, making it ideal for carbon materials, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, and other
thin-film material characterisation.
Among the deposition techniques available to developers of
thin-film material, ion beam sputtering is highly valued for its ability to provide excellent layer thickness control, enhanced process stability and low optical losses.
The trade-off is that, when encapsulated in glass, the
thin-film material loses the advantage of being lightweight and flexible, which puts these companies in direct competition with every crystalline PV module manufacturer, not just other thin-film companies.
The next product the company will develop, depending on funding, is a flexible
thin-film material that he called the next generation of solar cells.
In phase-change recording technology, a laser beam heats a
thin-film material that can be in one of two states: (1) amorphous, in which there is very low reflectance, or (2) crystalline, in which there is very high reflectance.
For mechanical testing, peel strength was measured on "closed sandwich" laminated samples where a 10 x 10 mm square piece of the same solution-cast rubber
thin-film material was placed between two thicker films of oriented matrix material.
"The fact that a polycrystalline
thin-film material is getting so close in efficiency to single-crystal materials, for much less cost, is a significant achievement?
To enhance solar-cell efficiency, scientists have been building multijunction cells in which layers of
thin-film materials are stacked, with each layer tuned to a different part of the spectrum.
These include developing
thin-film materials and novel manufacturing methods for wearable technology; improving the mass production of carbon nanotube materials; as well as developing materials for the new class of photonic integrated circuits--for use in communications, sensors, imaging and also lighting.
Materials scientists review recent developments in optical thin films, focusing on
thin-film materials and applications in optics and related fields.
In the past, determination of the optical band gap ([E.sub.g]) was often necessary to develop the electronic band structure of the
thin-film materials for investigating them as a transparent electrode of the thin-film solar cells.