Materials research plays a vital role in transforming breakthrough scientific ideas into next-generation technology. Similar to the way silicon revolutionized the microelectronics industry, the proper materials can greatly impact the field of plasmonics and metamaterials. Currently, research in plasmonics and metamaterials lacks good material building blocks in order to realize useful devices. Such devices suffer from many drawbacks arising from the undesirable properties of their material building blocks, especially metals. There are many materials, other than conventional metallic components such as gold and silver, that exhibit metallic properties and provide advantages in device performance, design flexibility, fabrication, integration, and tunability. This review explores different material classes for plasmonic and metamaterial applications, such as conventional semiconductors, transparent conducting oxides, perovskite oxides, metal nitrides, silicides, germanides, and 2D materials such as graphene. This review provides a summary of the recent developments in the search for better plasmonic materials and an outlook of further research directions.

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Alternative Plasmonic Materials: Beyond Gold and Silver

Kamihara and coworkers' report of superconductivity at ${T}_{c}=26\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{K}$ in fluorine-doped LaFeAsO inspired a worldwide effort to understand the nature of the superconductivity in this new class of compounds. These iron pnictide and chalcogenide (FePn/Ch) superconductors have Fe electrons at the Fermi surface, plus an unusual Fermiology that can change rapidly with doping, which lead to normal and superconducting state properties very different from those in standard electron-phonon coupled ``conventional'' superconductors. Clearly, superconductivity and magnetism or magnetic fluctuations are intimately related in the FePn/Ch, and even coexist in some. Open questions, including the superconducting nodal structure in a number of compounds, abound and are often dependent on improved sample quality for their solution. With ${T}_{c}$ values up to 56 K, the six distinct Fe-containing superconducting structures exhibit complex but often comparable behaviors. The search for correlations and explanations in this fascinating field of research would benefit from an organization of the large, seemingly disparate data set. This review provides an overview, using numerous references, with a focus on the materials and their superconductivity.

Superconductivity in iron compounds

Silicon carbide (SiC), a material long known with potential for high-temperature, high-power, high-frequency, and radiation hardened applications, has emerged as the most mature of the wide-bandgap (2.0 eV ≲ Eg ≲ 7.0 eV) semiconductors since the release of commercial 6HSiC bulk substrates in 1991 and 4HSiC substrates in 1994. Following a brief introduction to SiC material properties, the status of SiC in terms of bulk crystal growth, unit device fabrication processes, device performance, circuits and sensors is discussed. Emphasis is placed upon demonstrated high-temperature applications, such as power transistors and rectifiers, turbine engine combustion monitoring, temperature sensors, analog and digital circuitry, flame detectors, and accelerometers. While individual device performances have been impressive (e.g. 4HSiC MESFETs with fmax of 42 GHz and over 2.8 W mm−1 power density; 4HSiC static induction transistors with 225 W power output at 600 MHz, 47% power added efficiency (PAE), and 200 V forward blocking voltage), material defects in SiC, in particular micropipe defects, remain the primary impediment to wide-spread application in commercial markets. Micropipe defect densities have been reduced from near the 1000 cm−2 order of magnitude in 1992 to 3.5 cm−2 at the research level in 1995.

Status of silicon carbide (SiC) as a wide-bandgap semiconductor for high-temperature applications: A review

Substantial effort has been placed on developing semiconducting carbon nanotubes and nanowires as building blocks for electronic devices--such as field-effect transistors--that could replace conventional silicon transistors in hybrid electronics or lead to stand-alone nanosystems. Attaching electric contacts to individual devices is a first step towards integration, and this step has been addressed using lithographically defined metal electrodes. Yet, these metal contacts define a size scale that is much larger than the nanometre-scale building blocks, thus limiting many potential advantages. Here we report an integrated contact and interconnection solution that overcomes this size constraint through selective transformation of silicon nanowires into metallic nickel silicide (NiSi) nanowires. Electrical measurements show that the single crystal nickel silicide nanowires have ideal resistivities of about 10 microOmega cm and remarkably high failure-current densities, >10(8) A cm(-2). In addition, we demonstrate the fabrication of nickel silicide/silicon (NiSi/Si) nanowire heterostructures with atomically sharp metal-semiconductor interfaces. We produce field-effect transistors based on those heterostructures in which the source-drain contacts are defined by the metallic NiSi nanowire regions. Our approach is fully compatible with conventional planar silicon electronics and extendable to the 10-nm scale using a crossed-nanowire architecture.

Single-crystal metallic nanowires and metal/semiconductor nanowire heterostructures

This review highlights the use and great potential of liquid metals as exotic and powerful solvents (i.e. fluxes) for the synthesis of intermetallic phases. The results presented demonstrate that considerable advances in the discovery of novel and complex phases are achievable utilizing molten metals as solvents. A wide cross-section of examples of flux-grown intermetallic phases and related solids are discussed and a brief history of the origins of flux chemistry is given. The most commonly used metal fluxes are surveyed and where possible, the underlying principal reasons that make the flux reaction work are discussed.

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The metal flux: a preparative tool for the exploration of intermetallic compounds.

Ti 1 − x Al x N coatings were deposited by CVD using organometallic precursors: tetrakis dimethylamido titanium Ti(N(CH 3 ) 3 ) 4 , hexakis dimethylamido dialuminum Al 2 (N(CH 3 ) 2 ) 6 and ammonia as reactant gas. A preliminary thermodynarnic study allowed us to establish the ternary diagram Ti-Al-N at two temperatures (1173 K and 673 K). For the CVD thermodynarnic simulation, the metastable phase Ti 1 − x Al x N was first considered as the mixture of the stable compounds TiN fcc and AlN hcp. The calculations show that in our working range parameters there is codeposition of TiN and AlN (and consequently, of the metastable phase). Experiments were conducted at deposition temperature as low as 643 K. (Ti,Al)N thin films were characterized by SEM, TEM and EPMA. The deposition rate is about 15 nm/min. We obtained an Al/Ti ratio varying from 5:95 to 50:50. The ammonia flow rate has a significant effect on (Ti,Al)N composition and also on carbon and oxygen incorporation. The metastable cubic substitutional solid solution phase structure Ti 1 − x A x N has been identified, with a lattice parameter a = 4.15 ± 0.03 A and nanometer-sized grains.

Deposition of (Ti,Al)N thin films by organometallic chemical vapor deposition: thermodynarnic predictions and experimental results

Thermally induced solid-state reactions between a 70 nm Pt film and a single-crystal (001) β-SiC substrate at temperatures from 300 °C to 1000 °C for various time durations are investigated by 2 MeV He backscattering spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Backscattering spectrometry shows that Pt reacts with SiC at 500 °C. The product phase identified by x-ray diffraction is Pt3Si. At 600–900 °C, the main reaction product is Pt2Si, but the depth distribution of the Pt atoms changes with annealing temperature. When the sample is annealed at 1000 °C, the surface morphology deteriorates with the formation of some dendrite-like hillocks; both Pt2Si and PtSi are detected by x-ray diffraction. Samples annealed at 500–900 °C have a double-layer structure with a silicide surface layer and a carbon-silicide mixed layer below in contact with the substrate. The SiC—Pt interaction is resolved at an atomic scale with high-resolution electron microscopy. It is found that the grains of the sputtered Pt film first align themselves preferentially along an orientation of (111)Pt//(001)SiC without reaction between Pt and SiC. A thin amorphous interlayer then forms at 400 °C. At 450 °C, a new crystalline phase nucleates discretely at the Pt-interlayer interface and projects into or across the amorphous interlayer toward the SiC, while the undisturbed amorphous interlayer between the newly formed crystallites maintains its thickness. These nuclei grow extensively down into the substrate region at 500 °C, and the rest of the Pt film is converted to Pt3Si. Comparison between the thermal reaction of SiC-Pt and that of Si–Pt is discussed.

Solid-state reaction of Pt thin film with single-crystal (001) β–SiC

Millitorr range PECVD of a-SiO2 films using TEOS and oxygen

This paper makes a systematic study of blanket and selective low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) WSi 2 films from tungsten chlorides, silane, hydrogen, and argon on silicon as well as on patterned oxidized silicon substrates. Experiments were performed by varying the initial gaseous WCl 4 to SiH 4 ratio (Rx) or the deposition temperature (T d ). Initially, yield and CVD-phase diagrams of the W-Si-Cl-H-Ar chemical system were drawn, based on thermodynamic simulations. The deposition of pure WSi 2 phase and mixed solid phases involving W, W 5 Si 3 , WSi 2 , and Si was predicted to occur in relation to process parameters

LPCVD WSi2 Films Using Tungsten Chlorides and Silane

Thick (111) oriented β-SiC layers have been grown by hetero-epitaxy on a (0001) a-SiC substrate with the Continuous Feed-Physical Vapour Transport (CF-PVT) method. The growth rate was 68 µm/h at a pressure of 2 torr and a temperature of 1950°C. The nucleation step of the β-SiC layer during the heating up of the process was studied in order to manage first the a to b heteropolytypic transition and second the selection of the b-SiC orientation. With a adapted seeding stage, we grew a 0.4mm thick layer almost free of Double Positioning Boundaries on a 30mm diameter sample. First observations of the layer by cross-polarised optical Microscopy are presented both in planar view and in cross section geometry.

Roland Madar

Papers

Deposition of (Ti,Al)N thin films by organometallic chemical vapor deposition: thermodynarnic predictions and experimental results

Solid-state reaction of Pt thin film with single-crystal (001) β–SiC

Millitorr range PECVD of a-SiO2 films using TEOS and oxygen

LPCVD WSi2 Films Using Tungsten Chlorides and Silane

Large Area DPB Free (111) β-SiC Thick Layer Grown on (0001) α-SiC Nominal Surfaces by the CF-PVT Method