Single-step process simplifies development of new materials

The team at the University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering is using microwave energy to assemble atoms into thin films and is growing them directly onto a substrate at significantly low temperatures.

Results of the team’s research, conducted under the supervision of Prof Arumugam Manthiram of the Texas Materials Institute and the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Prof Ali Yilmaz of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, were published in the 19 December issue of Scientific Reports.

‘Lowering the temperature at which thin films of relevant materials can be grown is one of the key focus areas of our research,’ said Reeja Jayan, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the lead authors of the paper. ‘With our microwave process, we could bring down temperatures to the level that enables us to grow materials on heat-sensitive surfaces, such as plastics, without damaging them.’