Ti/Ni(80%)Cr(20%) Thin-Film Resistor With a Nearly Zero Temperature Coefficient of Resistance for Integration in a Standard CMOS Process
A thin-film resistor out of Ni(80%)Cr(20%) for integration in a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process with a temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) below 10 ppm/K was realized by applying a thin Ti layer underneath. The Ti-layer thickness and the temperature and duration of furnace annealing after deposition were optimized in different experiments. The combination of 5-nm Ti + 10-nm NiCr and a 30-min heat treatment at 350degC in a forming gas ambient was found to yield a sheet resistance of about 140 Omega/sq and a TCR of below 10 ppm/K. The long-term drift of the sheet resistance after 1000 h at 200degC was about 0.3%. A transmission electron microscopy analysis was conducted to investigate the structure of the film and a possible change during annealing. An Auger analysis was conducted for film surface analysis.
Orientation of Ni–Cr Thin Films with an Underlying Ti Layer
Insertion of a Ti thin film between an 80 wt% Ni–20 wt% Cr thin film and a glass-coated Al2O3 substrate resulted in a strongly (111) preferred orientation in the Ni–Cr thin film, which was deposited on the Ti layer by continuous sputtering. The preferred orientation and the cross section were observed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (RRTEM), respectively. The Ni–Cr thin film was found to have a columnar structure and the column axes were normal to the substrate. In addition, the (111) orientation of Ni–Cr was observed to be almost parallel to the (100) orientation of Ti.
Diversity of Electrospinning Approach for Vascular Implants: Multilayered Tubular Scaffolds
Abstract The biomimetics of biological structures found in nature remains one of the most promising approaches to engineer functional tissues from natural or synthetic biocompatible materials for the replacement of damaged or injured parts of the human body. Recently, medical therapeutic regimes have advanced into a new era, overcoming the known mechanical and biological variances that occur when using autologous or synthetic grafts. Basically, the core concept of tissue biofabrication, commonly referred to as tissue engineering, is to find out the favorable cellular microenvironments to grow a living tissue prior to clinical uses. In fact, the ability of stem cells to regenerate is controlled via signaling pathways (growth factors) and supporting materials (scaffolds) that guide the cellular activities. After the first successful experiments to fabricate polymer fibers from their solutions, Cooley proposed the use of an electric field a century ago (Cooley (US 692:631, 1902 ). The electrospinning technique has been continually developed as a fruitful polymer processing technique to draw ultrafine nonwoven fibers. Electrospun polymer fibers have been used for a wide range of technical and biotechnical applications such as filtration, organic solar cells, tissue engineering, and drug releasing implants. In this regard, this review begins with an overview about the various spinning approaches for the fabrication of polymer fibers as well as the basic principles of electrospinning process. In addition, this review will highlight vascular bypass surgery and, in particular, the needs for vascular tissue engineering. Finally, the review includes some of the latest attempts to improve the mechanical and biological properties of electrospun polymeric fibers and summarizes the challenges and prospects for the future. Lay Summary However, vascular defects are treated successfully via bypass surgical bypass grafting using autologous or synthetic vessels. The small-diameter vessels (less than 6) are often associated with high failure rate. This review reports some of the recent features that should be highlighted to fabricate an ideal graft for small-diameter vascular grafts. The review introduces multilayered conduits as an alternative approach to overcome the known mechanical and biological mismatches of single layered vascular grafts of electrospun polymers.