Quanxi Jia - Böcker

Electric or magnetic tunability of RF and microwave devices is desirable for a variety of civilian and military applications. Tremendous advances have been made in thin-film processing, in particular with metal-oxide thin films. Consequently, it has been recognized that the integration of nonlinear dielectric, ferrite, colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) ferromagnetic, and superconductor materials could revolutionize tunable devices by providing capabilities while significantly reducing size and cost. Crucial issues facing this technology concern the material properties, in particular, the loss in thin films of the tunable materials. Extensive efforts are being devoted to understand the tuning and loss mechanisms, improve thin-film processing and characterization, develop new materials, and design novel device concepts. This book, first published in 2000, serves as a reference for researchers and contributes to breakthroughs in basic and applied research in this field. Topics include: frequency-agile materials for electronics; electric-field tuning; magnetic-field tuning; high-frequency applications for ferroelectrics; ferroelectrics; magnetics and others; fundamentals and materials characterization.

This book contains 26 papers from the Magnetoelectric Multiferroic Thin Films and Multilayers; Dielectric Ceramic Materials and Electronic Devices; Recent Developments in High-Temperature Superconductivity; and Multifunctional Oxides symposia held during the 2010 Materials Science and Technology (MS&T'10) meeting, October 17-21, 2010, Houston, Texas. Topics include: Properties; Structures; Synthesis; Characterization; Device Applications; Multiferroics and Magnetoelectrics; YBCO Pinning Methods and Properties; YBCO Processing and Reliability Related Issues; New Superconductors and MgB2.

Advances in synthesis and characterization of dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin films are included in this volume. Dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin films have a tremendous impact on a variety of commercial and military systems including tunable microwave devices, memories, MEMS devices, actuators and sensors. Recent work on piezoelectric characterization, AFE to FE dielectric phase transformation dielectrics, solution and vapor deposited thin films, and materials integration are among the topics included. Novel approaches to nanostructuring, characterization of material properties and physical responses at the nanoscale also is included.

Symposium BB, 'Solution Synthesis of Inorganic Films and Nanostructured Materials', was held during the 2012 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco, California, on April 9-13, 2012. It focused on solution synthesis approaches for the growth of a wide-range of advanced functional inorganic thin film and nanostructured materials. Recent results were presented on the growth of: (i) highly crystalline, nanopatterned and composite functional oxide films, (ii) nanoparticles and nanocrystals, and (iii) self-assembled nanostructures by various chemical solution methods. A strong increased interest in low-cost and high throughput synthesis of functional and multifunctional inorganic materials indicates the worldwide importance of such synthetic methods. The symposium promoted information exchange between worldwide researchers from universities and national labs and engineers from industry. The papers in this proceedings volume provide a glimpse of the recent developments in the chemical solution growth of nanoparticles, nanocrystals, films, and nanostructured materials for various applications.

Symposium M, 'Solution Synthesis of Inorganic Functional Materials - Films, Nanoparticles, and Nanocomposites' was held April 1-5, 2013 at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco, California. The symposium was focused on solution synthesis approaches for the growth of a wide range of advanced functional inorganic materials. Recent results were presented on the growth of: (i) highly crystalline functional oxide films; (ii) nanoparticles and nanocrystals; and (iii) nanostructures or nanocomposites by various chemical solution methods. Gas sensing, photovoltaic, plasmonics, memory devices, spintronics, biomedical, superconducting, and magnetic-field sensing applications were extensively discussed. The articles in this symposium proceeding volume cover the development of different chemical solution approaches to synthesize inorganic functional materials for enhanced and/or novel functionalities for a variety of applications. These papers convey the breadth of exciting advancements happening in the area of functional materials grown by various solution methods.