The present invention provides a process for producing a layer of a crystalline material comprising a perovskite or a hexahalometallate, which process comprises: (i) exposing a substrate to a vapour comprising a first precursor compound in a first chamber to produce a layer of the first precursor compound on the substrate; and (ii) exposing the layer of the first precursor compound to a vapour comprising a second precursor compound in a second chamber to produce the layer of a crystalline material, wherein the pressure in the second chamber is above high vacuum. The invention also provides a process for producing a layer of a crystalline material comprising a perovskite or a hexahalometallate, which process comprises exposing a layer of a first precursor compound on a substrate to a vapour comprising a second precursor compound in a chamber to produce the layer of a crystalline material, wherein the pressure in the chamber is greater than high vacuum and less than atmospheric pressure. The invention also provides a process for producing a semiconductor device comprising a layer of a crystalline material, which process comprises producing said layer of a crystalline material by a process as according to the invention.

Substrate provided with a plurality of layers, at least one of which includes metal oxides and is topped directly by a metal coating layer that contains at least 8% by weight nickel and at least 10% by weight chromium, the remainder being iron, additional elements and the impurities resulting from the fabrication process, wherein this metal coating layer is topped directly by an anticorrosion coating layer. A corresponding fabrication method is also provided.

A method and structure for providing a pre-deposition treatment (e.g., of a work-function layer) to accomplish work function tuning. In various embodiments, a gate dielectric layer is formed over a substrate, and a work-function metal layer is deposited over the gate dielectric layer. In some embodiments, a first in-situ process including a pre-treatment process of the work-function metal layer is performed. By way of example, the pre-treatment process removes an oxidized layer of the work-function metal layer to form a treated work-function metal layer. In some embodiments, after performing the first in-situ process, a second in-situ process including a deposition process of another metal layer over the treated work-function metal layer is performed.

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is hydrogenated for use as a dielectric (e.g., an interlayer dielectric) for superconducting electronics. A hydrogenated a-Si layer is formed on a substrate by CVD or sputtering. The hydrogen may be integrated during or after the a-Si deposition. After the layer is formed, it is first annealed in an environment of high hydrogen chemical potential and subsequently annealed in an environment of low hydrogen chemical potential. Optionally, the a-Si (or an H-permeable overlayer, if added) may be capped with a hydrogen barrier before removing the substrate from the environment of low hydrogen chemical potential.

A method for manufacturing an electronic component package comprises: (i) preparing a metal foil having opposed principal surface A for placement of an electronic component and principal surface B, and a through-hole located in an electronic component-placement region of surface A; (ii) placing the electronic component on the metal foil such that the electronic component is positioned in the electronic component-placement region, and an opening of the through-hole is capped with an electrode of the electronic component; (iii) forming a sealing resin layer on surface A such that the electronic component is covered with the sealing resin layer; and (iv) forming a metal plating layer on surface B. A dry plating process and a wet plating process are performed to form the metal plating layer in step (iv) such that the through-hole is filled with the metal plating layer, and the metal foil and the metal plating layer are integrated.

A gas sensor including a first layer including copper (I) bromide, and a second layer, which is disposed on the first layer, and is a p-type semiconductor that is different from the copper (I) bromide, wherein one of the first layer and the second layer is more preferentially in contact with detection-target gas than the other.

Methods are provided for modifying a transparent and electrically conductive metal-oxide coating deposited on a plastic substrate. At least one surface region of the metal oxide coating is impinged by a pulse-driven electron beam. The impingement of the surface region of the metal oxide coating by the pulse-driven electron beam occurs inside a vacuum chamber into which hydrogen, argon, nitrogen, or oxygen, or a gas mixture of at least two of the above-mentioned gasses has been introduced.

Articles and methods relating to coatings having superior plasma etch-resistance and which can prolong the life of RIE components are provided. An article has a vacuum compatible substrate and a protective film overlying at least a portion of the substrate. The film comprises a fluorinated metal oxide containing yttrium wherein the yttrium oxide is deposited using an AC power source. The film has a fluorine atomic % of at least 10 at a depth of 30% of the total thickness of the film and the film has no subsurface cracks below the surface of the film visible when using a laser confocal microscope to view the full depth of the film at a magnification of 1000.

Provided is an optical filter capable of reducing the dependency on the angle of light incidence. An optical filter 1 includes a hydrogenated silicon-containing film 4, wherein in a Raman spectrum of the hydrogenated silicon-containing film 4 measured by Raman spectroscopy a ratio (SiH/SiH.sub.2) obtained from a ratio between an area of a peak derived from SiH and an area of a peak derived from SiH.sub.2 is 0.7 or more.

A nanopore structure includes an aperture extending from a first surface to a second surface of a substrate, the aperture having a wall comprising gold ions embedded in the substrate, the wall defining a first diameter; a first deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) layer including a thiolated DNA strand covalently bonded to the embedded gold ions within the wall of the aperture; and a second DNA layer hydrogen bonded to the first DNA layer, the second DNA layer defines a substantially cylindrical nanopore that defines a second diameter within the wall of the aperture, the second DNA layer including a single-stranded DNA strand; wherein the second diameter is less than the first diameter.