Systems and methods for growing hexagonal crystal structure piezoelectric material with a c-axis that is tilted (e.g., 25 to 50 degrees) relative to normal of a face of a substrate are provided. A deposition system includes a linear sputtering apparatus, a translatable multi-aperture collimator, and a translatable substrate table arranged to hold multiple substrates, with the substrate table and/or the collimator being electrically biased to a nonzero potential. An enclosure includes first and second deposition stations each including a linear sputtering apparatus, a collimator, and a deposition aperture.

Systems and methods for growing hexagonal crystal structure piezoelectric material with a c-axis that is tilted (e.g., 25 to 50 degrees) relative to normal of a face of a substrate are provided. A deposition system includes a linear sputtering apparatus, a translatable multi-aperture collimator, and a translatable substrate table arranged to hold multiple substrates, with the substrate table and/or the collimator being electrically biased to a nonzero potential. An enclosure includes first and second deposition stations each including a linear sputtering apparatus, a collimator, and a deposition aperture.

Systems and methods for growing hexagonal crystal structure piezoelectric material with a c-axis that is tilted (e.g., 25 to 50 degrees) relative to normal of a face of a substrate are provided. A deposition system includes a linear sputtering apparatus, a translatable multi-aperture collimator, and a translatable substrate table arranged to hold multiple substrates, with the substrate table and/or the collimator being electrically biased to a nonzero potential. An enclosure includes first and second deposition stations each including a linear sputtering apparatus, a collimator, and a deposition aperture.

A computer-implemented method of determining the number of photons contributing to an output of a photonic sensor, including receiving an electrical signal from the photonic sensor proportional to a number of photons the photonic sensor detects at its input as a function of time, wherein the photonic sensor is calibrated such that a response of the photonic sensor to a single photon detected is in a waveform comprising an amplitude and time, wherein the product amplitude X time is statistically bounded, determining a probabilistic boundary between one or more of electrical, optical, and thermal sources of noise of the sensor, acquiring each response wave form from the sensor through analog-to-digital conversion with a resolution in amplitude and time corresponding to accuracy required in quantifying the response, storing each acquired response, individually, in real-time, or in buffered packets in digital form, determining the number of photons for a specific time resolved acquisition, and effecting a summation of the count of photon arrivals obtained based on amplitude evaluation from each specific time resolved acquisition, for all time resolved acquisitions performed in a given observation period, yielding the number of photon arrivals associated with the amplitude evaluation.

A computer-implemented method of determining the number of photons contributing to an output of a photonic sensor, including receiving an electrical signal from the photonic sensor proportional to a number of photons the photonic sensor detects at its input as a function of time, wherein the photonic sensor is calibrated such that a response of the photonic sensor to a single photon detected is in a waveform comprising an amplitude and time, wherein the product amplitude X time is statistically bounded, determining a probabilistic boundary between one or more of electrical, optical, and thermal sources of noise of the sensor, acquiring each response wave form from the sensor through analog-to-digital conversion with a resolution in amplitude and time corresponding to accuracy required in quantifying the response, storing each acquired response, individually, in real-time, or in buffered packets in digital form, determining the number of photons for a specific time resolved acquisition, and effecting a summation of the count of photon arrivals obtained based on amplitude evaluation from each specific time resolved acquisition, for all time resolved acquisitions performed in a given observation period, yielding the number of photon arrivals associated with the amplitude evaluation.

Provided is a lift pin for an epitaxial growth apparatus, which can prevent the back surface of a silicon wafer from being damaged by the lift pin, reduce emission of dust due to the rubbing of the lift pin against the wall surface of a through hole in a susceptor, and prevent peeling of glassy carbon. The lift pin has a straight trunk part to be inserted through the through hole; a head part to be made to abut a silicon wafer; and a cover part covering at least a top of the head part. The straight trunk part and the head part are made of a porous body, the cover part is made of a carbon-based covering material, and at least part of voids of the porous body of the head part is filled with the cover part.

Provided is a lift pin for an epitaxial growth apparatus, which can prevent the back surface of a silicon wafer from being damaged by the lift pin, reduce emission of dust due to the rubbing of the lift pin against the wall surface of a through hole in a susceptor, and prevent peeling of glassy carbon. The lift pin has a straight trunk part to be inserted through the through hole; a head part to be made to abut a silicon wafer; and a cover part covering at least a top of the head part. The straight trunk part and the head part are made of a porous body, the cover part is made of a carbon-based covering material, and at least part of voids of the porous body of the head part is filled with the cover part.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.

A piezoelectric film contains a piezoelectric material having a wurtzite-type crystal structure as a main component, and an additive element containing Kr, wherein the piezoelectric material contains a component selected from the group consisting of Zn, Al, Ga, Cd, and Si, as an electropositive element, and wherein a ratio of a content of Kr element to a content of contained elements in the piezoelectric material is in a range from 0.01 atm % to 0.05 atm %.