A method for manufacturing a coated metal substrate includes the steps of: (1) inserting a substrate with a chromium(III) oxide layer inside a CVD chamber; (2) heating the substrate to a temperature which falls in the range of 400 to 500 degrees Celsius; (3) transporting gaseous nitrogen (N.sub.2) and tantalum chloride (TaCl5) into the CVD chamber for at least two cycles; (4) ceasing the transportation of tantalum chloride (TaCl5) while nitrogen continues to flow from the inlet to the outlet; (5) reacting the tantalum chloride and the chromium(III) oxide and creating by-products; and (6) vacuuming the by-product matter from the CVD chamber via the flowing nitrogen gas.

A carrier for Raman spectroscopy comprising: a substrate having a first metal surface; a plurality of graphene islands disposed on the substrate, wherein parts of the neighboring graphene islands are not connected and thereby form a plurality of gaps between the graphene islands; and a plurality of second metal particles disposed at the gaps between the graphene islands.

An embodiment described herein includes a method for producing a wafer of a first semiconductor material. Said first semiconductor material has a first melting temperature. The method comprises providing a crystalline substrate of a second semiconductor material having a second melting temperature lower than the first melting temperature, and exposing the crystalline substrate to a flow of first material precursors for forming a first layer of the first material on the substrate. The method further comprising bringing the crystalline substrate to a first process temperature higher than the second melting temperature, and at the same time lower than the first melting temperature, in such a way the second material melts, separating the second melted material from the first layer, and exposing the first layer to the flow of the first material precursor for forming a second layer of the first material on the first layer.

A precursor composition according to an embodiment of the present invention contains a mixture of a Group IV organic compound and any one compound selected from an organic aluminum compound, an organic gallium compound, or an organic germanium compound.

A reactor system and related methods are provided which may include a heating element in a wafer tray. The heating element may be used to heat the wafer tray and a substrate or wafer seated on the wafer tray within a reaction chamber assembly, and may be used to cause sublimation of a native oxide of the wafer.

The present invention provides a polymer substrate with a hardcoat layer exhibiting excellent environmental resistance and wear resistance. A polymer substrate (60) is 1-20 mm thick and a hardcoat layer (70, 80) on the surface thereof comprises: an underlayer cured layer (70) with a thickness of 1-20 m, and including 10-90 parts by weight of a multifunctional acrylate, and 90-10 parts by weight of inorganic oxide fine particles and/or a silicon compound hydrolytic condensate; and a silicon oxide layer (80) which is in direct contract with the underlayer cured layer, is formed by PE-CVD with an organosilicon compound as the starter material, and satisfies all of the following conditions (a)-(c): (a) the film thickness of the silicon oxide layer is 3.5-9.0 m; (b) the maximum indentation depth of the surface of the silicon oxide layer by nanoindentation measurement at a maximum load of 1 mN is 150 nm or less; and (c) the limit compression ratio K of the silicon oxide layer is at most 0.975 in a 3-point bending test of the polymer substrate with a hardcoat layer having been subjected to indentation deformation that causes the surface on which the silicon oxide layer is layered to be indented.

A reactor system and related methods are provided which may include a heating element in a wafer tray. The heating element may be used to heat the wafer tray and a substrate or wafer seated on the wafer tray within a reaction chamber assembly, and may be used to cause sublimation of a native oxide of the wafer.

The present disclosure generally relate to a cluster tool and methods for forming an epitaxial layer on a semiconductor device. In one implementation, the cluster tool includes a transfer chamber, a pre-clean chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, a plasma-cleaning chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, a deposition chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, an etch chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, and a thermal process chamber coupled to the transfer chamber.

Radio frequency (RF) power, and in particular microwaves, are used as a source of heat for plasma Exothermic Enhanced Reactions (EERs) in a metal lattice, into which hydrogen is loaded in the presence of lithium or graphene.

Disclosed herein are structures comprising a titanium, zirconium, or hafnium powder particle with titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, or hafnium carbide (respectively) nano-whiskers grown directly from and anchored to the powder particle. Also disclosed are methods for fabrication of such structures, involving heating the powder particles and exposing the particles to an organic gas.