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Search for "roughness" in Full Text gives 452 result(s) in Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology. Showing first 200.
High-temperature epitaxial growth of tantalum nitride thin films on MgO: structural evolution and potential for SQUID applications
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 690–699, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.53
- makes this film an excellent candidate for superconducting applications, particularly in devices such as superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). Figure 7 presents an AFM image revealing the low surface roughness (2.2 nm) of even the film deposited at an elevated growth temperature of 850
- °C. This observation suggests that while deposition parameters significantly influence the structural and superconducting properties of the TaN thin films, they had only minimal impact on the surface roughness. Notably, the film roughness remains largely unaffected by variations in growth temperature
- surface roughness. Comparison of Ta 4f XPS peaks determined for different samples. (a) pN2 = 60 mTorr, (b) pN2 = 70 mTorr, (c) pN2 = 90 mTorr, T = 700 °C, and (d) pN2 = 90 mTorr, T = 750 °C. Ta 4f XPS spectra of samples deposited at (a) pN2 = 60 mTorr, T = 800 °C and (b) pN2 = 60 mTorr, T = 850 °C. XRD
Colloidal few layered graphene–tannic acid preserves the biocompatibility of periodontal ligament cells
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 664–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.51
- . The cellular response on different graphene surfaces was previously studied, and it was demonstrated that substrate characteristics such as surface roughness, surface chemistry, and electronic properties can influence cell response [38]. The implications of these results are particularly significant
N2+-implantation-induced tailoring of structural, morphological, optical, and electrical characteristics of sputtered molybdenum thin films
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 495–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.38
- thickness of the as-deposited films. This pattern persists with film thickness even after N2+ implantation. After implantation, crystallinity decreases relative to as-deposited films with the same nominal thickness. The AFM analysis reveals that RMS roughness increases with the thickness of Mo films
- . The RMS roughness values of Mo thin films with 150, 200, 250, and 300 nm thickness are around 1.09, 1.23, 1.41, and 1.73 nm, respectively. After N2+ implantation, the RMS roughness increases to 1.28, 1.43, 1.58, and 1.89 nm, respectively. A similar trend in roughness has been observed after N2
- + implantation for all Mo films. Table 3 reveals a continuous increase in particle size with Mo film thickness before and after N2+ implantation. This increase in roughness and particle size is related to structural alterations due to the increasing film thickness. At the lowest thickness, a greater number of
Performance optimization of a microwave-coupled plasma-based ultralow-energy ECR ion source for silicon nanostructuring
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 484–494, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.37
- nanopatterned surfaces depending on the dimensions of the nanopatterns (i.e., wavelength and rms roughness). The potential applications of such nanopatterned silicon surfaces are highlighted. This article underscores the versatility of an optimized broad-beam ultralow-energy ion source, specifically in the
- , where variations of ripple wavelength, rms roughness, and power spectral density are discussed. Figure 5g shows the cross-sectional TEM image after 450 eV Ar-ion bombardment of the Si surface at an angle of 60° for a time of 3 h. The presence of Ar-ion-induced surface corrugation in terms of ripple-like
- shown in Figure 6a–c. Further, the fluctuation in ripple height or amplitude, generally termed as rms roughness, is also investigated in Figure 6d. The rms roughness increases linearly with the irradiation time (i.e., fluence). Further, the ordering of the nanostructure with bombardment time, examined
ReactorAFM/STM – dynamic reactions on surfaces at elevated temperature and atmospheric pressure
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 397–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.30
- the same color contrast as in Figure 5c). By observing the root-mean-squared (RMS) surface roughness (Rq) under UHV conditions of 0.17 nm in topography and 50 pA in the current signal, we determine that the surface is rather smooth and flat. In contrast, under oxidation conditions, the surface
- roughness in topography is increased to 0.63 nm because of the more challenging scanning conditions. However, the current signal surface roughness increases by an order of magnitude to 760 pA with respect to Figure 5c. This significant increase in surface roughness, which can be observed as the appearance
- voltage of −1 V applied to the sample. RMS surface roughness and RMS current for each image are, correspondingly, (a) 0.17 nm, (b) 50 pA, (c) 0.63 nm, and (d) 760 pA. AFM images of cobalt nanoparticles on a thick (50 nm) Al2O3 film taken (a) before reaction, at RT and high vacuum, (b) at 430 K and 2 bar
Tailoring of physical properties of RF-sputtered ZnTe films: role of substrate temperature
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 333–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.25
- the optical bandgap of the films can be tuned from 1.47 ± 0.02 eV to 3.11 ± 0.14 eV. The surface morphology of the films studied using atomic force microscopy reveals that there is uniform grain growth on the surface. Various morphological parameters such as roughness, particle size, particle density
- obtained micrographs were then analysed regarding various statistical parameters such as roughness, skewness, kurtosis, and power spectral density using the NanoScope Analysis software. Surface morphology and composition of the films were studied by field-emission scanning electron microscopy attached with
- ) reveal a columnar growth on the surface of the films. The AFM micrographs were analysed using NanoScope software, and various morphological parameters including roughness, particle density, particle size, skewness, and kurtosis were summarized in Table 3. To investigate the quality of the surface and the
Enhancing mechanical properties of chitosan/PVA electrospun nanofibers: a comprehensive review
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 286–307, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.22
- , and an increase in surface roughness, which reduced the water contact angle, without altering the bulk properties of the material. Similar observations of improved mechanical strength of plasma-treated chitosan/PVA/hydroxyapatite were reported using DBD plasma air, which is considered more cost
Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques V
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 54–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.6
- inaccuracy caused by electrostatic or capillary forces, this is an additional mechanism having an impact on AFM height measurements. Closely related is the measurement of conductivity. Skolaut et al. investigate conductivity in dependence on the roughness of the substrate using alkanethiol self-assembled
Fabrication of hafnium-based nanoparticles and nanostructures using picosecond laser ablation
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1639–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.129
- carbides. For a given Hf target (regarding purity and surface roughness), the ablation products depend critically on the surrounding liquid, input pulse duration, input pulse energy, and the number of pulses incident on the sample. Figure 7 illustrates the EDX data for the particles synthesised in DW
Facile synthesis of size-tunable L-carnosine-capped silver nanoparticles and their role in metal ion sensing and catalytic degradation of p-nitrophenol
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1576–1592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.124
- > ʟ-car-AgNP5. Therefore, the results show maximum SERS enhancement for AgNP4. This is probably because of the greater surface roughness of the nanoparticles, leading to maximum electromagnetic enhancement in AgNP4. The SERS spectra of the ʟ-car-AgNPs are almost similar and show Raman bands at 1623 cm
A biomimetic approach towards a universal slippery liquid infused surface coating
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1376–1389, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.111
- composition of the layer was determined by XPS. Surface roughness was evaluated using AFM to confirm successful formation of a porous structure. Finally, ordering of specific chemical groups within our PDA SLIPS layer was explored via SFG spectroscopy. Initially, each functionalization step was assessed
- substrates and were representative of a covalent carbon-sulfur bond [43]. AFM highlighted the level of roughness at each stage of the coating to show a rougher topography for the final layer. Results for each layer of the coating are shown in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1 and reported as root mean
- square roughness (Rq), a useful metric for comparing surface roughness. The final layer with FDT should increase the surface roughness as only a monolayer is expected to bond. The final value layer of the coating that contains FDT showed Rq values of 70.5 ± 23.5 nm for COC, 46.9 ± 26 nm for Si, and 47.8
Investigation of Hf/Ti bilayers for the development of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1353–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.108
- hafnium makes the film properties, such as the critical temperature and the shape of the superconducting transition, stable over time, which is necessary for successful operation of the detectors. For hafnium, the optimal growth rate was 2 Å/s. Films deposited at this rate have a roughness of about 1 nm
- . Titanium was deposited on hafnium at a growth rate of 0.5 Å/s. The roughness of hafnium films coated with titanium decreased compared to hafnium-only films. Because of the slow deposition rate of Ti, small crystallites with sizes below 10 nm are visible in Figure 2. The A1–A4 samples of square geometry
Hymenoptera and biomimetic surfaces: insights and innovations
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1333–1352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.107
- morphological features and the principles behind their functionality, we aim to identify key characteristics that can inspire innovative materials and technologies. Review General features of body cuticle The cuticle of Hymenoptera exhibits several fascinating properties. Cuticle roughness The cuticle surfaces
- and durability. For instance, low-friction coatings inspired by Hymenoptera cuticles can be applied to materials to reduce wear and tear, thereby enhancing performance, and extending the lifespan of the material. Surface roughness can have beneficial effects on the overall aerodynamic characteristics
- of artificial surfaces, such as rough coatings on high-speed trains [12], dimples on golf balls [13], and shark skin denticles on aircrafts [14]. Some micromachines can also benefit from micro- and nanostructures that create roughness on surfaces and influence aerodynamics and heat transfer [15]. The
Mn-doped ZnO nanopowders prepared by sol–gel and microwave-assisted sol–gel methods and their photocatalytic properties
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1283–1296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.104
- previous studies, the authors demonstrated that Mn-doped ZnO films exhibit superior optical and piezoelectric properties compared to undoped ZnO, with a more compact microstructure and reduced surface roughness [41]. Building on this foundation, the current article aims to focus on the methods of
The role of a tantalum interlayer in enhancing the properties of Fe3O4 thin films
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1253–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.101
- . Sample 3, grown on the MgO/Ta/SiO2 multilayer structure, reveals the largest value of 31.4 ± 1.4 nm. In addition, the Fe3O4 samples present quite different root-mean-square (RMS) roughness values of 0.94 ± 0.09 nm, 1.29 ± 0.14 nm, and 3.58 ± 0.58 nm for samples 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Sample 3 with the
- highest value has the roughest surface among the three. These results indicate that the substrate type does have an effect on grain size and roughness of Fe3O4 thin films. Tantalum in the multilayer structure prevents the diffusion of oxygen atoms from SiO2 into MgO leading to enhanced stability of MgO
- and RMS roughness, and in the formation of a polycrystalline structure. Changes in grain size and structure have a strong impact on saturation magnetization and coercivity of the Fe3O4 thin films. Our results indicate that the combination of Ta and MgO buffer layers can influence the morphology and
Direct electron beam writing of silver using a β-diketonate precursor: first insights
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1117–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.90
- expense of a reduced shape fidelity [9]. This is also true for the recently established direct electron beam writing of silver, which demonstrated high purities of up to 74 atom % [27] but with large surface roughness and low vertical growth rates [28][29][30]. For silver, only few solid metalorganic
Interface properties of nanostructured carbon-coated biological implants: an overview
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1041–1053, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.85
- environments represented by implant–tissue interfaces [18] through the tuning of different parameters (i.e., surface roughness and potential as well as hydrophobicity). Cells and biomolecules can selectively adhere to or be repelled from artificial implanted surfaces, triggering several metabolic pathways of
- roughness, inducing macrophage polarization to the pro-inflammatory state without producing a great excess of pro-inflammatory factors. Furthermore, GO-coated implants showed a reduction of the expression of the fibrosis-related protein α-SMA and collagen deposition in the presence of both fibroblasts and
- both anticorrosion and antithrombotic elements. The authors used PVD for the deposition of a micrometer-thick coating on stainless steel, controlling morphology, roughness, and mechanical parameters. The coated surfaces showed a reduction of hemolysis of 40% and a corrosion resistance increment of 96
Atomistic insights into the morphological dynamics of gold and platinum nanoparticles: MD simulations in vacuum and aqueous media
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 995–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.81
- measure of surface roughness, as well as a proxy to NP reactivity, is the surface area-to-volume ratio [83]. Its variation with the NP diameter for Au (blue line) and Pt (orange line) NPs at 100 K is shown in Figure 8. In general, it is expected to be inversely proportional to where N is the number of
Beyond biomimicry – next generation applications of bioinspired adhesives from microfluidics to composites
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 965–976, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.79
- surface roughness and are far more cost-effective. The significant influence of mechanical properties on identical fiber designs has also been extensively studied by our group and others, including work on shape memory polymers (SMPs) for biomimetic pillars [29]. These uniformly mushroom-shaped SMP fibers
The effect of age on the attachment ability of stick insects (Phasmatodea)
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 867–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.72
- 1 µm and 12 µm roughness according to Büscher and Gorb [33] to test for differences in the attachment performance on different degrees of surface roughness during ageing. This range of substrate roughness was selected to test for different aspects of the functionality of the attachment pads without
- major influences of the claws [33][37]. On smooth surfaces (0 µm), smooth pads generate proper contact with the surface. Microrough surfaces interfere with the contact formation of smooth pads; however, the dimension of the nubs on the euplantulae yield different responses to the roughness because fine
- roughness (1 µm) matches the size of the tips and course roughness (12 µm) matches the size of the entire nubs [33]. The combination of these three levels of roughness was used to investigate potential effects in the three mentioned perspectives of the attachment pads. For details on the fabrication process
Effect of repeating hydrothermal growth processes and rapid thermal annealing on CuO thin film properties
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 743–754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.62
- discontinuities are observed on the surface, which are narrow and shallow compared to the average thickness of the films. Based on the surface parameters determined from AFM data, that is, root mean square (Rq) and arithmetic average (Ra) of height deviations, it was noticed that the surface roughness
- represents the sum of chemical potential and surface dipoles, which are sensitive to numerous factors. In addition to the stoichiometry of the material and the presence of impurities, their value may also be affected by, among others, surface roughness, exposed crystal plane, and exposure to radiation or
Comparative analysis of the ultrastructure and adhesive secretion pathways of different smooth attachment pads of the stick insect Medauroidea extradentata (Phasmatodea)
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 612–630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.52
- roughness and thereby increase the contact area [14][16][17][18][19]. It can aid in the enhancement of viscous and capillary forces further increasing the attachment strength [9][14][20][21][22][23][24]. The adhesive secretion can be essential for the self-cleaning mechanism by binding smaller contamination
Insect attachment on waxy plant surfaces: the effect of pad contamination by different waxes
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 385–395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.35
- (number per unit area) influence insect attachment [11][12]. As an explanation for reduced insect adhesion on waxy plant surfaces, several contributing mechanisms have been previously suggested, such as (1) specific micro/nanoroughness created by wax projections (roughness hypothesis), (2) contamination
- particles forming a separation layer between insect pads and the plant surface and serving as a kind of lubricant (separation layer hypothesis) [7][13]. To date, several experimental studies have been performed to test the first three hypotheses. As for the roughness hypothesis, it was revealed in
- centrifugal and pulling tests with some insect species bearing hairy attachment pads and mostly artificial substrates having different surface roughness. Insects showed several times higher attachment forces on both smooth and rather coarse microrough surfaces (>3 μm asperity size) compared to force values on
Investigating ripple pattern formation and damage profiles in Si and Ge induced by 100 keV Ar+ ion beam: a comparative study
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 367–375, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.33
- samples were studied via AFM for the surface topography and change in root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness. Figure 1 shows AFM images of pristine and 100 keV Ar+ ion-irradiated Si samples. Pristine samples show a smooth surface with a surface roughness of ≈0.5 nm as observed in Figure 1A (a). Figure
- 1A (b–e) shows the surface topography of the irradiated samples at respective ion fluences of (b) 3 × 1017, (c) 5 × 1017, (d) 7 × 1017, and (e) 9 × 1017 ions/cm2. The surface roughness (Rq) is found to be increased with ion fluence from ≈1.0 nm to 1.6 nm due to ion-induced sputtering at a 60
- nm) for an ion fluence of 9 × 1017 ions/cm2. Figure 2A shows AFM images of pristine and 100 keV Ar+ ion-irradiated Ge samples. The pristine sample shows a smooth surface with roughness of ≈0.5 nm as observed in Figure 2A (a). Figure 2A (b–e) shows AFM images of irradiated samples at respective ion
Controllable physicochemical properties of WOx thin films grown under glancing angle
Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 350–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.31
- WOx films having thicknesses of 6, 10, 30, and 60 nm on p-Si substrates. It is observed that the films are granular in nature. RMS roughness (blue-green circles) and average grain size (red-blue circles) increase as the film thickness increases from 6 to 60 nm (Figure 1i). Figure 1e–h shows the AFM
- images of vacuum-annealed (at 673 K for 1 h) WOx films prepared by the same set of deposition conditions. Similar to the as-deposited ones, all annealed WOx films possess prominent granular structures and an increasing trend in grain size and RMS roughness with film thickness (Figure 1j). However, the
- -deposited and (e–h) vacuum-annealed WOx films grown at a fixed glancing angle of 87°. (i, j) Variations in RMS roughness and grain size with WOx films thickness before and after annealing, respectively. (a) Transmittance plots of the as-deposited NS-WOx films and (b) bandgap variation with film thickness
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