Transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors have been widely studied due to their distinctive electronic and optical properties. The property of TMD flakes is a function of their thickness, or layer number (N). How to determine the N of ultrathin TMD materials is of primary importance for fundamental study and practical applications. Raman mode intensity from substrates has been used t...

Nucleation and growth of transition metals on zirconia has been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Since STM requires electrical conductivity, ultrathin ZrO2 films grown by oxidation of Pt3Zr(0001) and Pd3Zr(0001) were used as model systems. DFT studies were performed for single metal adatoms on supported ZrO2 films as well as the (1̅...

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Selecting material for a minimally invasive occlusal veneer reconstruction concept requires an understanding of how stresses are distributed during functional and parafunctional forces. PURPOSE The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate stress distribution in a maxillary molar restored with ultrathin occlusal veneers and subjected by an antagonistic mandibular ...

We previously reported the exquisite preservation of the ultrastructures of virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis cells processed through cryofixation and rapid freeze substitution. Here, we report the "structome" analysis (i.e., the quantitative three-dimensional structural analysis of a whole cell at the electron microscopic level) of virulent M. tuberculosis using serial ultrathin sections pre...

Ultrathin films suspended as freestanding membranes are critical to many microelectronic and materials science applications. However, fabrication methods currently limited in either their flexibility, due material selectivity issues during the final membrane release, or scalability. Here, we demonstrate a novel process for suspending ultrathin with thicknesses low 4 nm lateral dimensions up 20 ...

One-dimensional (1-D) ultrathin (15 nm) and thin (100 nm) aligned 1-D (0001) and (0001¯) oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire (NW) arrays were fabricated on copper substrates by one-step electrochemical deposition inside the pores of polycarbonate membranes. The aspect ratio dependence of the compressive stress because of the lattice mismatch between NW array/substrate interface and crystallite s...

Many modern and future technological applications involve ultrathin polymer films with a thickness below the 100-nanometer scale, where statistical bulk averaging is jeopardized and interfacial constraints dictate transport properties. In such confined polymeric systems, transport properties strongly depend on molecular relaxation and structural phases that deviate from the bulk. This is partic...

A vapor phase deposition system was designed to coat uniform, conformal and ultrathin coatings of fluoropolymer and fluorosilane thin films inside silicon nanochannels. Surface modifications using vapor phase deposition become increasingly important for biomedical micro/nanoelectromechanical system BioMEMS/NEMS applications and have advantages over liquid phase deposition since the vapor can pe...

Metasurfaces composed of planar arrays of subwavelength artificial structures show promise for extraordinary light manipulation. They have yielded novel ultrathin optical components such as flat lenses, wave plates, holographic surfaces, and orbital angular momentum manipulation and detection over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, the optical properties of metasurfaces dev...