Advances in Metallic Layers by IBAD/EBAD

Dear Colleagues,

One of the greatest concerns in today’s world is to improve the performance of systems to make them even more captive and smart. In this race for performance, we are always looking for a given system to reduce the energy involved as well as the size, while increasing the accuracy and speed of the response. With the considerable progress in robotics sciences under vacuum, researchers worldwide are now able to build micro and nano factories by using SEM/FIB/GIS stations to reduce the size and energy consumption of a lot of MEMS or MOEMS. In this general field, one of the more important developments could be realized in the welding step of two parts of a system. The objective of this Special Issue is to present the latest developments in the field of metal deposition of thin layers in enclosures such as electron microscopes or SEM/FIB dual beams, which are becoming micro and nano factories by the introduction of a robotic arm inside the chamber. There are now more and more applications in the field of assembly, characterization, welding of carbon nanotubes, etc., but platinum-based or tungsten-based coatings, which are often claimed to be metallic conductors, are not actually so. Indeed, the base polymer that is often used by Gas Injection System (GIS) manufacturers to produce these thin layers under SEM and/or FIB are cyclopentadienyl tungsten or cyclopentadienyl platinum. These two materials are decomposed under vacuum to give a layer that contains carbon and metal (W or Pt) overall, without having the characteristics of a real metal layer, and without being conductive. The objective of this Special Issue is therefore to focus on all the means of investigation to better synthesize and characterize the thin layers produced under SEM/FIB or other vacuum systems by the techniques commonly called Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) or Electron Beam Assisted Deposition (EBAD). It could be very interesting to truly deposit a metal layer, especially for the welding process in order to increase the durability of the thin link and to increase its mechanical properties.

In particular, the topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Synthesis of new polymers in order to obtain metallic properties of the film under vacuum (i.e., hetero-bimetallic polymer)
• Mechanical and tribological test under vacuum in order to evaluate the metallic properties of the film
• Traction, wear, resistivity, and conductivity studies to measure the properties of thin layers based on Gas Injection System
• All the electric properties of such layers
• All the deposition systems of these families of polymer

Dr. Jean-Yves Rauch
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.