The papers included in this issue of ECS Transactions were originally presented in the symposium ¿Novel Plasma Techniques for Low Temperature Processing of Thin Films for Flexible Electronics¿, held during the 215th meeting of The Electrochemical Society, in San Francisco, California from May 24 to 29, 2009.

This excellent volume covers a range of materials used for flexible electronics, including semiconductors, dielectrics, and metals. The functional integration of these different materials is treated as well. Fundamental issues for both organic and inorganic materials systems are included. A corresponding overview of technological applications, based on each materials system, is presented to give both the non-specialist and the researcher in the field relevant information on the status of the flexible electronics area.

The field of flexible electronics has grown rapidly over the last two decades with diverse applications including wearable gadgets and medical equipment. This textbook comprehensively covers the fundamental aspects of flexible electronics along with materials and processing techniques. It discusses topics including flexural rigidity, flexible PCBs, organic semiconductors, nanostructured materials, material reliability, electronic reliability, crystalline and polymer materials, semiconductor processing, and flexible silicon in depth. The text covers advantages, disadvantages, and applications of processes such as sol-gel processing and ink-jet printing. Pedagogical features such as solved problems and unsolved exercises are interspersed throughout the text for better understanding. FEATURES Covers major areas such as materials, physics, processes, and applications of flexible electronics Contains homework problems for readers to understand concepts in an easy manner Discusses, in detail, various types of materials, such as flexible silicon, metal oxides, and organic semiconductors Explains the application of flexible electronics in displays, solar cells, and batteries Includes a section on stretchable electronics This textbook is primarily written for senior undergraduate and graduate students in electrical engineering, electronics, materials science, chemistry, and communication engineering for a course on flexible electronics. Teaching resources are available, including a solutions manual for instructors.

Printing on Polymers: Fundamentals and Applications is the first authoritative reference covering the most important developments in the field of printing on polymers, their composites, nanocomposites, and gels. The book examines the current state-of-the-art and new challenges in the formulation of inks, surface activation of polymer surfaces, and various methods of printing. The book equips engineers and materials scientists with the tools required to select the correct method, assess the quality of the result, reduce costs, and keep up-to-date with regulations and environmental concerns. Choosing the correct way of decorating a particular polymer is an important part of the production process. Although printing on polymeric substrates can have desired positive effects, there can be problems associated with various decorating techniques. Physical, chemical, and thermal interactions can cause problems, such as cracking, peeling, or dulling. Safety, environmental sustainability, and cost are also significant factors which need to be considered. With contributions from leading researchers from industry, academia, and private research institutions, this book serves as a one-stop reference for this field—from print ink manufacture to polymer surface modification and characterization; and from printing methods to applications and end-of-life issues. - Enables engineers to select the correct decoration method for each material and application, assess print quality, and reduce costs - Increases familiarity with the terminology, tests, processes, techniques, and regulations of printing on plastic, which reduces the risk of adverse reactions, such as cracking, peeling, or dulling of the print - Addresses the issues of environmental impact and cost when printing on polymeric substrates - Features contributions from leading researchers from industry, academia, and private research institutions

This issue of ECS Transactions contains the peer-reviewed full length papers of the International Symposium on Silicon Nitride, Silicon Dioxide, and Emerging Dielectrics held May 1-6, 2011 in Montreal as a part of the 219th Meeting of The Electrochemical Society. The papers address a very diverse range of topics. In addition to the deposition and characterization of the dielectrics, more specific topics addressed by the papers include applications, device characterization and reliability, interface states, interface traps, defects, transistor and gate oxide studies, and modeling.

This book summarizes the results of the research on how to make small electronic devices with high properties by using simple liquid processes such as coating, self-assembling and printing, especially focusing on devices composed of silicon and oxide materials. It describes syntheses and analyses of solution materials, formations of solid thin films from solutions, newly developed patterning methods to make devices, and characterization of the developed devices. In the first part of the book, the research on liquid silicon (Si) materials is described. Because the use of a liquid material is a quite new idea for Si devices, this book is the first one to describe liquid Si materials for electronic devices. Si devices as typified by MOS-FET have been produced by using solid and gas materials. This volume precisely describes a series of processes from material synthesis to device fabrication for those who are interested and are/will be engaged in liquid Si-related work. In the latter part of the book, a general method of how to make good oxide films from solutions and a new imprinting method to make nanosized patterns are introduced. For making oxide films with high quality, the designing of the solution is crucial. If a solution is designed properly, a gel material called "cluster gel" can be formed which is able to be imprinted to form nanosized patterns. The anticipated readers of this book are researchers, engineers, and students who are interested in solution and printing processes for making devices. More generally, this book will also provide guidelines for corporate managers and executives who are responsible for making strategies for future manufacturing processes.

This Special Issue “Characterization of Nanomaterials” collects nine selected papers presented at the 6th Dresden Nanoanalysis Symposium, held at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems in Dresden, Germany, on 31 August 2018. Following the specific motto of this annual symposium “Materials challenges—Micro- and nanoscale characterization”, it covered various topics of nanoscale materials characterization along the whole value and innovation chain, from fundamental research up to industrial applications. The scope of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the current status, recent developments and research activities in the field of nanoscale materials characterization, with a particular emphasis on future scenarios. Primarily, analytical techniques for the characterization of thin films and nanostructures are discussed, including modeling and simulation. We anticipate that this Special Issue will be accessible to a wide audience, as it explores not only methodical aspects of nanoscale materials characterization, but also materials synthesis, fabrication of devices and applications.

This two volume set reviews the key issues in processing and characterization of nanoscale ferroelectrics and multiferroics, and provides a comprehensive description of their properties, with an emphasis in differentiating size effects of extrinsic ones like boundary or interface effects. Recently described nanoscale novel phenomena are also addressed. Organized into three parts it addresses key issues in processing (nanostructuring), characterization (of the nanostructured materials) and nanoscale effects. Taking full advantage of the synergies between nanoscale ferroelectrics and multiferroics, the text covers materials nanostructured at all levels, from ceramic technologies like ferroelectric nanopowders, bulk nanostructured ceramics and thick films, and magnetoelectric nanocomposites, to thin films, either polycrystalline layer heterostructures or epitaxial systems, and to nanoscale free standing objects with specific geometries, such as nanowires and tubes at different levels of development. This set is developed from the high level European scientific knowledge platform built within the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action on Single and multiphase ferroics and multiferroics with restricted geometries (SIMUFER, ref. MP0904). Chapter contributors have been carefully selected, and have all made major contributions to knowledge of the respective topics, and overall, they are among most respected scientists in the field.

This most comprehensive and unrivaled compendium in the field provides an up-to-date account of the chemistry of solids, nanoparticles and hybrid materials. Following a valuable introductory chapter reviewing important synthesis techniques, the handbook presents a series of contributions by about 150 international leading experts -- the "Who's Who" of solid state science. Clearly structured, in six volumes it collates the knowledge available on solid state chemistry, starting from the synthesis, and modern methods of structure determination. Understanding and measuring the physical properties of bulk solids and the theoretical basis of modern computational treatments of solids are given ample space, as are such modern trends as nanoparticles, surface properties and heterogeneous catalysis. Emphasis is placed throughout not only on the design and structure of solids but also on practical applications of these novel materials in real chemical situations.

Chemical Solution Synthesis for Materials Design and Thin Film Device Applications presents current research on wet chemical techniques for thin-film based devices. Sections cover the quality of thin films, types of common films used in devices, various thermodynamic properties, thin film patterning, device configuration and applications. As a whole, these topics create a roadmap for developing new materials and incorporating the results in device fabrication. This book is suitable for graduate, undergraduate, doctoral students, and researchers looking for quick guidance on material synthesis and device fabrication through wet chemical routes. - Provides the different wet chemical routes for materials synthesis, along with the most relevant thin film structured materials for device applications - Discusses patterning and solution processing of inorganic thin films, along with solvent-based processing techniques - Includes an overview of key processes and methods in thin film synthesis, processing and device fabrication, such as nucleation, lithography and solution processing