The difference in the structure of titanium oxide thin films deposited on fused silica substrates and the Y-cut of a lithium niobate crystal is demonstrated. In both cases, the film is amorphous; however, an insignificant amount of rutile crystallites is observed in the film formed on the Y-cut of the lithium niobate crystal. It is shown that the electrical characteristics of the films depend not only on the material of the substrate, but, in the case of the lithium niobate substrate, also on the direction of an electric field. This is caused by the deformation of the substrate due to the inverse piezoelectric effect.

Miniaturization of devices based on one-dimensional semiconductor nanocrystals is of high importance for high-frequency applications, photonics, and various sensors. Zinc oxide, one of the materials actively studied for such purposes, can be obtained by several technologies. Among them, chemical vapor deposition is distinguished by a low concentration of defects in the resulting structures. The aim of this work was to fabricate a test device on a single ZnO nanocrystal by means of nanomanipulation and to study its spectral response in the range from near-IR to UV. Since one of the promising applications of ZnO is UV sensors, the task was to test the selectivity of the response to the wavelength range below 400 nm.

Superplastic deformation is ensured by grain boundary sliding (GBS), which is accommodated by dislocation and diffusional creep. The contributions of these mechanisms depend on the microstructural parameters of alloys and temperature-strain rate conditions of deformation. In this work, the deformation behavior, grain structure parameters, and the contributions of the superplastic deformation mechanisms at the temperature 0.87Zm and constant strain rate 1 x 10-2 s-1 were compared between the rolled Al-5Mg-0.9Fe-0.83Ni-0.14Zr-0.08Sc-0.72Zn alloy with the initial nonrecrystallized grain structure and the recrystallized one treated by multidirectional isothermal forging (MDF). The strain rate sensitivity coefficient was ~0.5, and the elongation reached 400-520% under the specified conditions. Superplastic deformation of the rolled alloy under uniaxial tension resulted in dynamic recrystallization and strain weakening. In the MDF-fabricated alloy, deformation was accompanied by strain hardening due to grain growth. Regardless of the treatment mode, at the stage of steady-state flow, the alloy shows similar structural parameters and similar contribution ratios of the acting deformation mechanisms, which were determined from structural evolution with surface markers. The contribution of grain boundary sliding was ~40%, and that of intragranular dislocation slip/creep was ~20%. The remaining strain localized near transverse grain boundaries with the formation of striated zones, which were associated with grain boundary sliding and diffusion creep.

Thin films of lithium niobate were deposited by RF diode sputtering of a LiNbO3 single-crystal target on a heated sapphire substrate (R-cut, 650 degrees C). Radial distributions of the phase composition of the films along the substrate were obtained by principal component analysis (PCA) using Raman spectra. It was found that at small targetsubstrate distances (12 mm is the distance between the target and the substrate, 76 mm is the diameters of the target and the substrate holder, 30 mm is the size of the film deposition area in axial geometry), the effects of resputtering of the deposited film do not lead to a considerable decrease in the lithium content: no phases other than LiNbO3 are formed in the extended central part of the film, the edge of the film contains no more than 2 % of the undesirable LiNb3O8 phase, and the difference in the measured values of deviation of LiNbO3 phase composition from stoichiometry in the film compared to the target is 0.7 mol% Li2O. These results indicate that the technology for depositing of lithium niobate films can be improved since there is no need to produce a target additionally enriched with Li2O.

We investigate thermal contact resistance of a detachable connection in the copper–copper contact pair with a thermal interface made of graphene layers synthesized by chemical vapor deposition onto the contacting surface. The values of the thermal contact resistance of a detachable copper–graphene–copper contact pair were obtained using the transient heat flow method in the temperature range of 15–150 K under the influence of an external magnetic field of up to 10 T.

Many modern advances in the field of nano- and microrobotics are used in the creation of a new generation of bionanosensors. Individual semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are considered in biomedical technologies as highly sensitive elements for tracking important biological agents. For this sake the single nanowires are biologically functionalized, and on their basis the active elements are integrated in the configuration of field-effect transistors (FET). This paper reports on experiments on the development of a technology for the designing of nanobiosensor prototypes based on single semiconductor zinc oxide nanowires using a new microrobotic system for nanomanipulation with shape memory actuator elements. The NW nanopositioning was carried out with an accuracy of about 10 nm using a Kleindick nanomanipulator in the vacuum chamber of a cross-beam SEM/FIB microscope. Specially designed thermally controlled shape memory nanotweezers were used to capture a suitable individual NWs from the forest. The corresponding angular arrangement of the NWs and nanotweezers was achieved by a new torsion actuator with shape memory effect, which is combined with the control element of the nanotweezers. The integration of the prototypes of FETs based on zinc oxide NWs was achieved by 3D nanomanipulation of single nanowires 300–15 nm thick and 50-µm long.

High residual porosity in superplastically deformed brass carries the risk of reducing the mechanical properties. Multicomponent brasses demonstrate lower residual porosity, associated with a lower grain size and more effective accommodation mechanisms of grain boundary sliding. In this paper, a comparison is made of microstructural evolution in the prepolished surface and in the bulk of duplex brass samples and brass samples with minor aluminum addition during steady-state superplastic deformation. After superplastic deformation, dislocation clusters and dislocation walls are revealed in the α-grains of both alloys, indicating the activation of the dislocation creep mechanism. It is shown that aluminum reduces the contribution of grain boundary sliding along the phase boundaries from ~75 to ~30% and causes strain localization in the ß-phase region with the formation of less than ~300-nm grains as a result of dynamic recrystallization. Alloying with 0.4% Al reduces the flow stress by 20%, increases the relative elongation by a factor of 1.5, and decreases the amount of residual porosity by a factor of 3. This leads to a much lower loss of strength in superplastically deformed specimens at room temperature.

The influence of nickel on superplasticity characteristics, microstructure evolution and the contribution of acting superplastic deformation mechanisms in the Al–Zn–Mg–Cr based alloys has been studied. In the Al–Zn–Mg–Cr alloy, dispersoids with an average size of 140 nm containing aluminum, chromium, magnesium, and a small amount of zinc are precipitated. In the Al–Zn–Mg–Cr–Ni alloy, additionally an Al3Ni phase has formed. Nickel aluminide provides a more homogeneous and stable grain structure at elevated annealing temperatures and during superplastic deformation at 440°C. An alloying with Ni reduced the average grain size from 7.7 to 7.3 μm before deformation and from 10 to 8.6 μm after straining to 0.69. An increased dislocation density has been found near the Al3Ni particles after deformation. At comparable values of the strain rate sensitivity coefficient (m ≈ 0.6), the presence of Al3Ni particles results in a higher contribution of GBS, and a lower contribution of intragranular dislocation slip, as compared to the alloy without these particles. The alloying with Ni provided a more equiaxed fine-grained structure and an increase in elongations-to-failure.

Results from studying the effect of an applied electric voltage on the Raman spectrum of graphene deposited on a lithium niobate crystal substrate with a ferroelectric domain structure are presented. The use of the principal component method for data processing in combination with correlation analysis made it possible to reveal the contribution to the change in the spectra associated with the linear deformation of the substrate due to the inverse piezoelectric effect. An effect of the graphene coating peeling was found. Furthermore, bending deformations of the graphene coating associated with the presence of a relief on the substrate were found. An analysis of the change in the spectra of graphene under the application of an electric voltage made it possible to determine the height of this relief.

The superplastic forming technique, which realized extremely high plastic deformation, is used for producing complex shaped lightweight constructions. Physical models and experiments with surface microstructure evolution indicate that superplastic deformation predominantly occurs owing to grain boundary sliding (GBS) that accommodated by dislocation slip/creep and diffusional creep. Unusually weak GBS and increased contributions of accommodation mechanisms during the initial stage of superplastic deformation are observed for the finegrained commercial Al-Mg based alloys. In this study, microstructural evolution during the deformation at a temperature of 0.97T(i.m).with a constant strain rate of 4 x 10(-3) s(-1) was investigated by scanning and transmission electron microscopy for Al-Mg based alloys with a different Mg content. A strain-induced evolutions of the grain and dislocation structure and the surface structure with FIB-milled grids during elevated-temperature deformation were analyzed. A decrease in the strain rate sensitivity m -coefficient from 0.6 to 0.4, dynamic grain growth with significant grains elongation to the tensile direction accompanied by a pronounced dislocation activity, subgrains formation, and the development of the precipitated depleted zones were observed during deformation. The intergranular and intragranular strains were measured to estimate the contributions of superplastic deformation mechanisms. An increase in solute Mg from 4.8wt% to 6.5-7.6wt% inhibited dynamic grain growth and increased a mean GBS contribution from similar to 24% to similar to 40%. "Striation" zones developed near the transverse grain boundaries, and precipitation-depleted zones accumulated up to 50% of strain for the alloy with 4.8wt%Mg and 20-35% for higher Mg alloys. Grain body deformation via dislocation clip/creep provided 20-30% of total strain. The results confirmed the critical nature of the diffusional creep and dislocation slip/creep mechanisms for superplastic deformation of the studied alloys.

The results of investigating the effect of an external electric field on the Raman spectrum of the Y-cut of a lithium niobate single crystal are presented. A change in the intensity and position of individual lines of the Raman spectrum that is associated with a change in the parameters of the crystal lattice due to the reverse piezoelectric effect is found. A change in the intensity and a shift in the spectral lines caused by local inhomogeneities of the lithium niobate single crystal have been also observed. In order to determine what contribution each of these effects makes to the change in the Raman spectra, the principal components analysis has been used in the analysis of experimental data.

Materials on the nanoscale possess certain unique properties and advantages compared to those in the bulk form. Nanomaterials are classified into 0D (nanodots, nanoparticles), 1D (nanotubes, nanowires), 2D (graphene), and 3D materials depending on their size/dimensions. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are smart materials that exhibit the unique property of a shape change upon exposure to a change in temperature. Nowadays, attempts are being made to take advantage of shape memory materials to develop solutions for mechanical and electrical integration and assembling nanomaterials. The combination of nanomaterials and SMAs helps to tailor the properties and fabricate a number of nanodevices based on individual nanoobjects. In recent times a broad range of proof-of-concept nanodevices, including nanolasers and nanosensors based on nanowires and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), field-effect transistors (nano-FETs), etc. have been developed. Such nanodevices serve as attractive building blocks for hierarchical assembly. This offers many opportunities for creating micro- and macrodevices and functional arrays through the bottom-up and hybrid paradigm. The bottom-up approach involves five different steps: (1) producing nanodevices to tailor (make) nanomaterials; (2) etching (cleaning), passivating, or doping the surface of the nanomaterials; (3) cutting nanomaterials into individual components; (4) fabricating elements and organizing these elements or components into nanodevices; and (5) linking (interconnecting and integrating) individual nanodevices together for the micro and macro world. This chapter surveys the emerging technology of 3D nanomanipulation based on the smallest and fastest nanotweezers produced based on the new shape memory composite materials and their application for the manipulation of real nanoobjects like nanotubes and nanowires. The prospects of the application of 3D nanomanipulation in nanomanufacturing via mechanical nanoassembling, bottom-up mechanical nanoassembling, and nanointegration, which can in many cases replace very expensive top-down nanolithography, are discussed.

Recent progress in design of nanomechanical tools with shape memory effect (SME) resulted in successful realization of the new systems for 3D nanomanipulation and bottom-up nanointegration of the nanoobjects like CNT, nanowires etc. SME demands controlled heating of the active layer of the shape memory nanotool. The heating can lead to thermal drift and errors in positioning of the nanotool. The paper presents the results of numerical modeling and experimental data on the thermal expansion of a heating element, including the tungsten microneedle depending on the configuration of its tip geometry. It is proved that the control system for nanomechanical devices including the microneedle with optimized profile demonstrates both improved precision of positioning and smaller electric energy consumption.

The problem of diagnostics of the phase composition of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) layers under conditions of overlapped Raman spectra is solved by means of applied mathematical statistics. The spectra measured on the surface of the multiphase material are treated as points in multidimensional vector spaces. Particular attention is paid to narrowing of the spectral range where the analysis is carried out. For this purpose, regions for the first principal components are used, where the greatest relative changes are observed. The concentration of the perovskite and pyrochlore phases in the growing PZT films is determined.

ZnO nanowires are recognized as prospective active material for highly sensitive biological or gas sensors. The objective of the work is the experimental development of the technology of 3D nanomanipulation and nanoassemling of the sensing nanostructures using ZnO nanowires. The 50 nm thick and $3\ -5\ \ \mu\mathrm{m}$ long ZnO nanowires with hexagonal wurtzite structure were prepared by hydrothermal method. The system for nanomanipulation of the individual nanowires in SEM included Kleiniek nanomanipulator equipped with Ti 2 NiCu composite nanotweezers with shape memory effect. The necessary parameters of the nanotweezers are discussed and the characteristics of the nanomanipulation and nano-assembly procedure are considered.

A method for creating a diffraction grating (DG) with an in situ variable parameter is proposed. The adaptive DG for operation in visible and IR wavelength consists of the 2D matrix of composites with shape memory effect (SME) with thermally controlled shape. The experimental prototype of the adaptive DG sample was manufactured using the method of local ion etching is shown.

The work deals with application of laser radiation for creation of metamaterial – layered structural composite based on rapidly quenched TiNiCu thin ribbon. Structural properties of the composite were examined by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Considerable two-way shape memory effect was achieved and studied.

Shape memory effect associated with martensitic transformations is of the rapidly developing field in nanotechnologies, where industrial use of systems established on that effect provide greater flexibility on the nano-devices fabrication of various kind. And therefore it addresses questions to the phase transition phenomena at low-scale and its limitations and control. In this report, we studied the crystal structure of tapered plates of Ti$_2$NiCu alloy and the temperature $T_c$ at which the martensitic transition occurs. We demonstrated that $T_c$ has a strongly descending character as a function of the plate thickness $h$. The critical thickness value at which the transition completely suppressed is 20 nm. Moreover, the obtained results for $T_c(h)$ curves indicate the hysteretic nature of the transition. These findings open the pathway for size limits indication and regimes modulation where the alloy-based nano-mechanical devices can be tuned to operate more efficiently.

The microstructural changes on the surface of the samples of a binary brass and of brasses alloyed with iron and manganese or aluminum, taken place in the process of superplastic deformation at 550°C at a constant strain rate of 1 × 10–3 s–1 have been analyzed in this work. The contributions of the intergranular and intragranular deformation to the total elongation have been determined. It has been shown that the additional alloying of brass leads to a decrease in the contribution of the grain boundary sliding, which is decreased from 54% in the binary brass to 17–23% in the alloyed brasses, and to an increase in the contribution of the intragranular deformation from 10 to 30%. Experiments based on the Kirkendall method have shown that alloying leads to a slowdown of the diffusion processes, which can presumably limit the grain boundary sliding in the investigated multicomponent brasses.

The creation of 3D ordered nanostructures represents an important technological problem for scientific research, nano-electronics, and nano-sensorics, because of the fact, that various nano-objects with useful physical and functional properties are synthesized as large arrays, but the selection, transfer and formation of 2D and 3D nanostructures should be done using tools comparable in size to the manipulated nano-objects. This paper describes the results of fabricating of the samples of suspended CNT and nanowire rings, presenting the configuration of quantum interferometers. The experiments on nanointegration of resonators are done by mechanical “bottom-up” assembling using nano-tweezers based on Ti 2 NiCu shape memory alloy. The prospects of the application of the mechanical bottom up nanointegration of 2D and 3D multiple resonators structures for wide band meta-surfaces and meta materials creation are discussed.