Glancing angle deposition of ZnO nanostructured thin films for enhanced ultrasonic sensing and imaging applications

This project focuses on the fabrication of conformable ultrasonic devices based on ZnO nanostructured thin films deposited by glancing angle deposition (GLAD). The GLAD method proposed in this project not only has the potential to grow nanostructured thin films with exceptional properties (i.e. high sensitivity and compatibility to flexible substrates) but also to make a novel use of plasma-assisted deposition techniques (e.g. DC and RF-magnetron sputtering), taking benefit of the large-area and uniformity characteristics of such deposition method. The investigation pursues the optimisation of the piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of ZnO thin films as a function of the deposition conditions and resulting inclined angle in order to create materials suitable for use in commercially available acoustic sensors. This project is supported by the excellent research environment at Institute of Thin Films, Sensors and Imaging (TFSI) (academic host group) led by Prof. Desmond Gibson, at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Dr. Carlos Garcia is the PI of the project and PhD supervisor in the academic host group. The project has hired two PhD students, including Mathew Dowhan (2018-2019) and Manuel Pelayo Garcia (2019-2023) who were the selected PhD students conducting the experimental work in the project. Their work comprises the integration and characterisation of ZnO thin film ultrasonic sensors at Novosound Ltd (industry host group) which has wide experience in the field of Ultrasonic Imaging and Sensing Devices. The supervision of the PhD students at Novosound Ltd is carried out by Dr. Kevin McAughey (Industry supervisor) and Dr Dave Hughes (CTO of Novosound). For further information on https://www.novosound.net/careers/phd-glancing-angle-deposition

Zinc Oxide, Piezoelectric, Acoustic Sensors, Plasma Physics, Sputtering, Thin Films, Nanostructures, Nanotechnology, Sensors, glancing angle deposition, oblique angle deposition