**Author details**

Jeffrey C. De Vero, Rusty A. Lopez, Wilson O. Garcia and Roland V. Sarmago *National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines*

## **Acknowledgments**

J. C. De Vero acknowledge the Philippine Commission on Higher Education, the Office of the Chancellor in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the National Research Council of the Philippines for funding support.

## **5. References**

8 Will-be-set-by-IN-TECH

**Figure 6.** Resistance vs. temperature measurement on Y-123 films heated in (a) ambient air, (b) oxygen ambient. The oxygen annealing helps in forming superconducting films. The low value of *Tc* is attributed to granular surface morphology of the film and also to the oxygen annealing profile used.

used for Y-Ba-Cu-O is low enough to see the initial stage of growth and will allow us to

The post heat treatment studies on IR Nd:YAG PLD films is an important stage in developing the technique to be a competitive and alternative technique in producing high *Tc* superconducting films for electronic applications. The use of non-toxic lasers to deposit coupled with appropriate heat treatment profiles to grow the films is an efficient tool in minimizing the complicated control of parameters in conventional PLD of high *Tc* superconductor materials. It is envisioned that IR Nd:YAG PLD technique can grow high quality materials with critical current densities useful in the production of films for second

implement a heat profile that will melt and provide sufficient oxygen on the film.

Jeffrey C. De Vero, Rusty A. Lopez, Wilson O. Garcia and Roland V. Sarmago

*National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines*

J. C. De Vero acknowledge the Philippine Commission on Higher Education, the Office of the Chancellor in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the National Research Council

**4. Conclusion**

**Author details**

**Acknowledgments**

of the Philippines for funding support.

generation coated conductors.


sintered and modified melt-textured grown targets, *Physica C: Superconductivity* 325: 127–135.


© 2012 Bensaha and Bensouyad, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 Bensaha and Bensouyad, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

**Synthesis, Characterization and Properties of** 

**Zirconium Oxide (ZrO2)-Doped Titanium Oxide** 

**(TiO2) Thin Films Obtained via Sol-Gel Process** 

Sol–gel process [1-3] is an attractive alternative to other methods for synthesis of ceramics and glasses for many reasons: for example, low temperature synthesis, simple equipment's to be used, thin film formability and so on. Particularly, sol–gel process is very useful for thin film deposition because of the capability to coat materials of various shapes and/or large area, to control the composition easily for obtaining solutions of homogeneity and

Historically, metal alkoxides have been employed in sol–gel process, which readily undergo catalyzed hydrolysis and condensation to form nanoscale oxide or hydroxide particles. Still in general, metal alkoxides are often used as raw materials in sol–gel process, but many of the alkoxides are very difficult to be obtained because of the high sensitivity to the atmospheric moisture [4-9]. In ordinary sol–gel processing, starting compositions as well as reaction conditions are selected so as to maintain the mixture in a homogeneous state throughout the processes including mixing of starting compounds, gelation, aging, drying

Titanium and zirconium oxides are very promising candidates for future technology of thin layers because of their interesting mechanical, thermal and chemical properties. Titanium oxide (TiO2) is a cheap, non-toxic, and non-biodegradable material, besides their widely uses in various industries [10]. Moreover, it is a semiconductor under the form of thin films. Its insensitivity to visible light due to its band gap (3.2 eV) enables it to absorb in the near ultraviolet region [11], even though its low efficiency. Hence, it can be sensitized by a great number of dyes; some of them allow a conversion rate incident photon–electron approaching unity. Thus, these various applications arouse great interest in the study of

Rabah Bensaha and Hanene Bensouyad

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51155

**1. Introduction** 

and heat-treatment.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

controlled concentration without using expensive equipment.

properly cited.
