**Meet the editors**

Dr. Jaime Andres Perez-Taborda received an Engineering Physics degree (Hons.) from the Technological University of Pereira, Colombia, in 2011, and a Master's degree in Synchrotron Radiation and Particle Accelerators from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2013, as well as a PhD (cum laude) from the Institute of Microelectronics of Madrid, Complutense University

of Madrid, and Higher Council of Scientific Research CSIC, Spain. He has published research articles and book chapters on various subjects, including piezoelectric nanostructures for acoustic wave sensors and nanoengineering new thermoelectric materials with high efficiencies obtained by physical methods, such as sputtering and pulsed laser deposition. In addition, he is also a co-founder and President of the Colombian Society of Physics Engineering.

Dr. Alba G. Avila Bernal is an Associate Professor at the Electrical and Electronic Department of the University of Los Andes. She holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in the UK, and a Master's in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Physics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Los Andes. Her areas of expertise include electrical characterization of materi-

als using microscopy techniques, functionalization of natural fibers and material properties and multiphysics device modeling, new physicochemical techniques for toxicity assessment, and remote sensing of water. She also works on designing and developing kits to promote nanotechnology education and engages regularly in outreach activities with marginalized communities.

Contents

**Preface VII**

**Thin Films 3**

**Coatings 49**

**Treatment 69**

Valentina Loganina

**Section 2 Deposition Technologies 109**

Fandi Meng and Li Liu

**Section 1 Characterization of Thin Films and Coatings 1**

Taborda and Marisol Martín-González

**Properties and Applications 29**

Chapter 1 **Advances in Scanning Thermal Microscopy Measurements for**

Chapter 2 **Infrared High-Index Coating Materials, PbTe and Pb1−xGexTe:**

Bin Li, Ping Xie, Suying Zhang and Dingquan Liu

Chapter 4 **Surface Modification of Polystyrene by Nitrogen Plasma**

Chapter 5 **Crack Resistance of Paint Coatings, Cement Concretes 87**

Chapter 6 **Epitaxial Nitride Thin Film and Heterostructures: From Hard Coating to Solid State Energy Conversion 111**

Masruroh and Dionysius J.D.H. Santjojo

Shashidhara Acharya and Bivas Saha

Chapter 3 **Electrochemical Evaluation Technologies of Organic**

Liliana Vera-Londono, Olga Caballero-Calero, Jaime Andrés Pérez-
