Miniaturized solid state chemical sensors and micro-fuel cells require components in form of thin films or structured patterns on substrates.
Whereas for thin film preparation most of the classical methods such as PVD, CVD, PLD and Spray-Deposition techniques are suitable, the creation of surface patterns with complex chemistries can not rely on traditional photolithography and etching techniques. Therefore a number of additive and subtractive techniques for the patterning of ceramic films and components using elasto-meric molds were developed using chemical solution precursors, as well as suspensions of particles and nano-tubes. Most of these techniques enable surface features with dimensions in the order of 100 nm.
The properties of such nano-grain sized components are different from those of conventional polycrystalline materials. In many instances, this can be related to the large fractions of grain boundaries and hence large numbers of surface and grain boundary atoms.
Methods for the processing of thin films and multilayer structures for micro-sensor arrays on micro-hotplates, and micro-solid oxide fuel cells and their properties are presented.

Vortragssprache: Englisch