text:
Talk:Humphreys Peak

GNIS
[ USGS GNIS entry] RedWolf 01:10, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)

Removed external links
I removed the following external links. Although they are strangely interesting they don't really add any value to the article in my humble opinion.

 * Computer generated summit panoramas
 * North
 * South
 * index

--DRoll (talk) 08:46, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:Humphreys Peak


text:
Graveyard poets

The "Graveyard Poets", also termed "Churchyard Poets", were a number of pre-Romantic poets of the 18th century characterised by their gloomy meditations on mortality, "skulls and coffins, epitaphs and worms" elicited by the presence of the graveyard. Moving beyond the elegy lamenting a single death, their purpose was rarely sensationalist. As the century progressed, "graveyard" poetry increasingly expressed a feeling for the "sublime" and uncanny, and an antiquarian interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry. The "graveyard poets" are often recognized as precursors of the Gothic literary genre, as well as the Romantic movement.

Overview
The Graveyard School is an indefinite literary grouping that binds together a wide variety of authors; what makes a poem a "graveyard" poem remains open to critical dispute. At its narrowest, the term "Graveyard School" refers to four poems: Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", Thomas Parnell's "Night-Piece on Death", Robert Blair's The Grave and Edward Young's Night-Thoughts. At its broadest, it can describe a host of poetry and prose works popular in the early and mid-eighteenth century. The term itself was not used as a brand for the poets and their poetry until William Macneile Dixon did so in 1898.

Some literary critics have emphasized Milton's minor poetry as the main influence of the meditative verse written by the Graveyard Poets. W. L. Phelps, for example, said: "It was not so much in form as in thought that Milton affected the Romantic movement; and although Paradise Lost was always reverentially considered his greatest work, it was not at this time nearly so effective as his minor poetry; and in the latter it was Il Penseroso — the love of meditative comfortable melancholy — that penetrated most deeply into the Romantic soul". However, other critics like Raymond D. Havens, Harko de Maar and Eric Partridge have challenged the direct influence of Milton's poem, claiming rather that graveyard poetry came from a culmination of literary precedents. As a result of the religious revival, the early eighteenth century was a time of both spiritual unrest and regeneration; therefore, meditation and melancholy, death and life, ghosts and graveyards, were attractive subjects to poets at that time. These subjects were, however, interesting to earlier poets as well. The Graveyard School's melancholy was not new to English poetry, but rather a continuation of that of previous centuries; there is even an elegiac quality to the poems almost reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon literature. The characteristics and style of Graveyard poetry is not unique to them, and the same themes and tone are found in ballads and odes.

Many of the Graveyard School poets were, like Thomas Parnell, Christian clergymen, and as such they often wrote didactic poetry, combining aesthetics with religious and moral instruction. They were also inclined toward contemplating subjects related to life after death, which is reflected in how their writings focus on human mortality and man's relation to the divine. The religious culture of the mid-eighteenth century included an emphasis on private devotion, as well as the end of printed funeral sermons. Each of these conditions demanded a new kind of text with which people could meditate on life and death in a personal setting. The Graveyard School met that need, and the poems were thus quite popular, especially with the middle class. For instance Elizabeth Singer Rowe's Friendship in Death: In Twenty Letters from the Dead to the Living, published in 1728, had 27 editions printed by 1760. This popularity, as Parisot says, "confirms the fashionable mid-century taste for mournful piety." Thomas Gray, who found inspiration in a churchyard, claimed to have a naturally melancholy spirit, writing in a letter that "low spirits are my true and faithful companions; they get up with me, go to bed with me; make journeys and returns as I do; nay, and pay visits, and will even affect to be jocose, and force a feeble laugh with me; but most commonly we sit alone together, and are the prettiest insipid company in the world".

The works of the Graveyard School continued to be popular into the early 19th century and were instrumental in the development of the Gothic novel, contributing to the dark, mysterious mood and story lines that characterize the genre — Graveyard School writers focused their writings on the lives of ordinary and unidentified characters. They are also considered pre-Romanticists, ushering in the Romantic literary movement by their reflection on emotional states. This emotional reflection is seen in Coleridge's "Dejection: An Ode" and Keats' "Ode on Melancholy". The early works of Southey, Byron and Shelley also show the influence of the Graveyard School.

Partial list of Graveyard Poets

 * Thomas Parnell
 * John Keats
 * Thomas Warton
 * Thomas Percy
 * Thomas Gray
 * Oliver Goldsmith
 * William Cowper
 * Christopher Smart
 * James Macpherson
 * Robert Blair
 * William Collins
 * Thomas Chatterton
 * Mark Akenside
 * Joseph Warton
 * Henry Kirke White
 * Edward Young
 * David Mallet
 * William Mason
 * James Beattie
 * James Thomson is also sometimes included as a Graveyard Poet.

Criticism
Many critics of Graveyard poetry had very little positive feedback for the poets and their work. Critic Amy Louise Reed called Graveyard poetry a disease, while other critics called many poems unoriginal, and said that the poets were better than their poetry. Although the majority of criticism about Graveyard poetry is negative, other critics thought differently, especially about poet Edward Young. Critic Isabell St. John Bliss also celebrates Edward Young’s ability to write his poetry in the style of the Graveyard School and at the same time include Christian themes, and Cecil V. Wicker called Young a forerunner in the Romantic movement and described his work as original. Eric Parisot claimed that fear is created as a spur to faith and that in Graveyard poetry, "...it is only when we restore religion — to examine the various ways graveyard poetry exploited fear and melancholy — that we can fully grasp its enduring contribution to the Gothic..."

Poem samples
The earliest poem attributed to the Graveyard School was Thomas Parnell's A Night-Piece on Death (1721), in which King Death himself gives an address from his kingdom of bones:

 * "When men my scythe and darts supply
 * How great a King of Fears am I!" (61–62)

Characteristic later poems include Edward Young's Night-Thoughts (1742), in which a lonely traveller in a graveyard reflects lugubriously on:

 * The vale funereal, the sad cypress gloom;
 * The land of apparitions, empty shades! (117–18)

Blair's The Grave (1743) proves to be no more cheerful as it relates with grim relish how:

 * Wild shrieks have issued from the hollow tombs;
 * Dead men have come again, and walked about;
 * And the great bell has tolled, unrung and untouched. (51–53)

However, a more contemplative mood is achieved in the celebrated opening verse of Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751 ):

 * The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.
 * The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
 * The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
 * And leaves the world to darkness and to me. (1–4)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Graveyard poets


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Cubanate

Cubanate are an English industrial band from London, England, founded in 1992 by Marc Heal and Graham Rayner with Phil Barry and Steve Etheridge. The group became well known for their combination of electro-industrial with distorted heavy metal guitars and techno percussion (later incorporating breakbeats).

Initial career
Graham Rayner originally used the name Cubanate for various one-off shows in the UK during the early 1990s. By 1992 however, the band's lineup became solidified with Marc Heal, Phil Barry, and Steve Etheridge joining Rayner. Cubanate played their first UK tour in November 1992 supporting leftfield UK techno duo Sheep on Drugs. The group signed to Berlin's Dynamica Records shortly afterwards. The band's debut album, Antimatter, saw a UK release in 1993. After the release of the album's lead single, "Body Burn", Rayner and Etheridge departed from the band in order to form K-Nitrate. The pair were replaced by Julian Beeston (former Nitzer Ebb drummer).

In May 1994, the Metal EP was Single of the Week in Melody Maker magazine and later that year Cubanate received media attention when they were weirdly paired with Carcass for what turned out to be a notoriously violent UK tour ending in death threats to Heal and an on-air confrontation on the Radio One Rock Show with Bruce Dickinson. In 1995, Antimatter was belatedly released in the US with an altered tracklisting.

The second album Cyberia (1995) spawned the hit single "Oxyacetylene", generally considered Cubanate's creative peak. The album peaked at No. 3 on the CMJ RPM Chart in the U.S. For live work around the Cyberia tour the band hired Shep Ashton on guitar and Darren Bennett on keyboards. After 1996, Ashton and Bennett were replaced by Roddy Stone (currently fronting UK metal act Viking Skull) and David Bianchi (who later went on to become manager of rock bands The Enemy and Boy Kill Boy).

The third album, Barbarossa (1996) continued the crossover format, and despite being name-checked as influences by bands such as The Prodigy, the group decided a change was clearly needed.

Signed in the United States to Wax Trax! Recordings for the act's fourth and final official full-length album to date, Interference (1998) was a departure from Cubanate's earlier techno experiments with a strong drum and bass influence that alienated some of their traditionalist fans but was heralded as revelatory by others. The album was co-produced by Rhys Fulber.

Early 2000s hiatus
In 2004, a torrent appeared on the Internet with nine leaked demo tracks recorded by Heal in 2000 titled Search Engine. Featuring such tracks as "Razor Edge", "Superstructure", and "Drowning Hands" the material had been abandoned by Heal in 2000.

In October 2010, the band announced that they were recording again and would be releasing new material in 2011. A new track titled "We Are Crowd" was released on Alfa-Matrix's compilation EBM1.

In a posting on his Facebook page dated 13 September 2011, Cubanate founder Marc Heal stated: "Marc here. I should have posted this a while back, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided conclusively not to do another Cubanate album. It was a real blast getting back into studio with Phil – and he came up with some brilliant music. But I'm doing something different with my life now and I've come to the conclusion to leave it. Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate it. I'll keep posting. M".

Both Heal and Barry have released solo work since that announcement.

Reunion
On 24 September 2016, Cubanate reformed to play the Cold Waves Festival (an annual industrial music festival held in Chicago, Illinois, United States) with members Marc Heal, Phil Barry and Vince McAley (variously from Dead on TV, GoFight and Die Warzau). The festival lineup included The Cocks (ex-Revolting Cocks members: Richard 23, Luc van Acker, Chris Connelly & Paul Barker), , 16Volt, Dead When I Found Her, Bloody Knives, and Kanga, many of whom had previously collaborated with Heal in projects such as Pigface and C-Tec.

On 5 May 2017, Cubanate released a compilation album titled Brutalism via Armalyte Industries, featuring 14 remastered songs from Cubanate's first three albums.

On 8 May 2019, Cubanate announced the upcoming release of Kolossus, their first new material since 1998. Kolossus was released on 7 June 2019.

Musical style and legacy
Cubanate has been described often as electro-industrial. AllMusic wrote that the band "have explored the hybrid style created by mixing industrial music with the high-speed rhythms of techno". The band also has included elements of industrial metal in some songs, with vocals similar to the vocals of Lemmy Kilmister of heavy metal band Motörhead.

During their heyday, Cubanate's fusion of techno and rock stirred both controversy and influence, with their impact continuing to echo in the present. As one of the rare UK bands labeled 'Industrial' to break into the mainstream, they frequently appeared in a wide range of publications, from Kerrangg! to Melody Maker, where they earned multiple "Single of the Week" honors in each. They also featured on MTV's Headbanger's Ball and shared the stage with notable acts like Front 242, Gary Numan, Rammstein, The Sisters of Mercy, and Front Line Assembly.

"Oxyacetylene" was featured on the 1996 compilation album, Mortal Kombat: More Kombat, and was later used on the soundtrack of the best-selling 1998 PlayStation game Gran Turismo in the NTSC and EU versions. Apart from "Oxyacetylene", three other Cubanate songs were used on Gran Turismo and the single "Body Burn" can be heard at length in episode eighty two of The Sopranos, from the final season of the show.

Current members

 * Marc Heal – vocals, programming (1992–2003, 2010–2011, 2016–present)
 * Phil Barry – guitars (1992–2003, 2010–2011, 2016–present)

Past members

 * Graham Rayner – keyboards, programming (1992–1993)
 * Steve Etheridge – drums, keyboards (1992–1993)
 * Julian Beeston – drums, keyboards (1993–2003)
 * Shep Ashton – guitars (1995–1996)
 * Darren Bennett – keyboards, percussion (1995–1996)
 * Roddy Stone – guitars (1996–1999)
 * David Bianchi – keyboards, percussion (1996–1999)
 * Vince McAley – drums (2016–2018)

title: Cubanate


text:
World Netball

World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games

In June 2021 INF announced an official rebrand and became known as World Netball.

General information
The organisation is based in Manchester, England. The INF has over 70 national members which are grouped into five regional areas: Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania. The INF is governed by a congress that meets every two years, a board of directors that meets three times a year, a chief executive officer and a Secretariat. It is also responsible for providing world rankings for national representative teams. The INF organises several major international competitions including the Netball World Cup and Netball World Youth Cup. It is also a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.

History
In 1957, a pair of national netball organisations discussed the need to create an international governing body for the sport to help address issues like standardising the rules. This conversation was started between England and Australia, while Australia was touring England. In 1960, netball representatives from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies finally gathered to create the needed organisation, the International Federation of Women's Basketball and Netball. The meeting took place in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), with rules for the newly creating organisation being created. A decision was made at this first meeting create a world championship competition for the sport to be held every four years, with the first event to be held in 1963 in Eastbourne, England.

The organisation has since undergone lies several changes. After all countries adopted the name "netball" for the sport, the organisation was renamed the "International Federation of Netball Associations" (IFNA). This name was used until November 2012, when the organisation changed to its current name, the "International Netball Federation" (INF), to bring it in line with other sports governing bodies.

Netball World Cup
The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Cup (formerly the World Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Netball World Youth Cup
The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Youth Cup (formerly the World Youth Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years in a year other than that of the Netball World Cup. The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and the INF has held an U21 international competition every four years since 1988. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Fast5 Netball World Series
The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international competition that features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings, with teams from Australia, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malawi New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa having played in the series so far. The Series was first held in England from 2009-2011 and the game played was called Fast Net, this evolved into Fast5 in 2012.

Goals and objectives
The INF's fundamental purpose is to promote, improve and grow netball globally, in accordance with the ideals and objects of the Olympic and Commonwealth movements. One of the goals of the INF is to attain International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition for netball and to lobby for the sport's inclusion at future Olympic Games.

National organisations
The INF is responsible for Netball across the Globe with currently (March 2022) 88 Members, 65 Full Members and 23 Associate Members across 5 Regions; Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. 117 countries interest to netball. 39 Nations only interest and haven't teams and federations.

Members
This list is incomplete:

Timeline
The following (incomplete) list is a timeline of national organisations becoming affiliated with the International Netball Federation:

1960
 * Australia
 * England
 * New Zealand
 * South Africa
 * Wales

1978
 * India
 * Saint Kitts and Nevis State Netball Association

1992
 * United States

2010
 * Switzerland

2019
 * Bangladesh

title: World Netball


text:
User:Jlencion

Religion

 * Abe Masao
 * Nishida Kitaro
 * Nishitani Keiji

Music

 * Mark Mallman
 * How I Lost My Life and Lived To Tell About It
 * Live from First Avenue, Minneapolis
 * Chris and Tad
 * The Days Are Filled with Years

Web comics

 * toothpaste for dinner
 * Drew

Miscellaneous

 * Butz-Choquin
 * Paul Granlund
 * Bill Holm

Categories created

 * Pipe smoking
 * Pipe makers
 * Gustavus Adolphus College alumni

UserBoxes created

 * user coldfusion

WikiProjects served

 * Wiki Syntax
 * Untagged Images

title: User:Jlencion


text:
Otto fuel II

Otto fuel II is a monopropellant mixture of chiefly propylene glycol dinitrate (an ester of nitric acid and propylene glycol, and structurally similar to nitroglycerin) that is used to drive torpedoes and other weapon systems. It was invented by Otto Reitlinger in 1963 (although tests with the substance had taken place before, for example in 1960 ). Otto fuel II, sometimes known simply as Otto fuel, is not related to the Otto cycle; it is named after Reitlinger and for being the second iteration of the fuel. It was developed by the US Navy and the first torpedo to use it was the Mark 48 torpedo in the 1960s.

Properties
Otto fuel II is a distinct-smelling (described by submariners as being similar in smell to wintergreen oil; i.e. sweet, fruity and minty), reddish-orange, oily liquid that is a mixture of three synthetic substances: propylene glycol dinitrate (the major component), 2-nitrodiphenylamine, and dibutyl sebacate. It does not need exposure to any oxidant to ignite and release energy, as its three components will react among themselves whenever vaporised and heated. Needing no oxidants and being a stable substance makes Otto fuel II ideal for use in the constrained environment of a submarine. Although the fuel can be made to explode, this requires such extreme conditions that it can be regarded as practically stable. The vapour pressure of the fuel is low (i.e., it is not volatile), minimizing toxic hazards. Finally, the fuel's energy density far surpasses the capacity of the electric battery used in other torpedoes, maximizing range.

Major ingredients
Named after its inventor, Otto Reitlinger, Otto fuel II consists of the nitrated ester explosive propellant propylene glycol dinitrate (PGDN), to which a desensitizer (dibutyl sebacate) and a stabilizer (2-nitrodiphenylamine) have been added. The chief component, propylene glycol dinitrate, accounts for approximately 76% of the mixture, while dibutyl sebacate and 2-nitrodiphenylamine account for approximately 22.5% and 1.5% (by weight), respectively.

The principal current use of propylene glycol dinitrate is as a propellant in Otto fuel II. Nitrates of polyhydric alcohols such as this have been used in medicine for the treatment of angina pectoris, and as explosives since the mid-nineteenth century.

In addition to its use by the United States Navy as a stabilizer in the manufacture of Otto fuel II, 2-nitrodiphenylamine is employed for similar purposes by the United States Army in the manufacture of double base solid propellants. It also has civilian applications as a solvent dye.

Dibutyl sebacate is a desensitizer in Otto fuel II. However, its major use is as a plasticizer in production of plastics, namely cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose acetate propionate, polyvinyl butyral, polystyrene, and many synthetic rubbers. It can be used for plastics in use in the food packaging industry. It is also used as a lubricating ingredient in shaving lotions, and a flavoring additive in non-alcoholic beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, and baked goods.

Toxicity
Otto fuel II is a toxic substance found in EPA National Priorities List. Ingestion of contaminated food or direct exposure at worksites can cause headaches, poor eye–hand coordination, eye irritation, congested noses, nausea, dizziness, and difficulty breathing. An MSA Demand Mask is mandatory for cleanup/mitigation efforts.

Used in

 * Mark 37 torpedo (With speed-up kit)
 * Mark 48 torpedo
 * Mark 46 torpedo
 * Mark 54 torpedo
 * Spearfish torpedo (with oxidizer)
 * Yu-6 torpedo
 * Futlyar

title: Otto fuel II


text:
User:Kollektivtraeumer

Michael Zeltner from Vienna, Austria

FOAF based information: about me

title: User:Kollektivtraeumer


text:
He Who Whispers

He Who Whispers is a mystery novel (1946) by John Dickson Carr. Like many of the works by Carr, the book features a so-called "impossible crime". For the most part, such crimes fall into the category of locked room mysteries. In this case, the novel falls into a smaller sub-category of Carr's work in that it is suggested that the "impossible" crime is the work of a supernatural being (here, a vampire). Dr. Gideon Fell is featured as the detective. Carr considered this one of his best novels.

Plot summary
A few months after the end of World War II, Miles Hammond is invited to the first meeting of the Murder Club in five years. When he arrives, no one else is there except Barbara Morell and Professor Rigaud. When no one else shows up, Rigaud tells the story of Fay Seton.

Seton was a young woman working for the Brooke family. She fell in love with Harry Brooke and the two became engaged, but Harry's father, Howard, did not approve. One day, he agreed to meet Fay in a tower—all that remained of a burned-out chateau. It was a secure location on a lonely waterfront, and was the perfect place for such a meeting. Harry and Professor Rigaud left Howard alone at ten minutes before four. When they returned, fifteen minutes later, Howard had been stabbed, and the sword-cane that did it was found in two pieces beside his body. At first it seemed an open-and-shut case, but a family that was picnicking a few feet from the entrance of the tower swore that no one entered the tower in those fifteen minutes, that no boat came near the tower, and no one could have climbed up, because the nearest window was fifteen feet off the ground. The only one with any motive was Fay Seton, who was believed to be able to bring a vampire to life and terrorize people.

Miles quickly becomes involved in the affair because the new librarian he just hired is Fay Seton.

Literary criticism and significance
This novel is of some significance in the field of the Golden Age mystery because of its treatment of a sexual theme, that of nymphomania. This is one of a few Carr mystery novels to deal with such a psycho-sexual theme (others are The Judas Window, where a woman character poses for obscene photographs for her lover, and The Sleeping Sphinx, which deals with sexual hysteria). Many whodunnit novels are criticised for being artificial puzzles with little or no characterization, and this novel stands as an example of a writer attempting to bring some semblance of psychological realism to the motivations of his characters.

title: He Who Whispers


text:
Boundary Peak

Boundary Peak may refer to:

 * Boundary Peak, the former name of Popes Peak, an historic summit on the Canadian Rockies on the British Columbia border
 * any of c. 1000 peaks forming the international boundary between the British Columbia and Yukon, Canada, and Alaska, United States, numbered in sequence; see List of Boundary Peaks of the Alaska-British Columbia border
 * Boundary Peak (Maine)
 * Boundary Peak (Nevada)
 * Boundary Peak Wilderness, Nevada
 * Boundary Peak (New York), near Avalanche Lake in New York State

title: Boundary Peak


text:
The Crooked Hinge

The Crooked Hinge is a mystery novel (1938) by detective novelist John Dickson Carr. It combines a seemingly impossible throat-slashing with elements of witchcraft, an automaton modelled on Maelzel's Chess Player, and the story of the Tichborne Claimant. It was dedicated to fellow author Dorothy Sayers "in friendship and esteem".

In a poll of 17 detective story writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the fourth best locked room mystery of all time. The Hollow Man also by John Dickson Carr was voted the best.

Plot introduction
In his ninth outing, Dr. Fell spends July 1937 at a small village in Kent. John Farnleigh is a wealthy young man married to his childhood love, and a survivor of the Titanic disaster. When another man comes along claiming to be the real John Farnleigh, an inquest is scheduled to determine which individual is the real Farnleigh. Then the first Farnleigh is killed—his throat is slashed in full view of three people, all of whom claim that they saw no one there. Later, a mysterious automaton reaches out to touch a housemaid, who nearly dies of fright, and a thumbograph (an early toy associated with the taking of fingerprints) disappears from a locked library. Dr. Gideon Fell investigates and reveals the surprising solution to all these questions.

Literary significance and criticism
This novel was fourth in a list of the top ten "impossible crime" mysteries of all time (created by noted locked-room mystery writer Edward D. Hoch).

title: The Crooked Hinge


text:
User:Billy Beer

Make yours a 'Billy'!

title: User:Billy Beer


text:
Thin film

A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many applications. A familiar example is the household mirror, which typically has a thin metal coating on the back of a sheet of glass to form a reflective interface. The process of silvering was once commonly used to produce mirrors, while more recently the metal layer is deposited using techniques such as sputtering. Advances in thin film deposition techniques during the 20th century have enabled a wide range of technological breakthroughs in areas such as magnetic recording media, electronic semiconductor devices, integrated passive devices, light-emitting diodes, optical coatings (such as antireflective coatings), hard coatings on cutting tools, and for both energy generation (e.g. thin-film solar cells) and storage (thin-film batteries). It is also being applied to pharmaceuticals, via thin-film drug delivery. A stack of thin films is called a multilayer.

In addition to their applied interest, thin films play an important role in the development and study of materials with new and unique properties. Examples include multiferroic materials, and superlattices that allow the study of quantum phenomena.

Nucleation
Nucleation is an important step in growth that helps determine the final structure of a thin film. Many growth methods rely on nucleation control such as atomic-layer epitaxy (atomic layer deposition). Nucleation can be modeled by characterizing surface process of adsorption, desorption, and surface diffusion.

Adsorption and desorption
Adsorption is the interaction of a vapor atom or molecule with a substrate surface. The interaction is characterized the sticking coefficient, the fraction of incoming species thermally equilibrated with the surface. Desorption reverses adsorption where a previously adsorbed molecule overcomes the bounding energy and leaves the substrate surface.

The two types of adsorptions, physisorption and chemisorption, are distinguished by the strength of atomic interactions. Physisorption describes the Van der Waals bonding between a stretched or bent molecule and the surface characterized by adsorption energy $$E_{p}$$. Evaporated molecules rapidly lose kinetic energy and reduces its free energy by bonding with surface atoms. Chemisorption describes the strong electron transfer (ionic or covalent bond) of molecule with substrate atoms characterized by adsorption energy $$E_{c}$$. The process of physic- and chemisorption can be visualized by the potential energy as a function of distance. The equilibrium distance for physisorption is further from the surface than chemisorption. The transition from physisorbed to chemisorbed states are governed by the effective energy barrier $$E_{a}$$.

Crystal surfaces have specific bonding sites with larger $$E_{a}$$ values that would preferentially be populated by vapor molecules to reduce the overall free energy. These stable sites are often found on step edges, vacancies and screw dislocations. After the most stable sites become filled, the adatom-adatom (vapor molecule) interaction becomes important.

Nucleation models
Nucleation kinetics can be modeled considering only adsorption and desorption. First consider case where there are no mutual adatom interactions, no clustering or interaction with step edges.

The rate of change of adatom surface density $$n$$, where $$J$$ is the net flux, $$\tau_{a}$$ is the mean surface lifetime prior to desorption and $$\sigma$$ is the sticking coefficient:

$${dn\over dt}=J \sigma-{n\over \tau_{a}} $$

$$n = J\sigma\tau_{a}\left[1-\exp\left({-t\over\tau_{a}}\right)\right] n = J\sigma\tau_{a}\left[\exp\left({-t\over\tau_{a}}\right)\right]$$

Adsorption can also be modeled by different isotherms such as Langmuir model and BET model. The Langmuir model derives an equilibrium constant $$b$$ based on the adsorption reaction of vapor adatom with vacancy on the substrate surface. The BET model expands further and allows adatoms deposition on previously adsorbed adatoms without interaction between adjacent piles of atoms. The resulting derived surface coverage is in terms of the equilibrium vapor pressure and applied pressure.

Langmuir model where $$P_{A}$$ is the vapor pressure of adsorbed adatoms:

$$\theta = {bP_{A}\over (1+bP_{A})}$$

BET model where $$p_{e}$$ is the equilibrium vapor pressure of adsorbed adatoms and $$p$$ is the applied vapor pressure of adsorbed adatoms:

$$\theta ={X p \over (p_{e}-p)\left[1+(X-1){p\over p_{e}}\right]}$$

As an important note, surface crystallography and differ from the bulk to minimize the overall free electronic and bond energies due to the broken bonds at the surface. This can result in a new equilibrium position known as “selvedge”, where the parallel bulk lattice symmetry is preserved. This phenomenon can cause deviations from theoretical calculations of nucleation.

Surface diffusion
Surface diffusion describes the lateral motion of adsorbed atoms moving between energy minima on the substrate surface. Diffusion most readily occurs between positions with lowest intervening potential barriers. Surface diffusion can be measured using glancing-angle ion scattering. The average time between events can be describes by:

$$\tau_{d}=(1/v_{1})\exp(E_{d}/kT_{s})$$

In addition to adatom migration, clusters of adatom can coalesce or deplete. Cluster coalescence through processes, such as Ostwald ripening and sintering, occur in response to reduce the total surface energy of the system. Ostwald repining describes the process in which islands of adatoms with various sizes grow into larger ones at the expense of smaller ones. Sintering is the coalescence mechanism when the islands contact and join.

Deposition
The act of applying a thin film to a surface is thin-film deposition – any technique for depositing a thin film of material onto a substrate or onto previously deposited layers. "Thin" is a relative term, but most deposition techniques control layer thickness within a few tens of nanometres. Molecular beam epitaxy, the Langmuir–Blodgett method, atomic layer deposition and molecular layer deposition allow a single layer of atoms or molecules to be deposited at a time.

It is useful in the manufacture of optics (for reflective, anti-reflective coatings or self-cleaning glass, for instance), electronics (layers of insulators, semiconductors, and conductors form integrated circuits), packaging (i.e., aluminium-coated PET film), and in contemporary art (see the work of Larry Bell). Similar processes are sometimes used where thickness is not important: for instance, the purification of copper by electroplating, and the deposition of silicon and enriched uranium by a chemical vapor deposition-like process after gas-phase processing.

Deposition techniques fall into two broad categories, depending on whether the process is primarily chemical or physical.

Chemical deposition
Here, a fluid precursor undergoes a chemical change at a solid surface, leaving a solid layer. An everyday example is the formation of soot on a cool object when it is placed inside a flame. Since the fluid surrounds the solid object, deposition happens on every surface, with little regard to direction; thin films from chemical deposition techniques tend to be conformal, rather than directional.

Chemical deposition is further categorized by the phase of the precursor:

Plating relies on liquid precursors, often a solution of water with a salt of the metal to be deposited. Some plating processes are driven entirely by reagents in the solution (usually for noble metals), but by far the most commercially important process is electroplating. In semiconductor manufacturing, an advanced form of electroplating known as electrochemical deposition is now used to create the copper conductive wires in advanced chips, replacing the chemical and physical deposition processes used to previous chip generations for aluminum wires

Chemical solution deposition or chemical bath deposition uses a liquid precursor, usually a solution of organometallic powders dissolved in an organic solvent. This is a relatively inexpensive, simple thin-film process that produces stoichiometrically accurate crystalline phases. This technique is also known as the sol-gel method because the 'sol' (or solution) gradually evolves towards the formation of a gel-like diphasic system.

The Langmuir–Blodgett method uses molecules floating on top of an aqueous subphase. The packing density of molecules is controlled, and the packed monolayer is transferred on a solid substrate by controlled withdrawal of the solid substrate from the subphase. This allows creating thin films of various molecules such as nanoparticles, polymers and lipids with controlled particle packing density and layer thickness.

Spin coating or spin casting, uses a liquid precursor, or sol-gel precursor deposited onto a smooth, flat substrate which is subsequently spun at a high velocity to centrifugally spread the solution over the substrate. The speed at which the solution is spun and the viscosity of the sol determine the ultimate thickness of the deposited film. Repeated depositions can be carried out to increase the thickness of films as desired. Thermal treatment is often carried out in order to crystallize the amorphous spin coated film. Such crystalline films can exhibit certain preferred orientations after crystallization on single crystal substrates.

Dip coating is similar to spin coating in that a liquid precursor or sol-gel precursor is deposited on a substrate, but in this case the substrate is completely submerged in the solution and then withdrawn under controlled conditions. By controlling the withdrawal speed, the evaporation conditions (principally the humidity, temperature) and the volatility/viscosity of the solvent, the film thickness, homogeneity and nanoscopic morphology are controlled. There are two evaporation regimes: the capillary zone at very low withdrawal speeds, and the draining zone at faster evaporation speeds.

Chemical vapor deposition generally uses a gas-phase precursor, often a halide or hydride of the element to be deposited. In the case of metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy, an organometallic gas is used. Commercial techniques often use very low pressures of precursor gas.

Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition uses an ionized vapor, or plasma, as a precursor. Unlike the soot example above, this method relies on electromagnetic means (electric current, microwave excitation), rather than a chemical-reaction, to produce a plasma.

Atomic layer deposition and its sister technique molecular layer deposition, uses gaseous precursor to deposit conformal thin film's one layer at a time. The process is split up into two half reactions, run in sequence and repeated for each layer, in order to ensure total layer saturation before beginning the next layer. Therefore, one reactant is deposited first, and then the second reactant is deposited, during which a chemical reaction occurs on the substrate, forming the desired composition. As a result of the stepwise, the process is slower than chemical vapor deposition; however, it can be run at low temperatures. When performed on polymeric substrates, atomic layer deposition can become sequential infiltration synthesis, where the reactants diffuse into the polymer and interact with functional groups on the polymer chains.

Physical deposition
Physical deposition uses mechanical, electromechanical or thermodynamic means to produce a thin film of solid. An everyday example is the formation of frost. Since most engineering materials are held together by relatively high energies, and chemical reactions are not used to store these energies, commercial physical deposition systems tend to require a low-pressure vapor environment to function properly; most can be classified as physical vapor deposition.

The material to be deposited is placed in an energetic, entropic environment, so that particles of material escape its surface. Facing this source is a cooler surface which draws energy from these particles as they arrive, allowing them to form a solid layer. The whole system is kept in a vacuum deposition chamber, to allow the particles to travel as freely as possible. Since particles tend to follow a straight path, films deposited by physical means are commonly directional, rather than conformal.

Examples of physical deposition include: A thermal evaporator that uses an electric resistance heater to melt the material and raise its vapor pressure to a useful range. This is done in a high vacuum, both to allow the vapor to reach the substrate without reacting with or scattering against other gas-phase atoms in the chamber, and reduce the incorporation of impurities from the residual gas in the vacuum chamber. Obviously, only materials with a much higher vapor pressure than the heating element can be deposited without contamination of the film. Molecular beam epitaxy is a particularly sophisticated form of thermal evaporation.

An electron beam evaporator fires a high-energy beam from an electron gun to boil a small spot of material; since the heating is not uniform, lower vapor pressure materials can be deposited. The beam is usually bent through an angle of 270° in order to ensure that the gun filament is not directly exposed to the evaporant flux. Typical deposition rates for electron beam evaporation range from 1 to 10 nanometres per second.

In molecular beam epitaxy, slow streams of an element can be directed at the substrate, so that material deposits one atomic layer at a time. Compounds such as gallium arsenide are usually deposited by repeatedly applying a layer of one element (i.e., gallium), then a layer of the other (i.e., arsenic), so that the process is chemical, as well as physical; this is known also as atomic layer deposition. If the precursors in use are organic, then the technique is called molecular layer deposition. The beam of material can be generated by either physical means (that is, by a furnace) or by a chemical reaction (chemical beam epitaxy).

Sputtering relies on a plasma (usually a noble gas, such as argon) to knock material from a "target" a few atoms at a time. The target can be kept at a relatively low temperature, since the process is not one of evaporation, making this one of the most flexible deposition techniques. It is especially useful for compounds or mixtures, where different components would otherwise tend to evaporate at different rates. Note, sputtering's step coverage is more or less conformal. It is also widely used in optical media. The manufacturing of all formats of CD, DVD, and BD are done with the help of this technique. It is a fast technique and also it provides a good thickness control. Presently, nitrogen and oxygen gases are also being used in sputtering.

Pulsed laser deposition systems work by an ablation process. Pulses of focused laser light vaporize the surface of the target material and convert it to plasma; this plasma usually reverts to a gas before it reaches the substrate.

Cathodic arc deposition (arc-physical vapor deposition), which is a kind of ion beam deposition where an electrical arc is created that blasts ions from the cathode. The arc has an extremely high power density resulting in a high level of ionization (30–100%), multiply charged ions, neutral particles, clusters and macro-particles (droplets). If a reactive gas is introduced during the evaporation process, dissociation, ionization and excitation can occur during interaction with the ion flux and a compound film will be deposited.

Electrohydrodynamic deposition (electrospray deposition) is a relatively new process of thin-film deposition. The liquid to be deposited, either in the form of nanoparticle solution or simply a solution, is fed to a small capillary nozzle (usually metallic) which is connected to a high voltage. The substrate on which the film has to be deposited is connected to ground. Through the influence of electric field, the liquid coming out of the nozzle takes a conical shape (Taylor cone) and at the apex of the cone a thin jet emanates which disintegrates into very fine and small positively charged droplets under the influence of Rayleigh charge limit. The droplets keep getting smaller and smaller and ultimately get deposited on the substrate as a uniform thin layer.

Growth modes

Frank–van der Merwe growth  ("layer-by-layer"). In this growth mode the adsorbate-surface and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are balanced. This type of growth requires lattice matching, and hence considered an "ideal" growth mechanism.

Stranski–Krastanov growth ("joint islands" or "layer-plus-island"). In this growth mode the adsorbate-surface interactions are stronger than adsorbate-adsorbate interactions.

Volmer–Weber ("isolated islands"). In this growth mode the adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are stronger than adsorbate-surface interactions, hence "islands" are formed right away.

There are three distinct stages of stress evolution that arise during Volmer-Weber film deposition. The first stage consists of the nucleation of individual atomic islands. During this first stage, the overall observed stress is very low. The second stage commences as these individual islands coalesce and begin to impinge on each other, resulting in an increase in the overall tensile stress in the film. This increase in overall tensile stress can be attributed to the formation of grain boundaries upon island coalescence that results in interatomic forces acting over the newly formed grain boundaries. The magnitude of this generated tensile stress depends on the density of the formed grain boundaries, as well as their grain-boundary energies. During this stage, the thickness of the film is not uniform because of the random nature of the island coalescence but is measured as the average thickness. The third and final stage of the Volmer-Weber film growth begins when the morphology of the film’s surface is unchanging with film thickness. During this stage, the overall stress in the film can remain tensile, or become compressive.

On a stress-thickness vs. thickness plot, an overall compressive stress is represented by a negative slope, and an overall tensile stress is represented by a positive slope. The overall shape of the stress-thickness vs. thickness curve depends on various processing conditions (such as temperature, growth rate, and material). Koch states that there are three different modes of Volmer-Weber growth. Zone I behavior is characterized by low grain growth in subsequent film layers and is associated with low atomic mobility. Koch suggests that Zone I behavior can be observed at lower temperatures. The zone I mode typically has small columnar grains in the final film. The second mode of Volmer-Weber growth is classified as Zone T, where the grain size at the surface of the film deposition increases with film thickness, but the grain size in the deposited layers below the surface does not change. Zone T-type films are associated with higher atomic mobilities, higher deposition temperatures, and V-shaped final grains. The final mode of proposed Volmer-Weber growth is Zone II type growth, where the grain boundaries in the bulk of the film at the surface are mobile, resulting in large yet columnar grains. This growth mode is associated with the highest atomic mobility and deposition temperature. There is also a possibility of developing a mixed Zone T/Zone II type structure, where the grains are mostly wide and columnar, but do experience slight growth as their thickness approaches the surface of the film. Although Koch focuses mostly on temperature to suggest a potential zone mode, factors such as deposition rate can also influence the final film microstructure.

Epitaxy
A subset of thin-film deposition processes and applications is focused on the so-called epitaxial growth of materials, the deposition of crystalline thin films that grow following the crystalline structure of the substrate. The term epitaxy comes from the Greek roots epi (ἐπί), meaning "above", and taxis (τάξις), meaning "an ordered manner". It can be translated as "arranging upon".

The term homoepitaxy refers to the specific case in which a film of the same material is grown on a crystalline substrate. This technology is used, for instance, to grow a film which is more pure than the substrate, has a lower density of defects, and to fabricate layers having different doping levels. Heteroepitaxy refers to the case in which the film being deposited is different from the substrate.

Techniques used for epitaxial growth of thin films include molecular beam epitaxy, chemical vapor deposition, and pulsed laser deposition.

Stress
Thin films may be biaxially loaded via stresses originated from their interface with a substrate. Epitaxial thin films may experience stresses from misfit strains between the coherent lattices of the film and substrate, and from the restructuring of the surface triple junction. Thermal stress is common in thin films grown at elevated temperatures due to differences in thermal expansion coefficients with the substrate. Differences in interfacial energy and the growth and coalescence of grains contribute to intrinsic stress in thin films. These intrinsic stresses can be a function of film thickness. These stresses may be tensile or compressive and can cause cracking, buckling, or delamination along the surface. In epitaxial films, initially deposited atomic layers may have coherent lattice planes with the substrate. However, past a critical thickness misfit dislocations will form leading to relaxation of stresses in the film.

Strain
Films may experience a dilatational transformation strain $$e_T$$ relative to its substrate due to a volume change in the film. Volume changes that cause dilatational strain may come from changes in temperature, defects, or phase transformations. A temperature change will induce a volume change if the film and substrate thermal expansion coefficients are different. The creation or annihilation of defects such as vacancies, dislocations, and grain boundaries will cause a volume change through densification. Phase transformations and concentration changes will cause volume changes via lattice distortions.

Thermal Strain
A mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients between the film and substrate will cause thermal strain during a temperature change. The elastic strain of the film relative to the substrate is given by:

$$\varepsilon = -(\alpha_f-\alpha_s)(T-T_0)$$

where $$\varepsilon$$ is the elastic strain, $$\alpha_f$$ is the thermal expansion coefficient of the film, $$\alpha_s$$ is the thermal expansion coefficient of the substrate, $$T$$ is the temperature, and $$T_0$$ is the initial temperature of the film and substrate when it is in a stress-free state. For example, if a film is deposited onto a substrate with a lower thermal expansion coefficient at high temperatures, then cooled to room temperature, a positive elastic strain will be created. In this case, the film will develop tensile stresses.

Growth Strain
A change in density due to the creation or destruction of defects, phase changes, or compositional changes after the film is grown on the substrate will generate a growth strain. Such as in the Stranski–Krastanov mode, where the layer of film is strained to fit the substrate due to an increase in supersaturation and interfacial energy which shifts from island to island. The elastic strain to accommodate these changes is related to the dilatational strain $$e_T$$ by:

$$\varepsilon=-e_T/3$$

A film experiencing growth strains will be under biaxial tensile strain conditions, generating tensile stresses in biaxial directions in order to match the substrate dimensions.

Epitaxial Strains
An epitaxially grown film on a thick substrate will have an inherent elastic strain given by:

$$\varepsilon\approx{a_s-a_f \over a_f}$$

where $$a_s$$ and $$a_f$$ are the lattice parameters of the substrate and film, respectively. It is assumed that the substrate is rigid due to its relative thickness. Therefore, all of the elastic strain occurs in the film to match the substrate.

Measuring stress and strain
The stresses in Films deposited on flat substrates such as wafers can be calculated by measuring the curvature of the wafer due to the strain by the film. Using optical setups, such as those with lasers, allow for whole wafer characterization pre and post deposition. Lasers are reflected off the wafer in a grid pattern and distortions in the grid are used to calculate the curvature as well as measure the optical constants. Strain in thin films can also be measured by x-ray diffraction or by milling a section of the film using a focused ion beam and monitoring the relaxation via scanning electron microscopy.

Wafer Curvature Measurements
A common method for determining the stress evolution of a film is to measure the wafer curvature during its deposition. Stoney relates a film’s average stress to its curvature through the following expression:

$$\kappa=\frac{6\langle \sigma \rangle h_f}{M_sh^2_s}$$

where $$M_s = \frac{\Epsilon}{1-\upsilon}$$, where $$\Epsilon$$ is the bulk elastic modulus of the material comprising the film, and $$\upsilon$$ is the Poisson’s ratio of the material comprising the film, $$h_s$$ is the thickness of the substrate, $$h_f$$ is the height of the film, and $$\langle \sigma \rangle$$ is the average stress in the film. The assumptions made regarding the Stoney formula assume that the film and substrate are smaller than the lateral size of the wafer and that the stress is uniform across the surface. Therefore the average stress thickness of a given film can be determined by integrating the stress over a given film thickness:

$$\langle \sigma \rangle = \frac{1}{h_f} \int_{0}^{h_f} \sigma(z) dz$$

where $$z$$ is the direction normal to the substrate and $$\sigma(z)$$ represents the in-place stress at a particular height of the film. The stress thickness (or force per unit width) is represented by $$\langle \sigma \rangle h_f$$ is an important quantity as it is directionally proportional to the curvature by $$\frac{6}{M_s h_s^2}$$. Because of this proportionality, measuring the curvature of a film at a given film thickness can directly determine the stress in the film at that thickness. The curvature of a wafer is determined by the average stress of in the film. However, if stress is not uniformly distributed in a film (as it would be for epitaxially grown film layers that have not relaxed so that the intrinsic stress is due to the lattice mismatch of the substrate and the film), it is impossible to determine the stress at a specific film height without continuous curvature measurements. If continuous curvature measurements are taken, the time derivative of the curvature data: $$\frac{d\kappa}{dt} \propto \sigma(h_f) \frac{\partial h_f}{\partial t} + \int_{0}^{h_f} \frac{\partial \sigma(z,t)}{\partial t}dz$$

can show how the intrinsic stress is changing at any given point. Assuming that stress in the underlying layers of a deposited film remains constant during further deposition, we can represent the incremental stress $$\sigma(h_f)$$ as:

$$\sigma (h_f) \propto \frac{\frac{\partial \kappa}{\partial t}}{\frac{\partial h_f}{\partial t}} = \frac{d \kappa}{dh}$$

Nanoindentation
Nanoindentation is a popular method of measuring the mechanical properties of films. Measurements can be used to compare coated and uncoated films to reveal the effects of surface treatment on both elastic and plastic responses of the film. Load-displacement curves may reveal information about cracking, delamination, and plasticity in both the film and substrate.

The Oliver and Pharr method can be used to evaluate nanoindentation results for hardness and elastic modulus evaluation by the use of axisymmetric indenter geometries like a spherical indenter. This method assumes that during unloading, only elastic deformations are recovered (where reverse plastic deformation is negligible). The parameter $$P$$ designates the load, $$h$$ is the displacement relative to the undeformed coating surface and $$h_f$$ is the final penetration depth after unloading. These are used to approximate the power law relation for unloading curves:

$$P = \alpha (h - h_f)^m$$

After the contact area $$A$$ is calculated, the hardness is estimated by:

$$H = \frac {P_{max}}{A}$$

From the relationship of contact area, the unloading stiffness can be expressed by the relation:

$$S = \beta \frac{2}{\surd\pi} E_{eff} \surd A $$

Where $$E_{eff}$$ is the effective elastic modulus and takes into account elastic displacements in the specimen and indenter. This relation can also be applied to elastic-plastic contact, which is not affected by pile-up and sink-in during indentation.

$$\frac{1}{E_{eff}} = \frac{1-\nu^2}{E} + \frac{1-\nu^2}{E_i} $$

Due to the low thickness of the films, accidental probing of the substrate is a concern. To avoid indenting beyond the film and into the substrate, penetration depths are often kept to less than 10% of the film thickness. For a conical or pyramidal indenters, the indentation depth scales as $$a/t$$ where $$a$$ is the radius of the contact circle and $$t$$ is the film thickness. The ratio of penetration depth $$h$$ and film thickness can be used as a scale parameter for soft films.

Strain engineering
Stress and relaxation of stresses in films can influence the materials properties of the film, such as mass transport in microelectronics applications. Therefore precautions are taken to either mitigate or produce such stresses; for example a buffer layer may be deposited between the substrate and film. Strain engineering is also used to produce various phase and domain structures in thin films such as in the domain structure of the ferroelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT).

Multilayer medium
In the physical sciences, a multilayer or stratified medium is a stack of different thin films. Typically, a multilayer medium is made for a specific purpose. Since layers are thin with respect to some relevant length scale, interface effects are much more important than in bulk materials, giving rise to novel physical properties.

The term "multilayer" is not an extension of "monolayer" and "bilayer", which describe a single layer that is one or two molecules thick. A multilayer medium rather consists of several thin films.

Examples

 * An optical coating, as used for instance in a dielectric mirror, is made of several layers that have different refractive indexes.
 * Giant magnetoresistance is a macroscopic quantum effect observed in alternating ferromagnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers.

Decorative coatings
The usage of thin films for decorative coatings probably represents their oldest application. This encompasses ca. 100 nm thin gold leaves that were already used in ancient India more than 5000 years ago. It may also be understood as any form of painting, although this kind of work is generally considered as an arts craft rather than an engineering or scientific discipline. Today, thin-film materials of variable thickness and high refractive index like titanium dioxide are often applied for decorative coatings on glass for instance, causing a rainbow-color appearance like oil on water. In addition, intransparent gold-colored surfaces may either be prepared by sputtering of gold or titanium nitride.

Optical coatings
These layers serve in both reflective and refractive systems. Large-area (reflective) mirrors became available during the 19th century and were produced by sputtering of metallic silver or aluminum on glass. Refractive lenses for optical instruments like cameras and microscopes typically exhibit aberrations, i.e. non-ideal refractive behavior. While large sets of lenses had to be lined up along the optical path previously, nowadays, the coating of optical lenses with transparent multilayers of titanium dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxide etc. may correct these aberrations. A well-known example for the progress in optical systems by thin-film technology is represented by the only a few mm wide lens in smart phone cameras. Other examples are given by anti-reflection coatings on eyeglasses or solar panels.

Protective coatings
Thin films are often deposited to protect an underlying work piece from external influences. The protection may operate by minimizing the contact with the exterior medium in order to reduce the diffusion from the medium to the work piece or vice versa. For instance, plastic lemonade bottles are frequently coated by anti-diffusion layers to avoid the out-diffusion of CO2, into which carbonic acid decomposes that was introduced into the beverage under high pressure. Another example is represented by thin TiN films in microelectronic chips separating electrically conducting aluminum lines from the embedding insulator SiO2 in order to suppress the formation of Al2O3. Often, thin films serve as protection against abrasion between mechanically moving parts. Examples for the latter application are diamond-like carbon layers used in car engines or thin films made of nanocomposites.

Electrically operating coatings
Thin layers from elemental metals like copper, aluminum, gold or silver etc. and alloys have found numerous applications in electrical devices. Due to their high electrical conductivity they are able to transport electrical currents or supply voltages. Thin metal layers serve in conventional electrical system, for instance, as Cu layers on printed circuit boards, as the outer ground conductor in coaxial cables and various other forms like sensors etc. A major field of application became their use in integrated passive devices and integrated circuits, where the electrical network among active and passive devices like transistors and capacitors etc. is built up from thin Al or Cu layers. These layers dispose of thicknesses in the range of a few 100 nm up to a few μm, and they are often embedded into a few nm thin titanium nitride layers in order to block a chemical reaction with the surrounding dielectric like SiO2. The figure shows a micrograph of a laterally structured TiN/Al/TiN metal stack in a microelectronic chip.

Heterostructures of gallium nitride and similar semiconductors can lead to electrons being bound to a sub-nanometric layer, effectively behaving as a two-dimensional electron gas. Quantum effects in such thin films can significantly enhance electron mobility as compared to that of a bulk crystal, which is employed in high-electron-mobility transistors.

Biosensors and plasmonic devices
Noble metal thin films are used in plasmonic structures such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. Surface plasmon polaritons are surface waves in the optical regime that propagate in between metal-dielectric interfaces; in Kretschmann-Raether configuration for the SPR sensors, a prism is coated with a metallic film through evaporation. Due to the poor adhesive characteristics of metallic films, germanium, titanium or chromium films are used as intermediate layers to promote stronger adhesion. Metallic thin films are also used in plasmonic waveguide designs.

Thin-film photovoltaic cells
Thin-film technologies are also being developed as a means of substantially reducing the cost of solar cells. The rationale for this is thin-film solar cells are cheaper to manufacture owing to their reduced material costs, energy costs, handling costs and capital costs. This is especially represented in the use of printed electronics (roll-to-roll) processes. Other thin-film technologies, that are still in an early stage of ongoing research or with limited commercial availability, are often classified as emerging or third generation photovoltaic cells and include, organic, dye-sensitized, and polymer solar cells, as well as quantum dot, copper zinc tin sulfide, nanocrystal and perovskite solar cells.

Thin-film batteries
Thin-film printing technology is being used to apply solid-state lithium polymers to a variety of substrates to create unique batteries for specialized applications. Thin-film batteries can be deposited directly onto chips or chip packages in any shape or size. Flexible batteries can be made by printing onto plastic, thin metal foil, or paper.

Thin-film bulk acoustic wave resonators (TFBARs/FBARs)
For miniaturising and more precise control of resonance frequency of piezoelectric crystals thin-film bulk acoustic resonators TFBARs/FBARs are developed for oscillators, telecommunication filters and duplexers, and sensor applications.

title: Thin film


text:
Talk:Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage

Excellent article. I really think it states the case concisely and powerfully. There are a raft of other "replies" and "responses," but none of them matter much. I'm glad to see a clear-eyed statement of the case and a refutation of the scholastic chestnut that Collier killed the stage. I think that death killed the stage: the death of Charles II. If that hadn't done it, William and Mary would have. William was dour, not good with English, and more interested in cannon balls, it seems. Then came Anna Gloriosa, the woman described as "blankly stupid when in a good mood and sulkily stupid when in a foul mood." Before the stage was a market economy, the patron called the tune. When the patron finally became the general public...well...best not to think of it. :-) Great article. Geogre 01:34, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks, Geogre, you are the soul of politeness always. :-) I just went and put Williamanmary in there, because you're right, encouragement or lack of it from Court was tremendously important. I seem to remember that the Royal pair had some kind of involvement with the Society For the Reformation of Manners, too. Maybe not, and enough with the research, anyway, this article is getting overlong for the importance of the subject as it is. I'll just go change the Jeremy Collier entry now, where the original contributor claims Collier was a bishop. That can't be right. He was a non-juror, i.e. barely a clergyman at all, and infamous for some piece of aggressiveness towards William — having given absolution to would-be assassins of him, I think it was. I'll check up  on the bishop thing just to be sure, though.--Bishonen 13:49, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Ok, well, actually, it turns out Collier was/became "bishop of the nonjurors". I'd no idea there was such a thing. It can't be a lot like a regular bishop, I guess. Anyway, that'll save me changing anything, good. (I wish I was more interested in Church history, with it being so important in late 17th—early 18th c, but I'm just not.)--Bishonen 14:14, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"Bishop of the non-jurors" has to be a tag. It can't be real. I think Bill and Mary had an involvement, too. Where did I read it, though? Shoot. I know there's a place, and I know you're right. Ah, well. Geogre 14:36, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

According to the reference, the play ahem, pamphlet is named "A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage". Why is the "A" dropped elsewhere in the article, and in the title? Dbenbenn 01:47, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * (It's not a play, Collier would have a fit if he could hear you.) Hi, Dbenbenn, have you been lurking on the German Wikipedia, or is this a huge coincidence? Please see my post today on the talk page of the user who translated this article into German (my second post under the same heading, scroll down), where I address your concern. The pamphlet is well known and frequently referenced under both names, with and without the A, it's even frequently reprinted under both names. If anybody can face checking out whether the Library of Congress has a first edition (as I mention on de.wiki, I've tried the British Library unsuccessfully), perhaps we should go with the title of that. But I don't see it as a problem, as such, that the reference prefers one title and I prefer another, since both titles are well-established in academic usage.--Bishonen | Talk 02:19, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * Alright, thanks for the answer. Actually, it is a coincidence; I was spying your contributions list, and noticed this article.

 * Again with the KGB methods!

 * I went to the Library of Congress a few summers ago, and managed to see precisely one book. They don't just let people waltz in off the street and look at books, alas.  Dbenbenn 02:37, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I meant the web catalogue, one would have to assume it would have a proper bibliographic citation with the title copied exactly from the title page. I'm not very good friends with the LC site...well, I can manage it, but mainly, I have no strong feelings about the title used, just so as long as there are redirects from all reasonable forms and spellings.--Bishonen | Talk 02:55, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * LoC has 6 versions, 5 or 6 of which start with "A". See   Of course, they also use "library title casing", with only "English" capitalized.  I guess I don't care that much either.  dbenbenn | talk 22:05, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

First Edition Short View Found
Hi Bishonen (I'm assuming from the posts that you are the one who started this page). My sister and I were cleaning out a really old bookcase in my parents home. This house has been in our family for generations, and the contents in the very top of this over-seven-feet-tall bookcase hadn't been touched in a century or more.

Surprise, there was a first edition copy of Short View. Even more surprising, the book is still in fairly good condition (cover still attached, etc.). There is what appears to be a signature on the title page. I have spent a long time looking at it, trying to figure out if it is Collier's signature. The signature does end in "y". (Does anyone have an example of Collier's signature?)

The story behind the book is that it had first belonged to one of my ancestors who lived in England. Then, about 150 years later, it was sent by one of that person's descendants to another ancestor of mine who lived in America.

I took some photos of the book, and have posted them in Wikipedia Commons. I created a sandbox page with the photos on it, so that you can take a look at them and see if you might like me to add them to the Short View page. The sandbox page is here. (Are we able to see each other's sandboxes?) I have the photos set up in table format, because I really detest Wiki's gallery tag (very little user control over how it displays).

For the record, even the first edition title does start with "A" (A Short View...), but maybe just changing the bold print at the very start of the article would do the trick.

What is really interesting to me is how much Old English and German had in common. (I had a minor in German literature.) I had never realized that Old English used the 'ß' character to represent a double-s, just like German, or that Old English capitalized all of the nouns, just like the German (still) does. I knew that English came from low German, but never knew this about Old English!

I would love to read this book, but am afraid of touching it too much, or even opening it too much. (Maybe I should read a modern copy instead.)

Along those same lines, I am wondering what to do with it. I could continue to keep it in my personal library (which is nice and dark and dry, fortunately). But I am scared to death that something will happen to it, so I have considered donating it to my local university. The library there has a rare books and manuscripts section that is inside a steel caged area, and you have to sign in to use it, wear cotton gloves, etc. It would be safer there probably. What are your thoughts on that?

Mrs rockefeller (talk) 20:20, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Quick note: the binding would be from after the fact, probably, or at least the work of the bookseller rather than of the printer. Also, as you've no doubt gathered, Collier revised and republished the work.  The fact that it's a "book" rather than a pamphlet suggests that you're looking at one of the later versions (the original was a pamphlet).  The paper should be solid.  I myself worked extensively with a 1689 book for my dissertation, and it was as clear and sound as if it were bought new yesterday.  This is because the paper they used was acid free.  However, if you handle it, wear cotton gloves, if you can.  This will keep oils from your fingers turning acidic on the paper.  To hold the pages open to read, use a bean bag or some other cloth covered book weight (the leather blackjack looking things sold by Barnes & Noble are acceptable, but not optimal).  Be very careful of the binding any any marginalia, of course, because, unlike the paper and printing, those are susceptible to time.  Back with more later.  Geogre (talk) 02:24, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

I did a search on Google, and came up with a catalog of books by English authors who lived before the year 1700. The "first edition" is described as being "mettled calf". I assume this refers to the cover, because the pages themselves were not printed on leather. Also, when you compare the publication information on my copy with what it says in the catalog, the text matches exactly (for example, it does not say "in Holborn", as does the second edition).

Also, the university library's rare books section looked this up in their computer, and indicated to me that this was bound. I am not saying that there were no unbound copies sold. There were likely both.

I am convinced that this is, indeed a first edition. I have added photos to my sandbox area showing the book's cover and its binder. These have been added at the bottom.

So, we should put some of these photos up on the page. shouldn't we? Which one(s) would be best? The three in the first horizontal row, when stacked, show the title page: top, center and bottom (where the pub. date is).

Mrs rockefeller (talk) 18:06, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

A postnote to the above: See the notes in the catalogue referenced above about the collation of the first edition. I checked the book against this. On page A5 of the preface, there appears to be a misprint of the year. It says 169 and then after the 9 shows a 7 and an 8 stacked vertically. It is so strange looking that I had to examine it with a flashlight to make sure. It is definitely printed in the book, and not something that anyone has written in.

The book has the same sections, in the same order, including the page of Errata and Advertisements. (See the advertisement by William Congreve for free tickets to Love for Love for all clergy. Just show ID at the gate. Kidding.) The book does go through T288. There are just so many features of this book that match the first edition description.

Mrs rockefeller (talk) 18:47, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Well, you've convinced me. I was only saying that there are many first editions.  It's a common enough game, especially among the sensationalist and controversialist writers, to rewrite their books every so often, and so there can be a first edition of this version, a first edition of that version, etc.  A true first edition would be moderately valuable, given the importance of the book.  I used to own a 3rd ed. of A Tale of a Tub, complete with errors.  Again, any marginalia you find in the book could be useful in determining provenance and, if the provenance is right, adding to what we know.
 * In a way, it's not at all surprising that a first edition would show up in America, given the population of the early settlement of the US, and esp. in the northeast and mid-Atlantic. These would be Collier's peeps, as it were.  Farther south, and it would be more surprising (all those Cavalier planters with dissenting workers).  Geogre (talk) 20:46, 16 March 2008 (UTC)