Blog
The latest nanoparticle articles from Nikalyte Ltd.
PVD of Ruthenium and Cobalt for Next-Gen Metallization
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Copper has carried the signals inside microchips for many decades. As logic scaling pushes towards the 18A and 14A nodes, the narrowest interconnect lines are approaching the 10 nm scale, and copper dual-damascene metallisation is becoming harder to extend [1]. Ruthenium (Ru) and cobalt (Co) have emerged as two
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Secure Banknote Authentication
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] A modern banknote carries an average of twenty security features. Automated sorting already leans on machine-readable luminescent, infrared and magnetic inks to check authenticity at speed [1]. Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is being explored as a highly sensitive and unique way of providing a chemical fingerprint embedded in
Is Your Thermal Evaporator Damaging Your Substrates?
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Thermal evaporation remains one of the most widely adopted physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques in both research and industrial manufacturing. Its appeal is clear: the system is relatively simple to configure, cost-effective for routine metal deposition, and widely understood across thin-film processing environments. For many standard applications, it continues
Buying a PVD System for a Shared Lab? Ask This First
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] When you’re setting up a new lab, most of the conversation is about budget, specifications and materials. That’s understandable those are the decisions in front of you right now, and they come with a deadline attached. There’s one question that gets asked far less often, and it matters just
SERS for Rapid Pesticide Detection in Food Safety
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Pesticides remain essential to global food production, protecting crops from pests and disease on a vast scale. Yet this scale carries a real human cost. A 2020 systematic review covering 141 countries estimated that around 385 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning occur worldwide each year, including roughly
Coating Powders, Pellets, and Small 3D Objects with PVD
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Most thin-film deposition processes are designed with flat substrates in mind. Wafers, slides and foils present stable surfaces that face the deposition sources directly. In these applications, the science is well understood, the equipment is well established, and the results are predictable. However, a growing number of research and
How PVD Determines Perovskite Solar Cell Film Quality
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Perovskite photovoltaics have moved from a laboratory curiosity to a genuine commercial contender in under two decades. Certified single-junction efficiencies have now reached 27%, whilst perovskite-silicon tandem configurations have surpassed 34%, with LONGi Green Energy holding the current NREL-certified world record at 34.85% as of April 2025[1]. Behind those
SERS Applications in Soil Contamination Testing
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Soil contamination, from heavy metals, pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), poses serious risks to human health and ecosystems. Conventional methods such as ICP-MS, GC-MS, and HPLC remain the gold standard for confirmatory analysis, but they require sophisticated laboratory infrastructure, lengthy sample preparation, and are poorly suited to rapid
Green Energy from Water Splitting via Piezocatalysis
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Generating green hydrogen from water splitting is pivotal to the global transition to low-carbon energy systems. Among emerging technologies, piezocatalysis, the conversion of mechanical energy directly into chemical energy via piezoelectric materials, has captured growing attention as a novel, eco-friendly approach to drive water splitting without the need for
PVD for Solid State Lithium-Ion Batteries in Space Applications
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Spacecraft power systems operate under constraints that eliminate many conventional energy storage options. CubeSats and small satellites in low Earth orbit experience thermal excursions from −20°C to +60°C or wider, sustained exposure to ionising radiation, and hard mass and volume limits, with no option for in-orbit maintenance or electrolyte
Metal Nanoparticle Coatings on Soft Materials
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Soil contamination, from heavy metals, pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), poses serious risks to human health and ecosystems. Conventional methods such as ICP-MS, GC-MS, and HPLC remain the gold standard for confirmatory analysis, but they require sophisticated laboratory infrastructure, lengthy sample preparation, and are poorly suited to rapid
Thin Film Lithium Niobate Deposition via Magnetron Sputtering
Want to read offline? [Download PDF] Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) has become one of the most sought-after materials in modern photonics and integrated optoelectronics. With applications in telecommunications, quantum computing, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and high-frequency electro‑optic modulators, TFLN is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone material for next‑generation optical technologies. [1],[2] Among available physical