Gadolinium is a rare-earth metal commonly used in important applications like magnetic resonance imaging techniques and jewelry manufacture. It is commonly represented as Gd and has an atomic number 64. Since its discovery in 1880 by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, it wasn’t available in its pure form until Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran — a...Continue Reading

Europium is a chemical element that belongs to the Lanthanide series. This means it is a rare-earth element. It is distinct for being the most reactive, the rarest, the least dense, and the softest rare-earth element. It is so reactive that it is stored beneath a non-reactive fluid. Europium is named after Europe. Paul-Émile Lecoq...Continue Reading

Introduction Erbium is one of the 17 rare-earth elements. This means it also belongs to the lanthanide series. Its atomic number is 68, and its symbol is Er. When one is told that Erbium is a rare-earth metal, one might expect it to be challenging to come across. However, Erbium ranks number 45 in the...Continue Reading

Dysprosium is a rare-earth element with a lustrous and silvery appearance. Like most other rare-earth metals, it belongs to the Lanthanide series. Its name was derived from the Greek word dysprositos which can be translated as hard to get. Dysprosium was discovered in 1886 by a scientist known as Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. However,...Continue Reading

Arc Ion Plating is a technological process developed in the United States of America in the 60s. Since then, it has become more widely used and accepted in other parts of the world. Energy from evaporation as well as ionization is incorporated to achieve the goal of arc ion plating. The goal of arc ion...Continue Reading

Magnetron sputtering is one of the most popular methods for sputter deposition. Powerful magnets confine plasma electrons close to the target. It entails depositing material from a source to a substrate via sputtering using a high magnetic and electric field. It is generally used to deposit alloys, metals, and other materials on a substrate. It was first...Continue Reading

Titanium nitride, also known as TiNite or TiN, is a chemical compound that is commonly used in coating objects. Titanium nitride thin film gives the coated object a gold color. It is widely used because it is less expensive than most other compounds with similar chemical properties. There are numerous commercial variants of titanium nitride, but...Continue Reading

Semiconductors are critically important in our world. The most significant application is in computerized or radio waves-powered electrical devices. These semiconductors are made of the widely abundant element, silicon. In fact, silicon is at the core of almost all kinds of electronic devices. One of the reasons why they are widely used in semiconductors is...Continue Reading

White meals are an important category of metals used in various industrial applications, just as alloys are. An old use of white metals is their referencing in the antique trade for describing items suspected of containing silver but not hallmarked. As an example, the term “white metal” is used in the British fine art trade...Continue Reading