We have built a high throughput PLD machine, rather than making the usual 2-5 films a day we can make around 20-40 films a day depending on the substrates size and we love it. We want to know if it will help you solve your scientific questions too. We want to know who's out there and what the demands on this equipment might be if it were to become fully fledged user facility or "films on demand" facility. If you have a pressing need for films - we might be able to help!
Thin films are now used in almost all fields of material science research. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) can be useful in providing a dense, thin layer (1-200 nm) of oxide films with defined surface on variety of substrates.The films can be polycrystaline or grown epitaxially.
One issue is that PLD requires a trained user, there is limited access to equipment and although the growth time can be quick due to long pump down and coll down times the total number of films which can be made in a day is limited.
We have overcome the deposition time limitations with our newly built system which can hold up to 8 samples at once. Now we wish to overcome the access and training issues by simply asking what you need. During our trail, if you materials and work meets the requirements below, we will try to make it for you.
What we can do: make targets, make films, have useful practical discussions about what you need and what can be done.
What you need to do:
Send me a message with :
i) The material/s you need
ii) Substrate/s to be used
iii) Preferred films thickness:
iv) Other film requirements
v) Application/field
vi) Any other useful information to help us prioritize e.g urgency required for upcoming publication etc
Requirements:
-Should be oxide materials (we can discuss offline if you need more)
-Materials should exist in the literature (the idea now is not materials exploration but facilitating research)
-Priority given to those with defined idea of what they want, with clear idea of their research goals are and what the thin films will be used for
-Priority given to those with previous experience using and handling thin films for their research
-Materials/substrates are not too costly (otherwise we will ask you to purchase and send to us).
-In the interest of mutually beneficial open scientific collaboration: All scientists and collaborators are expected to conduct themselves ethically, honestly and with integrity in all dealings.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Oliver,
We are only depositing oxides (and some metal right) now, sorry. There are a couple of papers about these materials as hard coatings for Ti. Feel free to send me a personal message with what you're looking for and we can discuss further if you like.
Thanks,
Joe
Dear Franklin,
What should be the maximum size of the substrate used in this system?
Hi Gaurav,
The ideal sample sizes for us are 10x10 mm or 5x5mm squares as we currently have holders for these samples sizes . We can also accept 7 mm diameter and 14 mm diameter round substrates in the sample holders. These are gravity held so easiest to move in and out. For regular shapes with max diameter under 14 mm we can accommodate without too many changes. If they are much larger then there is a bit of thickness variation across the sample.
If the substrate are irregular shapes then we can also use silver paste but this tends to slows things down a bit so we try to use standard sizes where possible.
Thanks,
Joe
Thanks dear J. B. Franklin for your valuable information about your system.
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