IOP Groups

Thin Films

Thin Films

There is a range of technologically important materials that are most useful as films a few tens of Angstroms deep deposited on a substrate. Hard disks rely on magnetic thin films to store data, hip joints are made more hard wearing and biocompatable with forms of carbon and the lenses in spectacles and cameras have thier optical properties precisely defined by layers of materials. Depositing layers of a material only a few atoms thick requires the use of magnetrons. A plasma is struck in the magnetic field of a magnetron and gently erodes the surface of the target and carries the sputter material to the substrate. Either insulators or conductors can be used as targets.

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