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Film Growth Laboratory

Related Researchers

Scott Chambers in the lab

Scott Chambers

Lab Fellow Emeritus, Materials Scientist
Yingge Du

Yingge Du

Materials Scientist
kaspar

Tiffany Kaspar

Materials Scientist

How do researchers grow thin films?

Grown Film Kaspar

Thin films are an essential component of many modern electronics and are important for future energy applications. Being able to precisely grow thin films requires specialized equipment that enables researchers to add atoms to a surface layer by layer. The structure and composition of the resulting films can be tailored to study the fundamental properties of materials.

What is inside the Energy Sciences Center film growth laboratory?

Take a look inside the film growth lab in the Energy Sciences Center. (Video: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

The film growth laboratory in the Energy Sciences Center (ESC) features two molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and two pulsed laser deposition (PLD) systems. These instruments allow Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers to produce exceptionally high-quality thin films with precise control over a range of film properties while monitoring film growth.

The ESC’s two MBE systems use heat to vaporize up to 10 different elements at a time. This enables the PNNL researchers to create highly compositionally complex materials. The systems have in situ high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterize the created films without exposure to the air. This allows PNNL researchers to minimize any potential contamination of the precisely developed films.

The PLD systems hit high purity ceramic sources with a high-powered laser to eject the source material towards a surface. The (oftentimes complex) chemical composition of the source is maintained in the deposited thin film, but the film’s crystal structure is determined by the surface it is deposited on. The deposition process is controlled by computers, so the researchers can target and deposit multiple different ceramics in a specific sequence. This level of control enables the creation of complex structures, including films with elemental gradients and multiple layers.

News & Publications

MARCH 21, 2023
Feature

Answering Big Questions with Thin Oxide Films

Read
Image showing three different samples, each held with tweezers in gloved hands.
JULY 20, 2022
Feature

Enriching Science Education with Thin Films

Read
kaspar
JUNE 24, 2022
Research Highlight

Revealing Oxygen Mixing Mechanisms at Surfaces

Read
Illustration of atoms moving through the surface of a material
OCTOBER 18, 2021
Feature

Scott Chambers Searches for New Materials, One Atomic Layer at a Time

Read
chambers
OCTOBER 11, 2021
Feature

Controlling Thin Films with Atomic “Spray Painting”

Read
Illustration of electrons moving in a thin film atop a background of water

Contacts

Scott Chambers
Lab Fellow Emeritus, Materials Scientist
sa.chambers@pnnl.gov
(509) 371-6517
Yingge Du
Materials Scientist
yingge.du@pnnl.gov
Tiffany Kaspar
Materials Scientist
tiffany.kaspar@pnnl.gov

Research topics

Materials Sciences
Scientific Discovery
Precision Materials by Design

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