Thin Films and Coatings

Thin films and coatings are used or applied to an almost limitless range of applications to provide a specific performance characteristic for a broad range of industrial products. These include coatings that provide antistatic properties, corrosion resistance, reduce wear, and promote adhesion; as well as thin films for optical devices, mirrors, semiconductor devices, magnetic media, and food wrap.

Thin film coatings on glass (XPS, AES, TOF-SIMS, D-SIMS)

Architectural glass, lenses, mirrors, and many other products are coated to provide specific optical properties. These coatings are often a stack of thin layers that can be characterized using PHI's surface analysis instruments to verify the composition of the layers, detect contaminants, and estimate layer thickness.

Fig. 1: XPS sputter depth profile of an architectural glass coating obtained using 2 kV argon ions and Zalar rotation to enhance depth resolution.