Thin Film Materials

The course consists of 8 plenary lectures and a student project.

The topics of the lectures are:

1. Introduction, liquid deposition techniques

2. Physical vapor deposition (evaporation en sputtering)

3. Chemical vapor deposition

4. Atomic layer deposition

5. Plasma surface treatment

6. Pulsed laser deposition

7. Nucleation & Growth modes

8. CVD diamond

The project consists in carrying out in a group of few students a literature research on a specific thin film topic, chosen out of the following:

1. hard coatings

2. self-lubricating coatings

3. optical coatings

4. decorative coatings

5. thin films in micro/nano devices (MEMS/NEMS)

6. thin-film based batteries

7. thin-film photovoltaics

8. coatings for implants

The students can also propose a topic of their own interest.
The students will prepare a literature review paper on their topic and will present their progress in several plenary presentations. The class will challenge them with critical questions.
At the end of the course a final presentation will be given by all groups.