Ilika Plc has successfully pioneered and developed a high throughput Physical Vapour Deposition facility (HT-PVD) that can deposit large numbers of films of different composition in one experimental run. This facility is operated under UHV conditions and utilises a variety of sources for simultaneous multi-element (up to 6) deposition onto unique substrate arrays (targets). Patented technology ensures that the deposition of all elements occurs simultaneously and that the composition profile can be carefully varied across the substrate in a controlled manner. A feature of this technique is that proper mixing of the elements is achieved during synthesis, whereas alternative methods rely upon sequential, single element deposition followed by a heating step to produce alloy homogeneity
The types of material that can be deposited using this facility include:
- Mixed alloys
- Mixed and doped oxides
- Mixed and doped hydrides
- Mixed and doped carbides
- Mixed and doped nitrides
- Chalcogenides
The composition and structure of a particular point on the target can be confirmed in-situ using a variety of analytical techniques so that Ilika Plc can characterise and map the nature of the materials generated. This is important when attempting to understand the thermal, optical, electrical, electrochemical, phase change or gas absorption behaviours of the samples as a function of composition.