Course Objectives
- Learn about the wide range of analysis techniques available
- Understand the basic principles of the analysis techniques
- Develop insight into the interpretation of the data
- Learn about strategies for choosing the best combination of techniques
Course Objectives
- Learn about the wide range of analysis techniques available
- Understand the basic principles of the analysis techniques
- Develop insight into the interpretation of the data
- Learn about strategies for choosing the best combination of techniques
Course Description
Deposition techniques and conditions decisively influence the composition and microstructure of thin films. Thus, materials characterization is a key step in achieving desired coatings’ function. Thin film characterization is therefore critical for understanding why thin films work or fail.
This course will introduce some of the most often used techniques and outline strategies for most efficient applications of these methods for analysis and characterization of thin films and coatings. They are indispensable for an understanding of how materials function and how deposition processes can be tuned for optimal deposition results. Various characterization techniques will be compared, and a sequence of their optimal use will be outlined.
Course Content
The course will provide an introduction to many commonly used characterization techniques. A variety of different methods of determining surface and interface composition and elemental distributions will be presented. A comparative evaluation of these analytical techniques in terms of sensitivity, depth resolution, chemical state identification, and spatial resolution will be discussed. The techniques introduced are SEM, FIB, EDX, XRD, TOFSIMS, RBS/ERDA and XRD.
The principles of these techniques are reviewed and their application in thin film analysis will be illustrated with real-world examples from thin film engineering. The relative merits, i.e. strengths and weaknesses, of these techniques will be described along with guidelines for their use for specific applications. Strategies for choosing the best combination of techniques will be outlined.
Who Should Attend?
This course is for individuals at all stages of their career who wish to get a systematic review of the large variety of characterization techniques and develop an understanding for their optimal use. New engineers moving into this field, specialists wanting a broad overview and managers in need of obtaining a better understanding will find this course useful.
As a valuable complement to this course is to register for the Thin Film Characterization by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy course on May 25, 2023.
Instructor
Jörg Patscheider
Senior Scientist R&D, Evatec AG, Trübbach, CH
