Coherent x-rays at NSLS-II enable researchers to produce more accurate observations of thin film growth in real time.
From paint on a wall to tinted car windows, thin films make up a wide variety of materials found in ordinary life. But thin films are also used to build some of today’s most important technologies, such as computer chips and solar cells. Seeking to improve the performance of these technologies, scientists are studying the mechanisms that drive molecules to uniformly stack together in layers—a process called crystalline thin film growth. Now, a new research technique could help scientists understand this growth process better than ever before.
Researchers from the University of Vermont, Boston University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated a new experimental capability for watching thin film growth in real-time. Using the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)—a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven—the researchers were able to produce a “movie” of thin film growth that depicts the process more accurately than traditional techniques can. Their research was published on June 14, 2019 in Nature Communications.
>Read more on the NSLS-II website
Image: Co-authors Peco Myint (BU) and Jeffrey Ulbrandt (UVM) are shown at NSLS-II’s CHX beamline, where the research was conducted.