Book Overview

1.1 Thin films Thin film can be defined as any solid or liquid object with one of the dimension is very much less than that of the other two. In 1957, Faraday obtained thin films by evaporating metal wires in an inert atmosphere. After 30 years, Warhol in 1887 prepared thin metal film by heating a platinum wire in vacuum. Thin films can be considered to have only two dimensions. Thickness of thin film is usually measured in terms of Angstrom (Å) and is of the same order of magnitude as the dimension of a single atom. Depending on the properties to be investigated and technological application of the film, thickness of the film can be arranged from a few angstrom (Å) to 1000 Å.