Pulsed laser deposition
Okay kiddo, imagine you have a laser pointer in your hand. This laser pointer shoots out a beam of light, right? Now imagine we use a special kind of laser that can shoot out tiny bursts of light really fast. We call these bursts pulses.
Now let's say we want to make a thin film of a certain material, like a piece of metal or a special kind of crystal. We could try melting the material and spreading it out onto a surface to make a thin layer, but that could be messy and unpredictable.
Instead, we can use something called pulsed laser deposition (PLD). This means we use our laser that shoots out pulses to hit the material we want to make a thin film out of. When the laser hits the material, it causes tiny bits of the material to come off in the form of tiny particles.
These particles then fly through the air and land on a surface called a substrate. The particles pile up on top of each other and stick together to form a thin film on the substrate.
PLD is a really useful way to make thin films because it can create really precise layers of material that are just a few atoms thick. Scientists and engineers can use thin films made with PLD to make things like computer chips, solar panels, or even special kinds of sensors.
So that, my little one, is pulsed laser deposition!
Now let's say we want to make a thin film of a certain material, like a piece of metal or a special kind of crystal. We could try melting the material and spreading it out onto a surface to make a thin layer, but that could be messy and unpredictable.
Instead, we can use something called pulsed laser deposition (PLD). This means we use our laser that shoots out pulses to hit the material we want to make a thin film out of. When the laser hits the material, it causes tiny bits of the material to come off in the form of tiny particles.
These particles then fly through the air and land on a surface called a substrate. The particles pile up on top of each other and stick together to form a thin film on the substrate.
PLD is a really useful way to make thin films because it can create really precise layers of material that are just a few atoms thick. Scientists and engineers can use thin films made with PLD to make things like computer chips, solar panels, or even special kinds of sensors.
So that, my little one, is pulsed laser deposition!