PLD/PED Systems

Neocera PLD Technology

Neocera was founded by Dr. Venkatesan in 1989 as a commercial vehicle for conveying technological expertise in complex multi-component metal-oxide thin film materials using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). Neocera continues to develop PLD equipment and processes that result in products of high value to the customer. Neocera remains active in materials research, leading the application of PLD into new material systems, and participating directly in the transition from PLD processes from the research laboratory to the industrial marketplace. Neocera added Pulsed Electron Deposition (PED) as a complementary technique to PLD in 2001. Our mission is to become researchers’ and manufacturers’ first choice for PLD and PED equipment. Neocera PLD/PED systems can be found in Universities, National Research Laboratories and Corporate R&D Centers in over 30 countries around the world.

Pulsed Laser Deposition

Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is a versatile thin film deposition technique. A pulsed laser (~20 ns pulse width) rapidly evaporates a target material forming a thin film that retains target composition. This unique ability of stoichiometeric transfer of target composition into the film was realized first by the research team led by Dr. Venkatesan at Bell Communications Research, NJ, USA, nearly 30 years ago while depositing high temperature superconducting (YBa2Cu3O7) thin films. Since then, PLD has become the preferred deposition technique where ever thin films of complex material compositions are considered. Another unique feature of PLD is its ability for rapid prototyping of materials. The energy source (pulsed laser) being outside the deposition chamber, facilitates a large dynamic range of operating pressures (10-10 Torr to 500 Torr) during material synthesis. By controlling the deposition pressure and substrate temperature and using relatively small target sizes, a variety of atomically controlled nano-structures and interfaces can be prepared with unique functionalities.

Pulsed Electron Deposition

Pulsed Electron Deposition (PED) is a process in which a pulsed (80-100 ns) high power electron beam (~ 1000 A, 15 kV) penetrates approximately 1 µm into the target resulting in a rapid evaporation of target material. The non-equilibrium heating of the target facilitates stoichiometric ablation of the target material. Under optimum conditions, the target stoichiometry is preserved in the deposited films. All solid state materials-metals, semiconductors and insulators, including those transparent to laser wavelengths in PLD can be deposited as thin films with PED. By combining PLD and PED the range of complex materials that can be prepared as thin films can be greatly enhanced.