What’s thin film technology?

Thin films, also known as “coatings,” are used to enhance the chemical and/or physical properties of a solid. Think about painting a room, icing a cake with frosting, or putting a case on your phone. We do these things to improve upon or protect what we already have. However, unlike these everyday examples, thin films are often too small to be seen, ranging from a few nanometers to several micrometers. Although these films are tiny in size, they have a large effect on the properties of solids.

Where could these be useful? Let’s use the example of diamond-like carbon (DLC). First, what is DLC? Graphene and diamond are two well-known, structurally different, carbon materials. Diamond contains only single carbon bonds, and is regarded as the hardest material. In contrast, graphene is composed of double bonded carbons and used for its elasticity as well as its thermal and electrical properties. If we combine these together, we get DLC! DLC is the best of both worlds since its properties can be tuned to incorporate aspects of both diamond and graphene. Currently, DLC is used as a thin film coating for many bioengineering applications such as stents and orthopedic prosthetics. DLC offers biocompatibility in addition to its immense strength. This is desirable as parts of the human body will become infected if something inside of it does not belong. Therefore, we can coat the metals used to make prosthetics with DLC to make them biocompatible and wear-resistant.

This is merely one example of thin film technology. There are so many other applications in your everyday life: prescription sunglasses, mirrors, tinted car windows, phone screens, the list goes on and on!