Welcome to the PLD Core

The Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) core facility provides a means to grow thin films of metals and metal oxides, 1 Å to 1 μm thick.

The facility contains two state of the art deposition chambers: a PVD PLD/MBE 2300 and a PVD nanoPLD 1000. A complete description of each of the systems capabilities can be found in the Equipment tab. PLD provides a convenient way to make thin films of materials heretofore studied in the bulk by pressing and sintering a target from the bulk material; facilities are available at Northwestern for the pressing and sintering of targets.

The PLD Facility open to all the faculty and students at Northwestern University as well as the researchers at the nearby academic institutions and related industrial companies. The instruments can be used: Independently after training; Assisted use, where the user gets hands-on experience but with staff present and assisting; Staff-conducted film growth.

The staff is highly experienced in Pulsed Laser Deposition and willing to help in the choice of deposition parameters, substrates and targets*

*Acknowledgement: For users that publish results that made use of the PLD facility we ask that the following acknowledgement be included:

“This work made use of the Pulsed Laser Deposition Shared Facility at the Materials Research Center at Northwestern University supported by the National Science Foundation MRSEC program (DMR-2308691) and the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-2025633).”