"SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TERNARY COMPOUND THIN FILMS."

The term “thin solid film” has been used in literature to imply a layer of a solid material. Further, there is neither any well-defined limit of its thickness to imply the end of the thin film stage nor one to indicate its transition to the thicker film region. All basic researches on thin films are generally confined to a limited range of thickness, say in the range from a few Å to about 5000 Å depending on the properties to be investigated. Whereas for technological applications where reliability of performance is the most important criterion the thickness limit at the lower range is generally higher than 1000 Å and can be as high as few microns. In order to cover this wide range of film thickness both for basic researches and applications, a “ thin film” may arbitrarily defined as a solid two dimensional layer having a thickness varying from a few Å to about 10 microns or even more. Since the thickness limitations are rather arbitrary even somewhat thicker films may also come within the scope of the above definition. Further subdivision of thickness is made under the categories 1) Ultra-thin 2) Thin (or very thin) and 3) Comparatively thicker ones.