Photothermal Deflection Spectroscopy (PDS)
PDS is a highly sensitive optical absorption spectrometry technique that is ideal for characterising weakly absorbing thin films. PDS can measure the absolute absorption of a thin film with its substrate down to 10-6. In comparison, common reflection-transmission (R&T) based absorption spectrometers can only reliably measure down to 0.5×10-2.
In addition to the overall higher sensitivity, the PDS technique is most sensitive to the first micrometres of material and less sensitive to the substrate. PDS is the most sensitive and versatile technique for characterising absorption in thin films presently available.
Details on the PDS System
Dimensions of PDS System
including inbuilt light source and computer
width: 1000mm
depth: 610mm
height: 300mm
weight: <50kg
main power: 90~264VAC, 47~63Hz, 500W(max)
Measurement Sample
sample size minimum: 6mm x 12mm x 1mm thick (special version for smaller samples available on request)
sample size maximum: 10mm x 35mm x 4mm thick (special version for larger samples available on request)
measured layer thickness: 2nm to 10um
measurement spot size: 5mm x 0.3mm
wavelength range: 250nm to 2,500nm (special version for up to 12,000nm on request)
sensitivity: 10^-6 in absorption
sample substrate: the substrate may be comprised of any material with lower optical absorption than the measured thin film, e.g, quartz
Other Characteristics of the System
- The sample placement is alignment-free
- The spectral absorption coefficient:
- is calculated automatically by utilising the full 1D thermodynamic and optical model
- is reference corrected
- has spectral uncertainty values
- output is in .CSV file
An operational experimental laboratory version is currently used at UNSW. Photos of our first miniaturised and automated commercial prototype will come at the end of this year.
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Soon we will be launching our first prototype