Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD)

WHAT IS GLANCING ANGLE DEPOSITION (GLAD)?

The simple definition of glancing angle deposition is deposition under an angle during rotation. It is mainly used in evaporation processes, but sometimes also in sputtering processes.

In glancing angle deposition (GLAD) a substrate is tilted to a glancing angle during deposition of the target material. Thereby, an oblique deposition geometry is created on the surface of the substrate.

Generally, during thin film formation, the impinging atoms condense on the surface, spontaneously forming atomic nuclei. Ballistic (line-of-sight) shadowing prevents the incoming atoms from impinging on the regions behind the nuclei, resulting in the formation of oriented columns that are tilted towards the target source.

It is possible to control the column growth direction by manipulating the rotation and tilt angle of the substrate during deposition. The combination of shadowing and rotation of the substrate enables the evolving film to serve as its own mask, which can be actively controlled during the process to direct the growing columns into a preferred geometry.

Several geometries can be obtained, including zigzag, helical, vertical, and hollow-core structures.

What thin film structures can GLAD produce?

The combination of shadowing and substrate rotation enables a range of engineered microstructures, including:

Vertical columns, grown with continuous substrate rotation
Zigzag structures, produced by alternating the tilt direction
Helical (spring-like) columns, created with slow, continuous rotation combined with tilt
Hollow-core structures, engineered porosity for optical or functional applications

The specific geometry is determined by the rotation speed and tilt angle profile used during deposition.

Industrial GLAD on Flextura platform

Read more about the Flextura Evaporator. High volume production with GLAD processes has been realised on our Flextura Cluster platform, with the know-how and expertise from the Polyteknik AS team.

What Is Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD)?

Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) is a physical vapour deposition (PVD) technique in which the substrate is tilted to a steep angle relative to the incoming flux of material.

Combined with controlled substrate rotation, this geometry allows precise engineering of thin film microstructure – down to the shape, orientation, and porosity of individual columns.

GLAD is primarily used in evaporation processes, though it can also be applied in sputtering.

What is a glancing angle?

A glancing angle is the shallow angle between an incoming beam or flux and the surface it strikes – as opposed to the angle measured from the surface normal. In deposition, working at a glancing angle means the substrate is heavily tilted so that arriving atoms hit the surface at a very oblique trajectory.

This oblique geometry is what makes GLAD fundamentally different from conventional thin film deposition.

How Does the GLAD Process Work?

When atoms arrive at an oblique angle, they condense on the substrate surface and spontaneously form small atomic nuclei. These nuclei then act as physical obstacles.

Because deposition is line-of-sight, incoming atoms cannot reach the shadowed regions behind existing nuclei – a phenomenon known as ballistic shadowing. This causes growth to concentrate on the tops of nuclei rather than between them, and the resulting columns tilt naturally towards the deposition source.

By actively adjusting the tilt angle and rotation of the substrate during deposition, the growing film effectively becomes its own mask. This gives precise real-time control over column direction and geometry.

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GLANCING ANGLE DEPOSITION (GLAD)

WHAT IS GLANCING ANGLE DEPOSITION (GLAD)?

What thin film structures can GLAD produce?

Industrial GLAD on Flextura platform

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