Three-day workshop on Thin Film and Coating by Dept. of Physics, February 21-23, 2024
Day 1, 21st February, 2024:-
A three days workshop on Thin Film and Coating has been conducted in Central University of South Bihar. It is intended to increase awareness about research on thin film coating and techniques involved in it through lectures, hand on trainings and demonstration. This has been done under the guidance of Dr Vijay Raj Singh. Several important officials namely professor Kameshwar Nath Singh, vice chancellor of CUSB and professor Venktesh Singh, head of department of physics of CUSB and professor Amiya Priyam, Dean of school of physical and chemical sciences of CUSB have attended the inauguration program. Professor Ravindra Dhar who is coordinator of Centre of Material Science, University of Allahabad has been invited as the chief guest. The inauguration session started with auspicious lamp lightning followed by CUSB kulgeet performance that was performed by the students of physics department namely Shramana, Harshita, Sumana, Sankhadeep, Satirtha and Ranajit .The program was anchored by Aradhana Kumari. Dr Vijay Raj Singh in his speech addressed about the motivation behind the workshop and explained about it in a concise form.
Professor Venktesh Singh gave speech about the advantages of workshops and how the TFC technique is interdisciplinary and emphasized on the importance of thin film coating. Professor Rabindra Dhar gave an inspiring speech about his academic journey and shared some his experiences. He stated that both theoreticians and experimentalists are equally important and form the fundamental basis of physics. He talked about his realization of the importance of the quote by Albert Einstein ”If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts”. Professor Amiya Priyam gave a speech about application of thin film coating in day to day life and expressed his support. Professor Kameshwar Nath Singh in his presidential address applauded the physics department for it’s hardwork in organizing the program. He also summarized the achievements of the Physics department by stating how vibrant it is in terms of work. He concluded his speech by informing the audience about the initiative of the current government about more funding and advancement of science and research. The inauguration program was concluded By Dr Rohit Ranjan Shahi the coordinator with his vote of thanks where he thanked everyone involved in it and appreciated the financial support given by SERB and CUSB. He also acknowledged the dedication of the MSc. Physics students namely Ritika, Shankar, Sachin, Udit, Barsha, Vikash, Abhisekh, Shramana.
After that Dr S.K. Mishra of IIT BHU shared his knowledge about Magnetic thin films and multilayer growth by RF Magnetron sputtering. He started his lecture by introducing the audience about Nanoscience and shed light on different techniques that can be used for synthesis of thin film and specially emphasized on electron beam sputtering and REED. This was followed by an interaction session where the audience asked several questions regarding the topic and Dr S.K. Mishra patiently answered each and every question and tried his best to resolve all the queries of the participants. The chief guest Dr Rabindra Dhar gave speech about Thin-film and related dielectric properties. He started his speech by giving an introduction about dielectric constant and electric permittivity. He discussed about his work on liquid crystal display. He explained the issue of energy storage through solar devices. He stated that although photo voltaic cells are capable of producing cheaply cost electricity during day time but storing that energy for night is really hard and rather expensive and this is where organic photovoltaic cells come in rescue. In his lecture he also shared the hardships that Indian scientists undergo due to lack of awareness and infrastructure. He concluded his lecture via an interactive session with the audience where he answered various kinds of doubts and questions. His lecture set a spark of curiosity among the young students. This was followed by a demonstration cum tutorial of magnetron sputtering that was delivered by Dr V.R Singh. The program was also attended by Dr Budhendra Singh, Dr. Puneet Mishra, Dr. Nitin Chandra, Dr. Jagannath Roy, Dr. Mouni Roy, Dr Mahendra Khatrawat etc. Pg students of Physics and Chemistry attended the work shop and students from other universities also participated in it.
Day 2, 22nd February, 2024:-
The second day of Thin Film and Coating workshop conducted in Central University of South Bihar Started with the lecture of Dr V.K. Verma from VIT Andra Pradesh who happens to be one of the best expert in this technique of thin film coating in India. Creating right conditions is one of the most important aspects and here comes the role of creating a vacuum chamber with the help of different
kinds of pumps. He mentioned about the difficulties that arises while doing the process such as contamination of the thin film by dust particle. He explained the structure and working of different kinds of pumps namely molecular pump, rotary pump and diffusion pump. He also shed light on the process of creating ultra high vacuum. This was followed by a brief discussion about different types of gauges that are used to measure the vacuum level of the chamber. After a short tea break he continued with a second part of the lecture where his major discussion was about coating of thin film using Physical Vapor and Thermal Evaporation. He briefly explained the mechanism and shared many valuable tricks and techniques that he has learned from his academic journey. He also interacted with the audience and answered their queries and doubts. Many students who are new to this concept interacted with him to know more about this scientific procedure which shows that his lecture has sparked a curiosity among the new minds present in the program. He was honored with a memento and certificate that was presented by Dr. V.R Singh. After that convenor of the workshop Dr. Vijay Raj Singh gave a lecture about Coating of Thin Film by RF Magnetron Sputtering. He started his lecture with an introduction to spintronics which is one of the most relevant research area in todays world. He also introduced the audience with Multiferroism and then he dived into his main topic. Dr V.R Singh explained various intricate and sophisticated techniques with analogies so that everyone in audience can connect with it and understand it. He used his humor and simple words to make the lecture more interesting. His analogies ranged from corelating sol gel technique with pottery wheel of villages to connecting unmatched lattice parameters of substrate and thin film with healing of a wound. His lecture ended with an interaction session where he answered all possible doubts asked by the participants. He patiently answered all the questions. The lecture session of the workshop ended with a ceremony where Dr. Puneet Mishra presented memento and certificate to Dr. V.R Singh. And also to the coordinator of the workshop Dr. Rohit Ranjan Shahi. After this a Demonstration session took place at Aryabhatt Bhavan where Dr. V.R Singh along with Dr. V.K Verma demonstrated various kinds of machineries, pumps and techniques that are used for the synthesis of thin film coating. For various participants it was the first time that they witnessed the formation of plasma under a vacuum chamber. Other demonstrations like electron beam deposition and thermal vapor deposition were also shown during this session. The workshop was attended by all the post graduation students of physics as well as chemistry along with PHD students of CUSB and other universities. Other important people like Dr. Akhilananda Kumar also attended the program.
Day 3, 23rd February, 2024:-
The third and last day of the Thin Film and Coating workshop started with a lecture by Dr Puneet Mishra, UGC-Assistant Professor of Central University of South Bihar. He started his speech with a historical introduction of Thin Film Coating and stating that this technique dates back to the 1700s. After that he stated about the modern days application of this technique. His slides included pictures and information about world’s smallest devices like magnetic bit and it also covered some facts about topological insulators and topological superconductors. Then he spoke about some solution processing techniques and explained the epitaxial growth of thin film on substrate. He backed up all the experimental phenomenon with theories and formulas to make it simple to understand. He explained different types of deposition techniques name physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition. His lecture also contained crucial information about liquid phase, vapor phase and molecular beam epitaxy. He concluded the first session of his lecture by a discussion about Pulsed laser deposition. After this an interactive session took place where the participants were encouraged to ask questions and interact with the speaker. Various students and experts present there expressed their curiosity about the techniques and asked questions and Dr. Puneet Mishra solved every possible doubts. After a short tea break the second session of the lecture started. This time the speaker was seen to specially emphasize on different types of pumps and their mechanisms and working principles. He explained different types of vacuums and their applications. Then he showed some mathematics and derivations and from there it was concluded the mean free path of a gas is inversely proportional to pressure. He discussed about different types of gauges that measure the vacuum level and talked about other important topics like vacuum diagnostic and quartz crystal microbalance. At the end of the lecture a second round of interactive session took place where the participants were seen to interact with the speaker through their question. The abundance of questions and the spark of curiosity in the eyes of the audience was a proof that the beautiful lecture had successfully planted the seed of research and interest among the new generation. This was followed by valedictory session which was attended by professor Venktesh Singh, head of department of physics of CUSB and professor Amiya Priyam, Dean of school of physical and chemical sciences of CUSB, Dr Vijay Raj Singh the convenor of the workshop and Dr. Rohit Ranjan Shahi the coordinator of the workshop. Col. Rajiv Kumar Singh the registrar of CUSB was invited as the chief guest. Dr. Vijay Raj Singh gave a speech where he summed up all the things that previously took place in the workshop. He addressed all the participants and enlightened them with his knowledge where he described the fundamental requirements for doing research. He said that every person who is doing PHD or looking forward to it should know what they want to achieve with the experiment. He stated that research should be well planned. He also said that he will help them in synthesis of thin film and let them utilize his sophisticated machineries if anyone approaches him in future. Registrar of CUSB and also the chief guest Col. Rajiv Kumar gave a speech and through his speech he expressed how much impressed he is with this initiative and workshop. He conformed his future support for organizing such workshops. He congratulated organizers for successfully implementing the program. After that all the participants received their certificates and it was presented by the chief guest. The program was also attended by Dr. Jagannath Roy, Dr. Mouni Roy, Dr. V.K Verma and Dr. Akhilananda Kumar etc. Post graduation students of Physics and Chemistry attended the work shop and students from other universities also participated in it and this sums up the last day of thin film and coating workshop 2024.
