Title: thin film
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - thin film
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.T06345
Status: current

Definition
A film whose thickness is of the order of a characteristic scale or smaller. Since a film may 'look' operationally thin or thick, according to the procedure applied, it is also recommended that the measurement procedure employed be specified (e.g. ellipsometrically thin film, optically thin film, etc.). It is recommended that the physical specification of the film thickness be used, whenever possible (e.g. thick compared to the electron mean free path, thin compared to the optical wavelength, etc.)

Related Terms
- characteristic scale: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00977
- film: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/F02366
- mean free path: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03778
- wavelength: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/W06659

Source
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1667. 'Thin films including layers: terminology in relation to their preparation and characterization (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1672 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466081667)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/T06345/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/T06345/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/T06345/xml

Citation: Citation: 'thin film' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.T06345
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2025-11-15T06:05:02+00:00