In-situ and in-vacuo investigations of the thin films play a great role in the understanding of the thin-films growth processes, especially at the first stages. At the same time, a small amount of the material at these stages requires high precision and sensitive investigation techniques. Some synchrotron and neutron techniques are the most relevant for this task. However, in most cases, these investigation techniques have strict requirements for a sample and its environment. For example - the sample should be placed on a goniometer, cold finger, or in the magnet gap.

In this work, we are presenting a possible solution to this problem - compact pulsed laser deposition (PLD) tools. The PLD method has a wide range of deposited materials and outstanding flexibility. The sputtering instrument of PLD - pulsed laser - is placed out of the vacuum chamber. That allows us to make the chamber as compact as possible.

There are two instruments, presented in this work as an example - an in-line PLD setup built for the MARIA neutron reflectometer (FZ Jülich, FRM-II) and the PLD cubic modular vacuum chamber, operated at in-situ X-ray diffraction and imaging beamline P23 on PETRA III synchrotron.

The main feature of the first setup – is the operation in a magnet gap in the presence of a high magnetic field. The height of the chamber is only 100 mm. At the same time, it has a sample temperature of up to 600K at the deposition position and down to 10K at the investigation position. A portable load-lock chamber allows reaching vacuum level up to 10^-8 mbar.

The second – is the cubic modular PLD tool, operating on the P23 synchrotron beamline (PETRA III). The low weight allows operation right on the goniometer. The maximum sample temperature during deposition is 800°C. Kapton X-ray windows allow scanning a wide range of angles. The main aim of the tool for this moment - is the complex oxide investigations, so the oxygen pressure down to 10^-5 mbar could be used during deposition.