[man]str_split/man
Howver, it should be noted that you can use the $var[n] notation to reference a character within a string as it it were already an array, so depending on what you are trying to do, that may be all that is needed.
$string = "This is a test.";
// split into array:
$array = str_split($string);
echo $array[2]; // outputs "i"
// just reference it from the string:
echo $string[2]; // also outputs "i"