Pulsed laser ablation of borocarbide targets probed by time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Excimer laser ablation of superconductive borocarbide material (YNi₂B₂C) in typical conditions for the deposition of superconductive thin films has been investigated using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The mass spectra show the presence of all the target elemental ionized atoms as well as diatomics. The ablation yield of the metal ions is a strongly increasing function of the laser fluence, while the contrary is true for non-metal ions. The dependence of non-metal light mass diatomic ions on laser fluence indicates the presence of aggregation processes as the laser fluence is increased. Moreover, evidence of aggregation processes involving metallic ions at high laser fluence is also obtained by the mass spectra. An interesting aspect of our results is the observation of an ion spatial distribution characterized by the presence of the lighter species at the plume edges, while the heavier ones are concentrated at the plume center.