Pulsed laser deposition of hydroxyapatite film on laser gas nitriding NiTi substrate

A hydroxyapatite (HA) film was deposited on laser gas nitriding (LGN) NiTi alloy substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique. TiN dendrite prepared by LGN provided a higher number of nucleation sites for HA film deposition, which resulted in that a lot number of HA particles were deposited on TiN dendrites. Moreover, the rough LGN surface could make the interface adhesive strength between HA film and substrate increase as compared with that on bare NiTi substrate.     

Pulsed laser deposition

In this paper we discuss some fundamentals on uniform target ablation and present some new results on thin films of high-temperature superconductors, ferroelectrics, and polymers.     

Electroluminescence of powder tantalum pentoxide

Russian Physics Journal -     

Pulsed laser deposition of polymer-metal nanocomposites

Different polymer-metal nanocomposites, metal clusters on a polymer surface and for the first time also polymer/metal multilayers, were pulsed laser deposited at a wavelength of 248 nm. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and Bisphenol A dimeth-acrylate (BisDMA), which strongly differ in their hardness of 3 and 180 N/mm², respectively, were taken as polymer components. Metals Ag and Cu were chosen because of their different reactivity to polymers. When depositing Ag on PMMA, spherical clusters are formed due to high diffusion and total coalescence. For Cu, much smaller grains with partially elongated shapes occur because of lower diffusivity and incomplete coalescence. Compared to the results on the soft PMMA, the clusters formed on the harder BisDMA are much larger due to higher diffusivity on this underlayer. In PMMA/Cu multilayers, wavy layered structures and buckling is observed due to relaxation of compressive stress in the Cu layers. Smooth Cu layers with higher thicknesses can only be obtained, when the hardness of the polymer is sufficiently high, as in the case of BisDMA/Cu multilayers.     

Femtosecond pulsed laser ablation deposition of tantalum carbide

In this work a frequency-doubled Nd:glass laser with a pulse duration of 250 fs has been used to ablate a TaC target and to deposit thin films on silicon. The results have been compared with those previously obtained by nanosecond pulsed laser deposition and evidence of large differences in the plasma characteristics has been revealed. In particular, in the femtosecond and nanosecond plumes the energy and the velocity of neutral and ionized particles are very different. The features of femtosecond ablation include the delayed emission from the target of large and slow particles. The characteristics of the femtosecond plasma are clearly related to the morphology and composition of the deposited films and the results show a nanostructure consisting of a large number of spherical particles, with a mean diameter of about 50 nm, with a stoichiometry corresponding to Ta₂C. To explain these features, an ablation-deposition mechanism, related to the ejection of hot particles from the target, is proposed.     

Pulsed laser deposition of metals: consequences of the energy distribution within the laser spot on film growth

The strong influence of the lens position during pulsed laser deposition of metallic films is shown by measuring the energy distribution within the laser spot and its consequences for the deposition rate and kinetic energy of the deposited ions. This is analyzed together with the spot size and the dependence of the deposition rate on the overall laser energy . PACS 81.15Fg; 52.75Rx     

Pulsed laser deposition of complex oxide heteroepitaxy

The modern studies of complex oxides have been mainly driven by the development of advanced growth and characterization techniques, which provide researchers unprecedented access to new insights and functionalities of these materials. Epitaxial growth of thin films and related architectures offers a pathway to the discovery and stabilization of a wide spectrum of new possibilities in conjunction with the availability of high quality materials that produced with larger lateral sizes and being grown constrainedly. Compared with conventional growth techniques, such as sputtering, spin coating, sol–gel processes, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, molecular beam epitaxy and so on, no other single advance in the creation of oxide materials has had as pronounced an impact as pulsed laser deposition. In pursuit of the fruitful functionalities and exciting physical phenomena among complex oxides, pulsed laser deposition technique has played an important role to fulfill the flurry of complex oxides in recent decades. In this article, we focus on the details of the growth of epitaxial oxide thin films and the related polymorphs, as well as recent advances in control of the oxide heteroepitaxy via pulsed laser deposition.     

Pulsed laser deposition of BiCuOSe thin films

Undoped and 10% Ca-doped BiCuOSe thin films are prepared by pulsed laser deposition without ex-situ processing. The influence of the preparation conditions on structure and properties of Bi_0.9Ca_0.1CuOSe thin films on amorphous silica substrates is studied. The highest achieved concentration and mobility of free holes (3.9×10²⁰ cm⁻³ and 3.5 cm²/Vs) was close to that measured in strongly c-axis oriented samples on SrTiO₃ substrates (4.0×10²⁰ cm⁻³ and 7.5 cm²/Vs). The Bi_0.9Ca_0.1CuOSe films on SrTiO₃ show almost temperature-independent Seebeck coefficient and their resistivity increases with increasing temperature. The Seebeck coefficient of undoped BiCuOSe films on SrTiO₃ increases below 150°K, and the resistivity shows a flat plateau centered at this temperature. Optical measurements suggest that BiCuOSe has an indirect bandgap of 0.8 eV and a strong absorption edge at 1.45 eV. Ab-initio calculations of the electronic band structure, effective masses and optical properties of BiCuOSe are also presented.     

Pulsed laser deposition of oxide thin films

The pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process was studied in detail during oxide thin film growth by constructing a sophisticated PLD chamber combined with an energy-stable excimer laser. It was revealed that the transmitting laser energy at the entrance view port decreased exponentially with deposition runs, roughly by A e^−0.02x%, where A is the original transmission and x is the run number, and transmission loss could become considerable (up to 90%) in 100 deposition runs. In addition, area of the focused spot on the target was found a function of charging high voltage, which is a parameter of excimer laser operation, even through a slit forming rectangular sharp-edge beam profile. Laser energy density is one of the most important parameter governing grown film properties, and therefore accurate laser energy and spot area calibration is vital for reproducible film growth. In course of this study, the importance of spot area as well as the energy density is discussed in the view of deposition rate.     

Pulsed laser deposition of hard magnetic films

Pulsed laser deposition from elemental targets was used to prepare highly textured hard magnetic Nd–Fe–B and Fe–Pt films with coercivities of 2 T and 5.2 T, respectively. In situ methods such as reflection high energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy were applied to analyse film composition and structure during growth. Optimisation of the hard magnetic properties is discussed together with the specific advantages of pulsed laser deposition. PACS 81.15.Fg; 75.50.Ww; 75.50.Vv     

Pulsed laser ablation and deposition of silicon

A KrF laser was used to ablate a polycrystalline Si target for deposition of Si on MgO and GaAs substrates at room temperature. The deposition was performed in 10⁻⁸ mbar, with two types of laser beams: a homogeneous beam being imaged onto the target (2.9 J/cm²), and a non-homogeneous which is nearly focused (2 J/cm², 6.5 J/cm²). In both cases, the beam was scanned over an area of 1 cm². For the homogenous beam, we observed only a limited number of droplets (<0.1 μm). A high number of micron-sized (<5 μm) droplets were observed on the film by the higher fluence nonhomogeneous laser beam. Raman spectroscopy showed that the micron-sized droplets are crystalline while the film is amorphous. The generation of the large droplets is most likely related to the cone structures formed on the ablated target. We also compared cone formation on a polycrystalline Si target and a single crystalline Si wafer, using multiple laser pulses onto a single spot.     

Pulsed laser deposition of Co-based Tailored-Heusler alloys

Thin films of nonstoichiometric Heusler alloys Co₂MnSb_xSn_1−x (x = 0.2; 0.4; 0.6; 0.8) have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (double-target/double beam configuration) on Si (1 0 0) substrates using a KrF excimer laser (λ = 248 nm, τ = 20 ns). The substrate temperature was held at 300 K in all experiments to prevent interface interdiffusion of the species. A comparison between the compositions of films and corresponding targets has been done through energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showing a very satisfactory match. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging served to investigate the morphology of the films in order to determine the size and density of droplets which may influence the optical data. Optical conductivity derived from reflectivity measurements shows absorption onsets close to 1 eV, which corresponds to the onset of valence-to-conduction transitions in the minority spin bands theoretically predicted. The values of the saturation magnetisation measured at 300 K on the quaternary alloys are very close to those of ternary ones for which either half-metallic properties or high spin polarisation were theoretically predicted.     

Pulsed laser deposition of nanostructured Ag films

Ultra-thin (0.5-5 nm) films of Ag have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition in vacuum using a 26 ns KrF excimer laser at 1 J cm⁻². The deposition was controlled using a Langmuir ion probe and a quartz crystal thickness monitor. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the films are not continuous, but are structured on nanometer size scales. Optical absorption spectra showed the expected surface plasmon resonance feature, which shifted to longer wavelength and increased in strength as the equivalent film thickness was increased. It is shown that Maxwell Garnett effective medium theory can be used to calculate the main features of optical absorption spectra.     

Thin tantalum pentoxide films deposited by photo-induced chemical vapor deposition using an injection liquid source

We report the growth of thin tantalum pentoxide films on Si (100) by ultraviolet-assisted injection liquid source (UVILS) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at low temperatures (200-350 °C). This new technique combines the intense radiation from an excimer lamp (5=222 nm) with a novel injection liquid source capable of delivering precisely controllable quantities of a liquid metalorganic precursor into the CVD chamber. The composition and optical properties of the oxides were determined using a variety of standard characterization methods. After optimization of the deposition parameters, the best layers were incorporated into simple MOS test structures to enable electrical characterization. Refractive index values of 2.09ǂ.07, fixed oxide charge content of <5᎒¹⁰ cm^-2, breakdown fields higher than 2 MV/cm and dielectric constant values of 18-24 were readily achievable in the as-deposited films. These properties compare favorably with those for layers prepared by conventional thermal-CVD at significantly higher temperatures of 500 °C.     

Pulsed laser deposition of a PBN:65 morphotropic phase boundary thin film with large electrostriction

We deposited epitaxial thin films of Morphotropic Phase Boundary (MPB) Pb_0.65Ba_0.35Nb₂O₆ (PBN:65) on MgO substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Afterwards, a novel transmission optical experiment was developed to measure the electric field-induced bending angle of the thin film sample using a divergent incident light. From which the electric field-induced strain was obtained, and it was used to calculate the electrostrictive constant of the PBN thin film. The result is 0.000875 μm²/V², and it is consistent with what we measured in the reflection experiment     

Pulsed laser deposition of photosensitive a-Si thin films

Si films have been fabricated by pulsed KrF excimer laser deposition (PLD) through the use of various Si targets and deposition conditions. The deposits consisted of droplets and homogeneous films, which were assigned to be crystalline and amorphous silicon, respectively, by the micro Raman scattering measurements. Not only the crystalline but also the amorphous Si part scarcely (<1 atomic %) contained hydrogen regardless of whether or not the films are prepared in the presence of H₂ gas. Conditions were explored to reduce the droplet formation and to produce photosensitive films. Amorphous Si films with photosensitivity (C_ph/C_d) exceeding 10³ were obtained, and they exhibited high stability against light soaking. Thus, PLD is a promising method to fabricate photosensitive and photostable a-Si films.     

Pulsed laser deposition of conductive metallo-dielectric optical filters

We describe the fabrication by room-temperature pulsed laser deposition of a transparent conductor comprising alternating layers of silver and aluminum oxide, forming a metallo-dielectric filter. Transmittances of 0.7 over specific wavelength bands were achieved with resistivities as low as 6.0×10^-6 Ω cm, almost two orders of magnitude lower than that of the best single-substrate thin films, such as indium tin oxide. The resistivity can be predicted without adjustable parameters and designed using a simple parallel-circuit model; the optical properties are well described by standard matrix transmission calculations. This demonstrates that pulsed laser deposition may be used to fabricate prototypes of high-quality transparent conductors with predictable properties for conducting windows where low-temperature deposition is critical, as in organic light-emitting diodes and for non-linear optical films. Received: 10 June 2001 / Accepted: 9 August 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Pulsed laser deposition of uniform semiconductor nanodot arrays

Uniform arrays of silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanodots have been deposited using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique combined with a contact mask consisting of nano-holes fabricated by E-beam lithography (EBL). These nanocrystalline semiconductor nanodots have been deposited by PLD on Si and GaAs substrates at room temperature. Characterization of the nanodots has been carried out using different techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and Raman spectroscopy. This work demonstrates a novel technique for deposition of uniform array of semiconductor nanostructures using a contact mask at room temperature for photonic applications.     

Pulsed laser deposition of doped skutterudite thin films

Ca_xCo₄Sb₁₂ skutterudite thin films have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition using a Nd:YAG laser working at 532 or 266 nm of wavelength. Characterization has been carried out by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Emphasis has been put on the difficulty to obtain the skutterudite phase. Influence of the deposition temperature, the way of sticking the substrate, the laser fluence, the base pressure prior to deposition and the laser wavelength has been studied. All parameters revealed to have a drastic effect, and the skutterudite could only be achieved in a very narrow range of temperature and laser fluence, for a given wavelength, showing the importance on how these parameters are measured to ensure reproducible results.