The colossal magnetoresistive La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSMO) thin film was prepared on the MgO (100) single crystal substrate using KrF excimer pulsed laser deposition technique. The LSMO film deposited at the substrate temperature of 850 °C, oxygen pressure of 500 mTorr and laser energy density of 2 J/cm2(5 Hz) showed the resistivity peak temperature (Tp) of 330 K and the magnetoresi stance change of 15 %(H=0.7 T) at the room temperature. The large lattice mismatch with the substrate increased Tp and decreased the resistivity of the LSMO film.

The X-ray diffraction measurement for the PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (PZT) / LSMO heterostructures indicated both c-axis and in- plane orientation, with the good PZT surface morphology.

The internal compressive stress as large as 10 GPa has been the major stumbling block for preparation of relatively thick superhard tetrahedral amorphous carbon (Ta-C) films. We have successfully deposited Ta-C films as thick as 1000 nm by mechanical doping to reduce and alleviate the level of internal compressive stresses. In this paper, we reported the preparation of functionally graded Ta-C coatings by pulsed laser deposition. The thickness of the Ta-C films with significantly improved adhesion was measured to be up to 1500 nm. The concentration of foreign atoms such as silver, copper, silicon and titanium was decreased away from the coating/substrate interface, and the surface layer was pure Ta-C. Nanoindentation measurements were performed on the coatings. Nanohardness as high as 65 GPa and Young‘s modulus as large as 600 GPa were obtained for the functionally graded Ta-C films. Micro-Raman measurements and microstructural analysis by transmission electron microscopy was carried out to acquire information about the bonding environment and atomic structure of the coatings as a function of foreign atoms. The results were discussed in combination with theoretical models associated with the prediction of elastic properties of amorphous carbon networks.

Using the Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) process developed at the Naval Research Laboratory, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanotube composite thin films have been successfully fabricated. This process involves dissolving or suspending the film material in a volatile solvent, freezing the mixture to create a solid target, and using a low fluence pulsed laser to evaporate the target for deposition inside a vacuum system. The collective action of the evaporating solvent desorbs the polymer/nanotube composite from the target. The volatile solvent is then pumped away leaving the film material on the substrate. By using this technique singlewall- nanotubes (SWN) have been transferred from the target to the substrate. The SWN sustain no observable damage during the deposition process. Using SWN in combination with polymers as the target material, SWN/polystyrene and SWN/polyethylene glycol composite films were made. These films can be deposited on a variety of substrates, e.g., Si, glass, plastic, and metal, using the same target and deposition conditions. SEM micrographs show that the SWN were uniformly distributed in the film. Using a simple contact mask, SWN composite films 20 um diameter patterns can be produced.

Tantalum nitride (TAN) films have been deposited on silicon substrates by using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser deposition method. Experimental results suggest that the substrate temperature is one of the most important parameters to prepare crystalline tantalum nitride thin films. Glancing-angle X-ray diffraction patterns show that the films deposited at Ts ≤ 300 °C are almost amorphous. and crystalline Ta6N2.57 films are obtained at Ts ≥ 500 °C. Grain size of the film increases with increasing substrate temperature.

Magnetic field generation at early-stage of KrF excimer laser ablation of solid substrates (for delay time less than 200 ns) is investigated. Based on classical electrodynamics, fast and dynamic emission of electrons and positive ions at the beginning of laser ablation induces an electromagnetic field nearby. A tiny iron probe wrapped with 50-turn coil is applied to detect this dynamic magnetic field. It is found that signal waveform is closely related to probe distance from the laser spot. For probe distance less than a threshold, the signal has a double-peak profile with a negative peak appearing first and peak durations in tens of nanoseconds. As probe distance increases, the amplitude of positive peak reduces much faster than the negative one. It disappears for probe distance up to the threshold and signal waveform becomes a negative peak with a wider duration. Mechanism on magnetic field generation at early-stage of laser ablation is analyzed to obtain more information on charged particle dynamics. Dependence of the magnetic signal on laser fluence, substrate bias and pulse number is also studied during laser ablation of solid substrates and removal of metallic oxide layer on the surface.

Chromium carbide thin films are synthesized on Si(100) substrates by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser deposition (PLD) method as parameters of methane gas pressure. Glancing-angle X-ray diffraction patterns show that the film prepared by PLD method is a polycrystalline thin film composed of Cr3C2and Cr7C3, even in the base pressure. Diffraction patterns, however, are depended on the methane gas pressure. Grain size of the prepared film increases with increasing methane gas pressure. One of the reasons of these phenomena may be considered to the phase reaction between the ablated species, such as Cr, CrCx and CH4gas in the plasma plume.

Ferroelectric PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3(PZT)/YBa2 Cu3O7−x(YBCO) heterostructures on MgO substrate were fabricated by KrF pulsed laser deposition. The grid electrode was set between a substrate and target for improvement of surface morphology. The typical PZT layer had excellent ferroelectric properties; remnant polarization of 39 µC/cm2, coercive electric field of 41 kV/cm, loss tan δ=0.04, and dielectric constant of 950. X-ray diffraction results show that the films had highly c-axis and (a, b) plane orientation. The full widths at half-maximum (FWHM) of rocking curves was decreased with increasing the applied voltage of grid electrode. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of PZT layer showed that the film morphology was improved by using a grid electrode.

Laser cleaning has emerged to effectively remove contaminants from solid surfaces. In this paper, recent progress on laser cleaning has been studied. First, a cleaning model is established for removal of particles from substrate surfaces. The model not only explains the influence of fluence on cleaning efficiency, but also predicts the cleaning thresholds. Following that, the optical resonance and near field effect are discussed for transparent particles with a size of α ∼ λ (radiation wavelength) which strongly influences the intensity distribution in the contacted area (substrate surface). The characterization of ejected particles during laser cleaning is finally investigated. It is found that the particle distribution curves closely fit to Gaussian curve.

Exposing wide-bandgap ionic materials to UV and IR photons can produce ion emissions with kinetic energies of several eV, well in excess of the photon energy. Electron emissions are also observed. This implies that these materials possess occupied electronic defect states within the band gap. We have investigated the consequences of a variety of defect-generating stimuli (electron irradiation, laser irradiation, mechanical treatments, and heating) on electron and ion emission from inorganic ionic crystals. These stimuli generate defects that strongly interact with the probe laser on a wide variety of ionic crystals, and dramatically decrease the probe laser intensities required for ion and neutral emissions, laser damage, and plume formation.

The optical and structural properties of ZnO/ MgZnO superlattices were investigated by transmission electron microscope, transmission measurement and photoluminescence. The uncoupled wells ranged in thickness from ∼30 Å to 75 Å. Modulation of the Mg content was observed in Z-contrast TEM indicating the alloy composition was periodic. The density of stacking faults in the superlattice was extremely high, however the photoluminescence in the narrowest well case was blue shifted, and substantially brighter than comparable bulk layers of ZnO and MgZnO indicating that the emission was enhanced. Excitonic features were observed in the optical absorption spectra and also revealed that diffusion of Mg from the barrier layers into the well was occurring.

Carbon plasmas produced by excimer laser ablation show a low ionization yield of about 8-10%. The coupling of a second CO2laser pulse into the plasma in the dual-laser ablation process significantly increases the plasma temperature and the ionization. The resulting rapid expansion of the plasma gives rise to high ion kinetic energies and broader ion expansion profiles [1]. Optical emission spectroscopy and an ion probe have been used to investigate the dynamics of the carbon plasma. Single and dual-laser ablated carbon plumes have been deposited on DC-biased silicon substrates to form amorphous carbon films. The diamond-like behavior of these films was studied by Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra were deconvolved to gauge the effect of the density and the energy of ions on the formation of diamond-like sp3 -bonded carbon (DLC) films. The advantage offered by the dual-laser process for the growth of DLC films is discussed.

Thin amorphous films of tantalum oxide were grown on borosilicate crown glass substrates by KrF excimer pulsed laser ablation of a Ta2O5 target, in an oxygen environment. The deposition was performed at a temperature of 250 or 400 °C, while the oxygen pressure was set in the range 5 to 30 mTorr. The optical properties of the tantalum oxide coatings, as evaluated by reflectance/transmittance spectrophotometry, were found to be dependent on the oxygen gas pressure. At a pressure of 5 mTorr, absorbing films were obtained, with extinction coefficients above 10−2 (at λ=633 nm), along with an optical energy band-gap as low as 0.7 eV. At a pressure of 10 mTorr and above, the coatings had refractive indices up to 2.25 (at λ=633 nm), extinction coefficients below 10−4 (for λ>390 nm), and an optical energy band-gap in the range 3.9 to 4.0 eV.

Anew excimer laser recrystallization method of a-Si film to increase the grain size of poly-Si film has been proposed. Excimer laser energy was locally modulated by being irradiated on stepped substrate with 500 nm deep trench on which a-Si film was deposited. Fairly large poly-Si grains (over 1 µm) were obtained due to lateral thermal gradient which resulted from the laser energy difference on the vertical wall and on the horizontal bottom plane of the trench without altering laser energy density elaborately.

The laser microcaving (LMC) of steel is performed with cw Nd:YAG laser radiation. LMC enables a “clean” patterning process with only a small amount of debris and melt. During LMC the formation of a Ni-enriched interface layer and an oxide surface layer may be observed. The formation of these reaction layers as well as the etch rate and the surface quality strongly depend on the chemical composition of the steel and the process parameters. Surface qualities with an roughness of about Ra(center line average)=300 nm can be realised. The ablation rates are in the range of 106 µm3/s. With excimer laser radiation a further improvement of surface topographies can be achieved via laser planarisation. Mold inserts are manufactured by LMC, and microstructures composed of PMMA are successfully demolded by using the Ultraviolet light induced Reaction Injection Molding (UV-RIM) or Photomolding technique. CE(Capillary Electrophoresis)-Chips made of PMMA are successfully demolded, and the functionality of the CE-Chips is demonstrated.

The dynamic simulation of poly-Si film synthesis has been fulfilled by means of the overlapping irradiation of single- and double-pulsed XeCl excimer lasers shaped into the line beam. A novel model applied to the dynamic simulation is based on the homogeneous nucleation, and the growth and shrinkage velocity of Si grains. The results simulated with the single-pulsed XeCl excimer laser has reproduced the super lateral growth (SLG) phenomenon which occurs in the very narrow range of energy density (the near complete melt regime). The actual energy density dispersion within 5.3% allows us to visualize the multiformity of grain sizes in the cross sectional texture. Standing on the reproduction of the SLG phenomenon by the single-pulsed irradiation, we have obtained the practical knowledge of the growth process of larger grains by the double-pulsed irradiation. We intend that the first pulse has charge of completely melting and the second pulse has charge of adjusting the number of nuclei. The adjustment of the first pulse energy density rather than that of the second pulse energy density leads to the growth of huge columnar grains much larger than the thickness of the Si layer. For the double-pulsed irradiation, the influence of the worst energy density dispersion (each of double pulses has the same fluctuation as the single pulse) is much larger than that of the actual delay time jitter (within 2.5ns) in a sense of the multiformity of grain sizes.

We have developed a novel method based upon pulsed laser deposition to produce nanocrystalline metal, semiconductor and magnetic material thin films and composites. The size of nanocrystals was controlled by interfacial energy, number of monolayers and substrate temperature. By incorporating a few monolayers of W during PLD, the grain size of copper nanocrystals was reduced from 160nm (Cu on Si (100)) to 4nm for a multilayer (Cu/W/Cu/W/Si (100)) thin film. The hardness increased with decreasing grain size up to a certain value (7nm in the case of copper) and then decreased below this value. While the former is consistent with Hall-Petch model, the latter involves a new model based upon grain boundary sliding.

We have used the same PLD approach to form nanocrystalline metal (Ni, Co, Fe embedded in α-A12O3 and MgO) and semiconductor (Si, Ge, ZnO, GaN embedded in AIN and α-A12O3) thin films. These nanocrystalline composites exhibit novel magnetic properties and novel optoelectronic properties with quantum confinement of electrons, holes and excitons in semiconductors. We review advanced PLD processing, detailed characterization, structureproperty correlations and potential applications of these materials.

Barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films were grown directly on Si substrates by an in situ ultraviolet (UV)-assisted pulsed laser deposition (UVPLD) technique. With respect to films grown by conventional (i.e. without UV illumination) pulsed laser deposition (PLD), the UVPLD grown films exhibited improved structural and electrical properties. The dielectric constant of a 40-nm thick film deposited at 650 °C was determined to be 281, the leakage current density was approximately 4×10−8 A/cm2at 100 kV/cm, and the density of interface states at the flat-band voltage was found to be approximately 5.6×1011 eV−1 cm−2 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations found that the surface of the grown films exhibited an additional Ba-containing phase, besides the usual BST perovskite phase, which was likely caused by stress and/or oxygen vacancies. The amount of this new phase was always smaller and very superficial for UVPLD grown films, which can explain their better overall properties.

Laser surface modification of brass (Cu-38Zn-1.5Pb) using AISiFe and NiCrSiB alloy was achieved by using a 2kW continuous wave Nd-YAG laser with the aim of improving the cavitation erosion resistance and corrosion resistance. The alloying powder was preplaced on the brass substrate by thermal spraying to a thickness of 350µm, followed by laser beam scanning to effect melting, mixing and alloying. A modified surface was achieved by overlapping of adjacent tracks. The cavitation erosion resistance and the anodic polarization characteristics of the laser surface modified specimens in 3.5% NaCI solution at 23°C were studied by means of a 20kHz ultrasonic vibrator at a peak to peak amplitude of 60µm and a potentiostat respectively. The cavitation erosion resistance of the specimens modified with AlSiFe and NiCrSiB was improved by a factor of 3 and 7 respectively, compared with that of the brass substrate. Potentiodynamic test, however, indicated that the corrosion resistance of specimens modified with AlSiFe deteriorated, as reflected by a shift of the polarization curve towards higher current densities. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance of specimens modified with NiCrSiB was significantly improved, as evidenced by the presence of a passive region (from −175 mV to −112 mV) and a reduction in the anodic current density by at least an order of magnitude compared with the substrate at the same anodic potential. The hardness profile and the compositional profile were measured using a Vickers hardness tester and EDX respectively. The microstructure and the surface morphology of the specimens were investigated with the aid of SEM and optical microscopy.

Influence of substrate temperature on properties of barium ferrite films prepared by laser deposition is studied in this paper. The magnetic properties, grain shape and crystalline orientation of the films are discussed for the films prepared by laser deposition with in-situ heating, post annealing and varying substrate temperature. The results show that magnetic properties, grain shape and crystalline orientation of the film deposited with varying substrate temperature are close to the film deposited with post-annealing and different to the film deposited with in-situ heating.

This research investigates the potential of pulsed laser deposition to create reliable high current ohmic contacts of Ni2Si on single crystal 4H-SiC. Since this stoichiometry is the stable interphase in the nickel-silicon carbide diffusion couple, direct deposition eliminates the detrimental excess carbon normally formed by direct sintering Ni on SiC, the surface roughening that results from this sintering as well as the need for post-deposition high-temperature (900°C) anneals that are required in complex multi-component contacts. This study examines the processing parameters that must be used during deposition to obtain the desired microstructural characteristics for the contact. Pulsed laser deposition of nickel silicide produces smooth films with an amorphous or nanocrystalline structure interspersed with macroparticles. Macroparticle formation on the resulting films appear in the form of solidified droplets of the eutectic composition nickel silicide (3:1) that form during the long term target processing. The dependence of the number and size distributions of these droplets on laser fluence sample temperature is examined.