Analysis of plasma enhanced pulsed laser deposition of transition metal oxide thin films using medium energy ion scattering

Abstract

In this study, plasma-enhanced pulsed laser deposition (PE-PLD), which is a novel variant of pulsed laser deposition that combines laser ablation of metal targets with an electrically-produced oxygen plasma background, has been used for the fabrication of ZnO and Cu 2 O thin films. Samples prepared using the PE-PLD process, with the aim of generating desirable properties for a range of electrical and optical applications, have been analysed using medium energy ion scattering. Using a 100 keV He + ion beam, high resolution depth profiling of the films was performed with an analysis of the stoichiometry and interface abruptness of these novel materials. It was found that the PE-PLD process can create stoichiometric thin films, the uniformity of which can be controlled by varying the power of the inductively coupled plasma. This technique showed a high deposition rate of ∼ 0.1 nm s −1 .

A review on intense pulsed light process as post-treatment for metal oxide thin films and nanostructures for device application

“…Metal oxide thin films deposited by vapor deposition techniques are discussed for IPL annealing in this section. The metal oxide thin films is formed by various deposition techniques such as direct current (DC) sputtering [75], DC reactive sputtering [76], radio-frequency (RF) sputtering [77], reactive thermal evaporation [78], electron beam evaporation [79], pulsed laser deposition [80], and atomic layer deposition (ALD) [81]. Such thin films usually have residual stress due to the lattice mismatch and the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between thin film and the substrate.…”