Film growth mechanisms in pulsed laser deposition

Aziz, Michael J.

doi:10.1007/s00339-008-4696-7

Cited by 89 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In this respect, the drawback of low solubility of a magnetic element can be overcome by non-equilibrium growth techniques, such as Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) [1,[14][15][16]. In addition, thin films grown by PLD exhibit higher performances and better structural characteristics compared to other equilibrium deposition techniques [17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural characterization of ultrathin Cr-doped ITO layers deposited by double-target pulsed laser ablation

Cesaria¹,

Caricato²,

Leggieri³

et al. 2011

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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In this paper we report on the growth and structural characterization of very thin (20 nm) Cr-doped ITO films, deposited at room temperature by double-target pulsed laser ablation on amorphous silica substrates. The role of Cr atoms in the ITO matrix is carefully investigated with increasing doping content by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Selected-area electron diffraction, conventional bright field and dark field as well as high-resolution TEM analyses, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy demonstrate that (i) crystallization features occur despite the low growth temperature and small thickness, (ii) no chromium or chromium oxide secondary phases are detectable, regardless of the film doping levels, (iii) the films crystallize as crystalline flakes forming large-angle grain boundaries; (iv) the observed flakes consist of crystalline planes with local bending of the crystal lattice. Thickness and compositional information about the films are obtained by Rutherford back-scattering spectrometry. Results are discussed by considering the combined effects of growth temperature, smaller ionic radius of the Cr cation compared with the trivalent In ion, doping level, film thickness, the double-target doping technique and peculiarities of the pulsed laser deposition method.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural characterization of ultrathin Cr-doped ITO layers deposited by double-target pulsed laser ablation

Cesaria¹,

Caricato²,

Leggieri³

et al. 2011

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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“…If the expansion kinetics of those clusters is much faster than the coalescence, the growth is kinetically frozen 18 and pores form within a percolating network of elongated grains, see Fig. 2(b).…”

Section: Temperature Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-dependent 2-D to 3-D growth transition of ultra-thin Pt films deposited by PLD

et al. 2013

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During the growth of metal thin films on dielectric substrates at a given deposition temperature T d , the film's morphology is conditioned by the magnitude and asymmetry of up-and downhill diffusion. Any severe change of this mechanism leads to a growth instability, which induces an alteration of the thin film morphology. In order to study this mechanism, ultra-thin Pt films were deposited via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) onto yttria-stabilized-zirconia single crystals at different deposition temperatures. The morphological evolution of Pt thin films has been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and standard image analysis techniques. The experimentally obtained morphologies are compared to simulated thin film structures resulting from a two-dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) approach. Two main observations have been made: i) thin Pt films deposited onto ZrO 2 undergo a growth transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional growth at T d > 573 K. The growth transition and related morphological changes are a function of the deposition temperature. ii) A critical cluster size of i * = 4 in combination with an asymmetric Ehrlich-Schwoebel (ES) barrier favoring the uphill diffusion of atoms allows for a computational reproduction of the experimentally obtained film morphologies.PACS numbers: 68.55. 81.15.Fg, 87.10.Rt

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“…For physical vapour deposition (PVD) technologies, this control is conventionally achieved by manipulating interdependent parameters, such as temperature, atmosphere, flux of material, resultant film thickness [1][2][3][4][5][6] and laser frequency [6][7][8][9][10] . In particular, the laser frequency for pulsed-based deposition (PLD) influences the film structure in many different ways, whose mechanisms can be contentious and not easily understood [7][8][9][10][11] . Thus, this interdependency is not trivial, impeding reproducibility and requiring sophisticated control with the help of, for example, reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) technique.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Significant tunability of thin film functionalities enabled by manipulating magnetic and structural nano-domains

Golovchanskiy

Pan

Fedoseev

et al. 2014

Applied Surface Science

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The influence of laser frequency on the structure and physical properties of thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition has been studied. Different types of thin films, hard ferromagnetic FePt L10 and quasi-single crystal superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO), have been used for demonstration of the effect. Significant structural modifications have been obtained for the films with similar thicknesses. These modifications are shown to dramatically control their corresponding properties, providing an instrumental ability for tuning the practical characteristics of the films by changing the laser frequency of their deposition. In particular, 20-fold increase of coercive field and modification of demagnetization mechanism are obtained for FePt films by varying the frequency from 1 Hz to 6 Hz. Over a similar frequency range, a strong dependence on the laser frequency is discovered for the YBCO films for the critical current density behavior as a function of the applied magnetic field [ Jc(Ba)] with the unexpected reversal of Jc(Ba) curves with temperature. The mechanisms of structure modifications and corresponding property variations are proposed. The influence of laser frequency on the structure and physical properties of thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition has been studied. Different types of thin films, hard ferromagnetic FePt L10 and quasi-single crystal superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO), have been used for demonstration of the effect. Significant structural modifications have been obtained for the films with similar thicknesses. These modifications are shown to dramatically control their corresponding properties, providing an instrumental ability for tuning the practical characteristics of the films by changing the laser frequency of their deposition. In particular, 20-fold increase of coercive field and modification of demagnetization mechanism are obtained for FePt films by varying the frequency from 1 Hz to 6 Hz. Over a similar frequency range, a strong dependence on the laser frequency is discovered for the YBCO films for the critical current density behaviour as a function of the applied magnetic field [Jc(Ba)] with the unexpected reversal of Jc(Ba) curves with temperature. The mechanisms of structure modifications and corresponding property variations are proposed.

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Film growth mechanisms in pulsed laser deposition

Cited by 89 publications

References 53 publications

Structural characterization of ultrathin Cr-doped ITO layers deposited by double-target pulsed laser ablation

Structural characterization of ultrathin Cr-doped ITO layers deposited by double-target pulsed laser ablation

Temperature-dependent 2-D to 3-D growth transition of ultra-thin Pt films deposited by PLD

Significant tunability of thin film functionalities enabled by manipulating magnetic and structural nano-domains

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