Nanosecond laser ablation and deposition of Ge films

Abstract

In this work, nanosecond-pulsed from ultra-violet to infrared lasers: KrF (248 nm, 25 ns) and Nd:YAG (1064 nm, 532 nm, 355 nm, 5 ns) were employed for ablation and deposition of germanium films in background pressure of <10 -6 Torr. Deposition was carried out at room temperature on Si, GaAs, sapphire and glass. The as-deposited films, characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), consist of nano to micron-sized droplets on nanostructured film. The dependence of film properties on laser wavelengths and fluence are discussed.