Preparation of Thin Films and Nanosize Powders by Intense, Pulsed Ion Beam Evaporation

Abstract

Efficient preparation of thin films has been achieved with a high-density ablation plasma produced by the interaction of an intense, pulsed ion beam with solid targets, a process called ion beam evaporation, having an instantaneous deposition rate of cm/s. In addition to standard front-side deposition, backside deposition, in which the substrate is placed on the reverse side of the holder, has been proposed to produce good quality thin films, though the deposition rate is one order of magnitude less than that in front-side deposition. By cooling of the ablation plasma, ultrafine nanosize ceramic powders, with a typical particle diameter of 10 nm, have been produced. The basic characteristics of the ablation plasma have been clarified by use of 1-D hydrodynamic equations with a simplified model involving primary ion-beam-driven expansion followed by adiabatic expansion into a vacuum. Analytical solutions will be given to define the plasma parameters.

Characteristics of Pulsed Heavy Ion Beam Generated in Bipolar Pulse Accelerator

“…Regarding the charging voltage of the pulse-forming line, resonant charging occurs at around t = 210 ns. Experiments with magnetically insulated ion diodes using the gas-puff nitrogen ion source [13] showed that the ion beams included pro- tons in addition to monovalent and bivalent nitrogen. Dependence of the peak ion current density (J i ) on the delay time (τ PM ) is presented in Fig.…”

“…In this work, we define as intense beams with pulse width of 50 to 1000 ns and ion current above 1 kA. Therefore, the pulsed ion beams have been studied for applications in material processings, such as surface treatment of metals, ceramics, and other materials [8][9][10], thin-film deposition [11,12], preparation of ultrafine particles [10,13], ion implantation [14], annealing [15], and other fields of material science. In 1990s, it was found that irradiation of pulsed ion beam on materials achieves adiabatic heating of surface layers at the depth of ion penetration (several hundreds of nanometers) and rapid quenching through thermal diffusion into bulk after irradiation, which is distinguished from the conventional ion beam irradiation technologies.…”

“…It further allows ultra-high-speed thermal process with heating/cooling rate of 10 8 to 10 11°C /s. Therefore, the pulsed ion beams have been studied for applications in material processings, such as surface treatment of metals, ceramics, and other materials [8][9][10], thin-film deposition [11,12], preparation of ultrafine particles [10,13], ion implantation [14], annealing [15], and other fields of material science.…”

Preparation of SrAl2O4:Eu Phosphor Thin Films by Intense Pulsed Ion-Beam Evaporation

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11] 1) Due to the use of a high-density plasma, the deposition rate is very high. 2) Because the ablation plasma carries a large amount of thermal energy, it deposits this energy together with the thin film, resulting in an instantaneous high temperature on the surface of the substrate.…”

Pulsed ion beam evaporation at low temperature for the preparation of thin films

“…1988 by using high density ablation plasma produced by the pulsed ion beam interaction with solid targets, called pulsed ion beam evaporation (BE) [1]- [4]. Quick preparation has been available w i t h good stoichiometry, without heating the substrate.…”