PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS OF SINGLE-COMPONENT (AL2O3, ZRO2, BN) ANDMULTICOMPONENT FILMS (ZRO2, TI) FABRICATED BY PULSED-LASER DEPOSITION

Single-component films of ceramic materials (Al2O3, ZrO2, BN) as well as multi-component films and controllably inhomogeneous films (ZrO2, T i) were investigated. The deposition was performed using different las er parameters (wavelength, fluence, mode of operation) and processing variables (processing gas pressure and composition, r.f. bias, target- substrate distance). The investigations included microbalance measurem ents of the weight loss of the target as a measure of mass removal as well as high-speed photography and emission spectroscopy as a measure of geometry, dynamics and excitation of the vapour-plasma state genera ted. The morphology, structure and composition of the films were inves tigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrosc opy, Auger electron spectroscopy and scanning Auger microscopy showing a broad variety of different film properties useful for applications. Al2O3 films deposited with pulsed CO2 and excimer laser radiation wer e dense and glassy. ZrO2 films deposited with CO2 laser radiation had a columnar structure. BN films deposited with excimer laser radiation consisted of hexagonal BN crystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix . Thin films produced with excimer laser radiation had a nearly flat a nd defect-free surface allowing the construction of multilayer systems and graded or homogenous doped layers.