Titanium carbide films were deposited on silicon wafers by XeCl (308 n
m) excimer laser ablation of titanium in low pressure (10(-3) mbar) me
thane atmosphere. Series of 10 000 pulses at the repetition rate of 8
Hz were directed to the target surface. The fluence was set at about 5
J cm(-2). Pulse duration was about 30 ns. The deposited films were ch
aracterized by different techniques (X-ray diffraction, scanning elect
ron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry).