DEPOSITION OF FLUOROPOLYMER THIN-FILMS BY VACUUM-ULTRAVIOLET LASER-ABLATION

Crystalline thin films of polytetrafluoroethylene were deposited on Si (100) wafers by F2 laser (157 nm) ablation in 200 mTorr Ar gas atmosph ere. X-ray photoemission spectra indicated that the composition of the deposited films was similar to the source material. The surface morph ology of films deposited at room temperature contained numerous fibrou s structures in size of 100-400 nm, but they were smoothed out at elev ated wafer temperature of approximately 370 K, while the crystalline f eature was still maintained. The refractive index was approximately 1. 35 at 633 nm.