MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF NONEQUILIBRIUM CHEMICAL-REACTIONS DURING PULSED-LASER DESORPTION

Monte Carlo simulation is used to study the role of chemical reactions in the gas flow of particles laser desorbed from the target into a va cuum. The influence of recombination and dissociation processes on the properties of the gas flow is considered. It was found that chemical reactions have a significant effect on the composition of the desorpti on jet and on the angular and mean energy distributions of the desorbe d particles. The study of these phenomena is of a particular interest for the understanding of the process of thin film deposition by pulsed laser ablation. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.