A novel technique for the deposition of thin films by pulsed laser depositi
on over large substrate areas has been modelled. It is shown that by raster
ing the ablation plume across the substrate as well as rotating the substra
te, larger areas can be covered more uniformly than has been possible by pr
eviously reported methods. Calculations demonstrate that film thickness val
ues with only a +/-0.5% variation over substrates as large as 100 mm in dia
meter could be produced by this method. These results compare favourably wi
th other deposition techniques. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r
eserved.