STOICHIOMETRY AND THICKNESS VARIATION OF YBA2CU3O7-X IN PULSED-LASER DEPOSITION WITH A SHADOW MASK

The deposition of particulate species, typically seen in pulsed laser deposition can be eliminated by the deployment of a line-of-sight shad ow technique. Since the technique uses the discrimination between ball istic and diffusive species, it is important to understand the lateral stoichiometry and thickness dependence under various deposition condi tions. We present in this study the dependence of the lateral thicknes s and stoichiometry of YBa2CU3O7-x deposited by a shadow mask pulsed l aser technique on the background oxygen pressure and the shadow mask p osition from the target. We determined Y atoms to be limiting the late ral stoichiometric uniformity. Due to its diffusive nature, shadowed p ulsed laser deposition also allowed us to improve the thickness unifor mity across the wafer. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.