Deposition of carbon nitride films by reactive sub-picosecond pulsed laserablation

We have ablated, for the first time, graphite in a nitrogen atmosphere at d ifferent pressures by using a sub-picosecond excimer laser (KrF, lambda = 2 48 nm, tau (L) = 0.5 ps). In this paper, we have discussed the deposited fi lm properties using several diagnostic techniques (scanning electron micros copy, profilometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform, in frared and Raman spectroscopies) in terms of the different physical mechani sms involved in the reactive laser ablation process when the graphite targe t is ablated in a nitrogen atmosphere by lasers with different pulse durati on. The deposition rate, the nitrogen concentration and the amount of the c arbon bonded to nitrogen atoms were extremely reduced with respect to what was observed in the films deposited by nanosecond lasers. Moreover, the par ticulate and droplet density, one of the worst drawbacks of laser depositio n technique, was not decreased. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights r eserved.