Film Growth Mechanisms in Pulsed Laser Deposition

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9727369 Aziz This research project explores the growth of metal films produced by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). PLD uses an excimer laser to ablate a target to produce the depositing flux. The principal objectives are to develop a fundamental understanding of the kinetics of submonolayer island nucleation and growth and of the kinetics of solute segregation, trapping, and alloying. Films are grown by PLD with real time and post deposition structure and composition analysis. Systems are selected to provide a wide range of monomer diffusivity and deposition rate for model systems, such as face-centered cubic metals, where there is knowledge of the values of the basic activation energy parameters. Growth morphologies are followed in situ with RHEED and ex situ by UHV AFM/STM. PLD film growth is compared to films grown by molecular beam epitaxy and to kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and analytical theories. %%% It is anticipated that the enhanced understanding generated by this project will aid in the production of new, interesting, and potentially useful assemblies of material films. ***