Pulsed laser deposition: surface processes and structures

01.11.2004 - 15.11.2008
Research funding project
Growing thin or ultrathin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has many advantages over conventional thermal deposition. The project should provide a better knowledge of the processes occurring and the structures resulting when metal films are grown by PLD, thereby providing a better foundation for future applications of PLD, and also lead to a better understanding of other deposition techniques such as sputter deposition. Furthermore, the project should provide valuable insight into the physics of ultrathin films on the nanometer and sub-nanometer scale. The main analysis technique employed in our project will be scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) with atomic resolution and chemical contrast, allowing us to determine the geometrical and chemical structure of surfaces on the atomic scale. Using this technique, we will be able to study microscopic processes such as insertion of deposited atoms into the surface or mixing between substrate and film in detail. By a combination of these detailed investigations on the atomic scale and measurements of the energy distribution of the deposited atoms and ions, we expect to provide a detailed answer to the question why films produced by PLD are smoother than films grown by thermal deposition, i.e., why PLD results in layer-by-layer growth. High-resolution STM will also allow us to determine the differ-ences between the structures of films grown by thermal deposition and PLD, a prerequisite for under-standing the different properties of these films, especially concerning iron films on copper, where structure and magnetic properties are intimately interwoven.

People

Project leader

Project personnel

Institute

Grant funds

  • FWF - Österr. Wissenschaftsfonds (National) Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Research focus

  • Beyond TUW-research focus: 10%
  • Computational Materials Science: 10%
  • Surfaces and Interfaces: 60%
  • Materials Characterization: 20%

Keywords

GermanEnglish
ultradünne Schichtenultrathin films
Schichtwachstumgrowth
Deposition mit gepulster Laserstrahlungpulsed laser deposition
Nukleationnucleation
Oberflächenstruktursurface structure

Publications