Laser deposition of thin SiO2 and ITO films

Multicomponent films like ITO (indium tin oxide) and silica (SiO2) can be efficiently deposited by using the reactive pulsed laser deposition (RPLD) technique. We ablated Si, SiO and ITO targets in low-pressure O2 (0.1±5 Pa) with XeCl and KrF laser pulses at ¯uences of 5±8 J/cm2. The films were deposited on Sih1 00i substrates at temperatures of 20±6008C. The substrate was generally set parallel to the target. To reduce droplet deposition, some ®lms were deposited in off-axis con®guration or using the so-called ``eclipse method'', characterized by a shadow mask between target and substrate. Dense, continuous ITO films with resistivity as low as 1:6 10ÿ4 O cm and a high transparency in the visible region were deposited. Ultra-thin (6 nm) films were successfully used as electrodes in optoelectronic devices. Dense, stoichiometric, thick (>2 mm) SiO2 films were deposited on substrates at room temperature. Droplet density and surface roughness are kept quite low (5 nm)