Pulsed-laser deposition of silicon dioxide thin-films using the molecular fluorine laser

grantor: University of TorontoThe short-wavelength extension of pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) to the 157-nm F$\sb2$ laser may enable low-temperature growth of silica films for electronics and photonics applications. This thesis examines the effects of laser fluence, background gas, and substrate temperature on the properties of SiO$\sb2$ films grown for the first time using the F$\sb2$-laser. The deposited films were characterized by atomic force microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The strong absorption of 157-nm radiation in fused silica enabled the growth of virtually particulate-free SiO$\sb2$ films by F$\sb2$-PLD, in contrast to results with longer wavelength lasers. Stoichiometric films were produced in ambient oxygen $(4\times10\sp{-5}$ Torr), which compensated for oxygen loss due to SiO$\sb2$ dissociation by the 7.9-eV laser photons. Although the process parameters were not fully optimized, F$\sb2$-PLD produced films with comparable properties to the best-previous PLD-grown SiO$\sb2$ films, but inferior to films deposited by VUV-assisted CVD.M.A.Sc