Epitaxial growth of metal fluoride thin films by pulsed-laser deposition

We have studied growth of GdLiF4 thin films for optical waveguide applications. Epitaxial, c-axis oriented GdLiF4 films wer grown from undoped GdLiF4 targets in an on-axis Pulsed-laser deposition geometry on (100) CaF2. These films exhibit a high density of particulates on the surface which are ejected from the target in the ablation process. Growth from Nd-doped polycrystalline GdLiF4 ablation targets results in smooth films with lower particulate densities, as Nd doping increases the optical absorption of GdLiF4 at the ablation laser wavelength 193 nm and permits efficient pulsed-laser deposition. Optical emission spectra of the ablation pume reveals the presence of atomic F, Gd, and Li, indicating the dissociation of the metal-fluorine bonds in the ablation process. In addition, we find that the residual background oxygen pressure must be reduced to avoid formation of Gd4O3F6 as an impurity oxyfluoride phase in the films