Laser-ablated plasma for deposition of aluminum oxide films

Aluminum films are deposited in oxygen background at an ambient pressure of 100 mTorr by pulsed laser deposition technique at various target–substrate distances. Two-dimensional images of the laser-ablated aluminum plumes were recorded using Integrated Charged Couple Device ICCD.camera system. The importance of these images in optimising the target–substrate distance for the deposition of various films is reported. An attempt is made to correlate the characteristics of the film with that of laser-ablated plume parameters. We observed that at a critical target–substrate distance, the films obtained are oxygen-rich. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved