Electron beam ablated plasma plumes and deposited thin films of fused silica

Summary form only given. Fused silica has been ablated by a channelspark electron beam and deposited as a thin film. The channelspark is a high current, low accelerating voltage electron beam device developed at KFK. The channelspark has an e-beam current of 1.5 kA, accelerating voltage of 15-20 kV, and requires a background gas full of 15 to 20 mTorr of either Ar or N/sub 2/. Optical emission spectroscopy reveals the presence of Si I, Si II and Si III in the ablation plume. The optical emission of these constituents is seen for up to 4 /spl mu/s. Dye Laser Resonance Absorption Photography (DLRAP) has revealed expansion velocities of the channelspark ablation plumes ranging from 0.4 to 1.4 cm//spl mu/s. This expansion velocity is dependent both on choice of background gas and gas fill pressure. Resonant Ultra-Violet Interferometry (RWI) has also been performed on the fused silica ablation plume to determine line integrated neutral Si densities. Thin films of fused silica ablated by the channelspark have been deposited on substrates. These films are composed predominantly of particulate with diameters of 100´s of nm to /spl mu/m´s.