Electric discharge enhancement of laser produced plasma for thin film deposition

Summary form only given. Plasma produced by focusing a KrF laser (248 nm, 15 ns) onto a solid target can be captured and guided by a curved solenoidal magnetic field to yield a debris free, controlled deposition source for the fabrication of thin films (Tsui, Redman, Rankin, Capjack, Vick and Fedosejevs, 1998, Tsui, Vick and Fedosejevs, 1997). In our magnetic field guiding process only the ionized component of the laser ablated material contributes to the deposition source. With the aim of increasing the coating rate, we have investigated the use of a fast-switched capacitor discharge through a plume of laser ablated material which increases significantly the plasma content. The angular distribution of the flux of the additional plasma generated by the electric discharge enhancement of laser produced plasma was observed to be more isotropic in comparison to that of the non-enhanced laser produced plasma. The angular distribution of the flux of electric discharge enhanced laser produced plasma has been measured in detail with an array of Faraday cups for both C and Al plasmas. During the experiment, laser intensities were ranged from 10/sup 9/ W/cm/sup 2/ to 10/sup 11/ W/cm/sup 2/, both a C and a W pair of discharge electrodes were used, and the time delay between the laser plasma formation and the triggering of the electric discharge was varied. Experimental results indicating an increase in the plasma component of the plume of the laser ablated material will be presented.