Angular distribution of oxide films deposited by multi- or single-component laser ablation

The angular distribution of Bi–Ge–O and Ge–O films prepared by pulsed laser deposition in an oxygen pressure has been studied for different target–substrate distances using two configurations: ablation of multi-component (Bi12GeO20 (BGO) and GeO2) and single-component (Bi and Ge) targets. The results show that the angular distribution of Bi–Ge–O films obtained by alternate ablation of single-component targets is narrower than the one obtained by ablation of the multi-component target. In the case of Ge–O films, in which the multi-component target contains only one cation (Ge), no significant dependence of the angular distribution on the ablation configuration was observed. The results are discussed in terms of the existence of intraplume effects which enhance the broadening effect due to the atmosphere when ablating multi-component targets with two or more cations.