Structural properties of laser deposited metallic alloys and multilayers

Pulsed laser deposited (PLD) metallic alloys and multilayers are characterized by the formation of amorphous or metastable nanocrystalline phases with high solid solubilities, unusually enlarged lattice spacings in growth direction and intermixed interfaces. The differences to sputtered and evaporated samples are discussed with respect to the high instantaneous deposition rate, which is about 105 times larger than during sputtering or thermal evaporation, and the high kinetic energy of the deposited particles of up to more than 100 eV at high laser fluences inducing atomic mixing, a large number of defects and a high stress in the deposited films.