Zirconium carbide thin ®lms deposited by pulsed laser ablation

A study of the laser ablation and deposition of zirconium carbide has been carried out in our laboratory. The target has been vaporised by a doubled Nd:YAG laser and the ablation plume has been characterised by time-of-¯ight mass spectrometry, emission spectroscopy and ultrafast imaging performed by an Intensi®ed Coupled Charge Device (ICCD). The results show a single ablation mechanism in the whole range of laser ¯uence used in the experiments (0.5±15 J/cm2) and this is quite different from the case of TiC. The gas phase data are con®rmed by the analysis of the ®lms deposited on oriented silicon. In fact, by X-ray diffraction and subsequent XPS analysis, their composition is ¯uence independent leading to ®lms with constant characteristics on a large range of experimental conditions. The difference between ZrC and TiC ablation mechanisms may be explained in terms of chemical±physical properties and thermodynamic considerations which can also clarify the gas phase composition. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.