Investigation of Raman imaging for advanced control of YBCO cool-down processing using pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a versatile, complex thin film deposition process that has been shown to be capable of creating high quality YBCO films. However, the promise of the technique has been hampered by a lack of process understanding and visibility into in-situ processes. In the past, attempts at controlling the PLD process have not been highly successful due to a lack of direct feedback from the surface of the film. This paper investigates using Raman spectroscopy to provide feedback from the evolving film during cool-down after deposition. In-situ spectra taken under controlled conditions are examined to understand the effect of environmental parameters on film properties as well to provide insight into evolution of the film microstructure during cool-down