Laser ablation and growth of Si and Ge

In this work, we investigated the laser ablation and deposition of Si and Ge at room temperature in vacuum by employing nanosecond lasers of 248 nm, 355 nm, 532 nm and 1064 nm. Time-integrated optical emission spectra were obtained for neutrals and ionized Ge and Si species in the plasma at laser fluences from 0.5 to 11 J/cm2. The deposited films were characterized by using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Amorphous Si and Ge films, micron-sized crystalline droplets and nano-sized particles were deposited. The results suggested that ionized species in the plasma promote the process of subsurface implantation for both Si and Ge films while large droplets were produced from the superheated and melted layer of the target. The dependence of the properties of the materials on laser wavelength and fluence were discussed.