Plasma characterization of cross-beam pulsed-laser ablation used for carbon thin film deposition

The dynamics of the interaction between two delayed plasmas induced by cross-beam pulsed-laser ablation was analyzed by fast photography using narrow interference filters. In this configuration, two perpendicular rotating carbon targets were ablated by two synchronized laser beams generating two interacting plasma plumes. A Nd: yttrium-aluminum-garnet (1064 nm) laser beam is focused onto a target generating a highly directed plume; subsequently an excimer laser (248 nm) produces a second perpendicular plasma, which expands through the plume region generated by the first laser. In the cross-beam configuration, collision processes cause a reduction in the C II ion kinetic energy from ∼ 110 to 35 eV; moreover, the species of the second plasma which travel on the normal direction to the target surface (toward the substrate) are mainly C II. Interaction between plasmas has been compared with laser-induced plume propagation through a background gas in terms to the drag model. Carbon thin films were deposited by the cross-beam technique for different delays between lasers. Raman spectroscopy was employed to study the changes in the bonding carbon films as a function of the kinetic energy of ablated C ions.