Role of pulse repetition rate in film growth of pulsed laser deposition

Pulse repetition rate plays an important role in pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. A kinetic Monte Carlo technique was used to simulate the early stage of films growth in PLD process. The simulation result displays that island density depend on pulse repetition rate. At a low pulse repetition rate, there is such a longer pulse interval that islands are given more time to ripen. Thus the total of island density reduces and film aggregation tends to compact shape. In contrast, island density will increase with pulse frequency, and islands may be in dispersed or dendritic mode. Duty cycle, that is, deposition time can effect on islands aggregation to a certain extent. We also find that a different logarithm scaling behaviour exists during PLD film growth, which indicate that island density at different pulse repetition rates obeys a general scaling function different from the previous scaling form. The crossover effects of pulse frequency and incident intensity have been discussed. Some obtained results have been compared with experimental data.