Pulsed laser ablation and deposition of ZnS:Cr

We present a method to deposit films with a range of doping concentrations/dilute alloys, from a single target in pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Cr-doped ZnS films were deposited by ablating a target consisting Cr particles (diameter 20-100 μm) embedded in a ZnS:Cr matrix. The Cr content in the film was varied in the range 2.0-5.0 at.% simply by varying the laser fluence, or by varying the number of pre-ablation pulses. Such a doping/composition range is normally not achieved using a single target in PLD. Details of the target ablation study, which is needed prior to the deposition, are also presented.