Nanostructured Europium Oxide thin films deposited by pulsed laser ablation of a metallic target in a He buffer atmosphere

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the deposition of nanostructured europium oxide and hydroxide films via pulsed laser ablation in a helium atmosphere, analyzing plasma dynamics and resulting film properties with various characterization techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a method for producing europium oxide/hydroxide films using pulsed laser ablation in helium, and correlates plasma plume behavior with film nanostructure and composition.

Findings

Plume splits into two velocity groups indicating cluster formation.

As-deposited films are amorphous and hydroxide-rich.

Thermally treated films show crystalline Eu₂O₃ with excess oxygen.

Abstract

Nanostrucured Europium oxide and hydroxide films were obtained by pulsed Nd:Yag (532 nm) laser ablation of an Europium metallic target, in the presence of a 1 mbar Helium buffer atmosphere. Both the produced film and the ambient plasma were characterized. The plasma was monitored by an electrostatic probe, for plume expansion in vacuum or in the presence of the buffer atmosphere. The time evolution of the ion saturation current was obtained for several probe to substrate distances. The results show the splitting of the plume into two velocity groups, being the lower velocity profile associated with metal cluster formation within the plume. The films were obtained in the presence of helium atmosphere, for several target to substrate distances. They were analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy, for samples as-deposited and treated at 600 degrees C in air. The results show that the as-deposited samples are amorphous and have chemical composition compatible with Europium hydroxide. The thermally treated samples show X-Ray diffraction peaks of Eu_2O_3, with chemical composition showing excess oxygen. Film nanostructuring was shown to be strongly correlated to cluster formation, as shown by velocity splitting in probe current versus time plots.