Composition and species evolution in a laser-induced LuMnO3 plasma

Pulsed laser deposition is often used to grow multi-elemental thin films from stoichiometric targets. The growth process is influenced by a wide variety of parameters like the target composition, background gases, laser wavelength, laser fluence, or spot size. The changes these parameters induce in the film growth also affect the plasma plume and species formed during laser ablation. For oxide growth O-2, and sometimes N2O, is utilized as background gas to achieve the required oxygen composition for the as-grown film. Mass spectrometry combined with time- and space resolved emission spectroscopy is used to investigate the behavior and evolution of plasma species in the plasma plume during the ablation process of LuMnO3 dependent on the background gas. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.