Laser chemical vapor deposition of nanometric structures and their electrical and optical properties

Laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) method based on Ar+ laser radiation was applied for the synthesis of nanometric structures based on iron oxides Fe2O3-X (0 <= x <= 1) in the form of thin films. These structures were formed while deposition of elements from iron carbonyl vapors (Fe(CO)(5)). The thickness of deposited films was no more than 30 nm while deposition on the Si substrate surface and on the SiO2 substrate surface. Deposited thin films demonstrated typical semiconductor trends of specific conductivity in the range (340-170) K. Obtained semiconductor thin films based on iron oxides had the band gap for intrinsic conductivity (E-g) less than 1.0 eV. It was found out that electrical properties of these films were determined by the surface morphology of them and their content of iron oxides. Deposited films demonstrated a large third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibility (chi((3))). While pumping of narrow band gap semiconductor thin film with a frequency-doubled mode-locked Nd:YAG laser (lambda(L) = 532 nm) and pulse duration of 30 ps (FWHM) at power density less than 100 MW/cm(2), the meaning of chi((3)) was about 5 x 10(-6) e.s.u.