Preparation of nanometer thin films with intense pulsed electron beam ablation

Physical processes of films deposition and the interactions between beam and target by pseudospark electron beam deposition (PED), similar to pulse laser beam deposition (PLD) have been presented in this paper. The nanometer thin films with similar ingredients as target materials are available through the interaction of intense pulsed electron beam and target to cause rapid melting, evaporations, ablation of target materials, and then nucleation crystallization on the surface of low temperature substrate. The intense interactions between beam and target affect the mass transfer processes, deposition rate, composition and space distribution of target materials, which influence and determine the components, structure and performance of films. The surface morphology, components and microstructure of nanometer thin films prepared by PED ablation have been investigated with high resolution electron microscopy (HREM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Due to high power density of the electron beams (10(9) W/cm(2)), the rapid ablation on the surface of solid target has been obtained. Experimental results show that, by using PED ablation preparation, a variety of multilayered films with the oxides of multiple elements and refractory metal multilayered films are promising. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.