Quick preparation of thin films and characteristics of ablation plasma produced by ion-beam evaporation

An intense, pulsed, ligth-ion beam (LIB) can be used to produce high density "ablation" plasma when the LIB is irradiated on the solid targets. For this case, the LIB can be considered as theeffective heat source since the pulse width is short compared to thermal conduction time. Using the above plasma, we have succeeded in quick preparation of thin films by "ion-beam evaporation" (IBE). Diamond-like carbon films have been successfully prepared on the silicon substrate kept at room temperature by using graphite target. furthermore, various films were made such as ZnS, ZnS:Mn, B, ITO, YBaCuO, BaTiO 3 , BN, YSZ, apatite, and so on. The instantaneous deposition rate has been typically estimated on the order of several cm/s. The characteristics of the films prepared have been studied in detail. In connection with the properties of the films studied above, several diagnostics have been carried out on the characteristics of the ablation plasma by time-resolved spectroscopic measurement by using Streak camera, where fully ionized, high-density plasma has been found to be produced.