Numerical study of oxide thin film growth by using Nd:YAG laser beam

Based on a previous developed and published one-dimensional model for the growth of metallic oxide t hin films, we have studied the tridimensional growth rates for titanium dioxide films grown on Ti layers. The thermo-oxidation process of Ti films, deposited over glass substrates, is due to the film surface heating occurring when an intense beam of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser moves at constant speed on the surface exposed to air. The computational algorithm used for the calculations in this model takes into account self -consistently the heat flux equation, the Gaussian -shape laser beam, and the parabolic oxidati on law starting with the initial values of the heating parameters. From these calculations we obtained a tridimensional picture of film morphology. The theoretical estimations of the film thickness and the growth ratio show excellent agreement with the measured experimental values.