A thermodynamic study of laser-induced ablation of ZrO2, CeO2, V2O5, and mixed Ce-V oxides

Thin films of oxides have been largely used in microelectronics and as thermal barriers. It has been found that pulsed laser ablation has good potentiality for the deposition of these materials. ZrO2, CeO2, V2O5, and mixed Ce-V oxides are very important materials for their application in optics and electrochromic devices. Laser ablation and deposition of simple and composite targets of ZrO2, CeO2, and V2O5 is presented. Laser-induced compositional changes of thin films in the ablation and deposition processes of these materials have been explored. The effect of the oxygen gas pressure on the thin film composition has been examined. The congruency of the process has been treated on the basis of a thermal mechanism of evaporation-decomposition of the compounds. An attempt to model the processes by means of a thermodynamic approach is reported.