Atomic mixing and chemical bond formation in MoSx/Fe thin-film system deposited from a laser plume in a high-intensity electrostatic field

The potential of pulsed laser deposition in an applied uniform electrostatic field was investigated. A flat, positively charged, fine-celled-grid counter electrode was used to provide bias voltage of up to +50 kV with respect to the substrate. This enabled control of the atomic mixing and made it possible to initiate chemical bond formation at the interfaces of the films formed by deposition from the laser-induced plume. As an example, the results of multilayer Fe-56/MoSx/Fe-57 film deposition are presented. At first, a bilayer MoSx/Fe-57 film was grown in the absence of the electric field. This was followed by Fe-56 film deposition in an applied field. A relatively sharp interface between the MoSx and Fe-57 films was observed. In contrast, after Fe-56 deposition, effective atom mixing was observed and new chemical bonds between Fe, S and Mo were detected. By penetrating through the interface, accelerated Fe-56 ions gave rise to the growth of an amorphous layer of up to 50 nm in thickness. It consisted of rather evenly distributed Fe, S and Mo atoms (at total ion dose of 2.5 X 10(16) cm(-2)). The ion flux destroyed Mo-S chemical bonds, and the S atoms released preferably bound Fe atoms, thus forming a FeS2-type phase. The Mo atoms, as a lower-oxidation-state species (apparently together with S atoms), were localized in the vicinity of Fe atoms and affected the hyperfine magnetic fields. The technique developed has made it possible to study the ion-induced processes occurring at the interfaces of multilayer films. It can also be applied to improve the tribological functionality of thin films. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.