PULSED LASER DEPOSITION OF OXIDE SUPERCONDUCTING THIN-FILMS

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is emerging as a popular thin film deposition technique for complex materials, especially metal oxides such as high temperature superconductors. Advantages over other thin film techniques are ease of stoichiometric deposition, high deposition rates, and processing pressure independence. Furthermore, multilayer deposition can be accomplished by simply switching different targets into the laser beam. Two common problems associated with PLD are particle deposition and target modification. In this paper we summarize some of the advantages, difficulties, and future directions of PLD.