In situ ultraviolet-assisted pulsed laser deposition of Y₂O₃ thin films

Thin Y₂O₃ films were prepared at moderate substrate temperature using ultraviolet-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Highly textured oriented Y₂O₃ layers, whose crystalline quality is similar to that usually obtained by conventional PLD at temperatures in excess of 600 °C, have been grown on Si substrates under an oxygen pressure of 9×10^-2 Torr at only 405 °C. Spectroscopic ellipsometry showed that the refractive index values of these layers to be similar to reference handbook values. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the UV-grown films exhibited a significantly smaller proportion of physisorbed oxygen than those grown under optimum conditions but without UV irradiation.