PLD of hard ceramic coatings

The deposition of different hard ceramics coatings as Al2O3, ZrO2, c-BN and DLC thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been of increasing interest as alternative process compared to the latest progress in CVD and PVD deposition. For instance, in pulsed laser deposition, the properties of the resulting thin films are influenced by the composition, ionization state, density, kinetic and excitation energies of the particles of the vapor/plasma. In order to deposit hard ceramics with different properties and applications, various substrates as Pt/Ti/Si multilayer, glass (fused silica), steel, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), Si(100) and Si(111) are used. These thin films are deposited either by excimer laser radiation (lambda = 248 nm) or by CO2 laser radiation (lambda = 10,6 µm). To characterize the structural, optical and mechanical properties of the hard ceramics thin films, different techniques as Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, FTIR-spectroscopy and nanoindentation are used.