PLUMEEXPANSIONDYNAMICSDURINGSmNdxNiO3THINFILMDEPOSITIONoC7.docVIP

 PLUME EXPANSION DYNAMICS DURING Sm1-xNdxNiO3 THIN FILM DEPOSITION oC7  S. LAFANE, T. KERDJA, S. ABDELLI-MESSACI and S. MALEK Centre de Développement des Technologies Avancées, Cité 20 ao?t 1956, B.P. 17, Baba Hassen, Algérie E-mail: slafane@cdta.dz ABSTRACT: The plume expansion dynamics of an ablated target of Sm2O3, Nd2O3 and NiO mixture oxides by a KrF excimer laser into oxygen atmosphere has been investigated using fast imaging. The study was carried out for different laser fluences. The plasma plume dynamics was analysed in the framework of the Predtechensky and Mayorov (PM) model. It was found that the PM model gives a general description of the plume expansion from the early time to later time delays by using parameters (laser fluence and oxygen pressure) that ensure a hemispherical expansion of the plume. The latter was discussed in the framework of the shock-wave model. KEYWORDS: laser ablation, Sm1-xNdxNiO3, fast imaging, plume dynamics, Predtechensky and Mayorov model 1. Introduction Due to its metal–insulator transition and thermochromic properties, the rare earth nickelate perovskite RNiO3 (R ≠ La), has received a great deal of attention [1].The metal–insulator transition temperature (TMI) can be tuned by changing the R cation. The interesting property is the ability to tune the TMI in the wide range of temperature, especially around the ambient, by adjusting the relative ratio of the cations (R and R’) in the R1-xR’xNiO3 compound [2, 3]. Pulsed laser ablation is used to synthesise a variety of materials such as oxides [4, 5]. The main advantage of this technique is the stoichiometric transfer of the multicomponent target elements to substrate. Nevertheless, in the case of oxides, the deposition under oxygen atmosphere is required to compensate the oxygen loss. The latter is due to the fact that oxygen is a volatile element. Also, it is due to film bombardment by high energetic ablated species where sputtering of the light