2026-04-15 カリフォルニア工科大学（Caltech）
A welding laser (yellow beam) heats a target, melting just a small central portion of a sample, generating enough vapor to condense and deposit on a substrate above. That substrate itself is heated by a laser above (red beam).Credit: David Catherall
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/making-materials-for-quantum-technologies-laser-technique-unlocks-extreme-conditions-for-thin-film-synthesis
- https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apl/article-abstract/128/8/081902/3381021/Characterization-of-ultrathin-nickel-films?redirectedFrom=fulltext
熱レーザー蒸着法により成膜された超薄型ニッケル膜の特性評価
Characterization of ultrathin nickel films deposited by thermal laser evaporation
David S. Catherall;Yifei Yan;Finley B. Donachie;Azmain A. Hossain;Austin J. Minnich
Applied Physics Letters Published:February 24 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0309594
Thermal laser evaporation is a physical vapor deposition technique of increasing interest because of its ability to evaporate essentially any solid element, even the most refractory such as W. However, many films deposited by this method, especially non-epitaxial films, remain to be characterized; further, key system components such as the laser delivery system have not been described in detail. Here, we present the evaporation and characterization of ultrathin Ni films deposited with a home-built thermal laser evaporation system. The system employs a continuous-wave 1 kW fiber laser (1070 nm) focused to sub-millimeter diameter onto a Ni target rod mounted inside an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber. The laser heats the target to a temperature high enough to produce vapor for film deposition; for Ni, this temperature is around the melting point of 1728 K. We report the characterization of the surface roughness, composition, and room-temperature electrical properties of the films along with the design of the major components of our system. This work advances the growing consensus regarding the potential of thermal laser evaporation for thin film deposition and epitaxy and provides the necessary design information to facilitate broader adoption of the technique.
