Laser mass spectrometric studies of high-temperature superconductor ablation

Laser ablation of bulk High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) material promises to provide a useful means of producing high quality HTS thin films. Mass spectrometric probes of the ablation plume provide a microscopic understanding of the ablation event and plume development as well as providing a process monitor for the thin film production. Detection of the nascent ions in the plume provides real time analytical information, e.g., identification of impurities, major and minor ablation species, etc. The common contaminants sodium and strontium have been easily detected by this technique in a variety of different HTS bulk materials. In contrast, detection of the ablated neutral species by Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) provides physical information about the ablation process. Time-of-flight/RIMS detection of Cu,Y, and BaO ablated from YBa2Cu3Ox indicates the ablation involves post-desorption gas phase collisions, thereby influencing the ablation chemistry and dynamics (e.g., angular and velocity distributions). Approximately equal velocities are observed for all neutral species at constant ablation laser fluence.