Thin film, Nanoparticle, and Nanocomposite Fabrication by Through Thin Film Ablation

We have developed a laser-based technique for fabricating thin films, nanoparticles, and nanocomposite thin films. The process is denoted Through Thin Film Ablation (TTFA) and entails using a thin film target that is ablated from the backside. The deposits produced by this process show neither evidence of the larger (micrometer-sized) particles nor the extent of agglomeration that are produced by conventional laser ablation. The TTFA technique offers the potential for fabricating a wide variety of materials in thin film, nanoparticle, and nanocomposite form. In this paper we present the results of Fe nanoparticle synthesis by TTFA including nanoparticle size distributions, time of flight distributions, and time resolved spectral data. These data provide a more complete understanding of the TTFA process.