Pulsed laser deposition of polyhydroxybutyrate biodegradable polymer thin films using ArF excimer laser

We demonstrated the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of high quality films of a biodegradable polymer, the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Thin films of PHB were deposited on KBr substrates and fused silica plates using an ArF (lambda = 193 nm, FWHM = 30 ns) excimer laser with fluences between 0.05 and 1.5 J cm(-2). FTIR spectroscopic measurements proved that at the appropriate fluence (0.05, 0.09 and 0.12 J cm(-2)), the films exhibited similar functional groups with no significant laser-produced modifications present. Optical microscopic images showed that the layers were contiguous with embedded micrometer-sized grains. Ellipsometric results determined the wavelength dependence (lambda similar to 245-1000 nm) of the refractive index and absorption coefficient which were new information about the material and were not published in the scientific literature. We believe that our deposited PHB thin films would have more possible applications. For example to our supposal the thin layers would be applicable in laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) of biological materials using them as absorbing thin films. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.