Laser-CVD of Microstructures

Abstract

The decomposition of precursor molecules in laser-induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) can be activated thermally (pyrolytic LCVD) or non-thermally (photolytic LCVD) or by a combination of both (photophysical LCVD). The type of process activation can be verified from the morphology of the deposit and from measurements of the deposition rate as a function of laser power, wavelength, substrate material, etc.; additional information is obtained from the analysis of data on the basis of theoretical models. The subsequent discussion concentrates on examples which were studied in most detail. Nevertheless, this discussion is very general, in the sense that most of the trends, features, and results apply to all of the corresponding systems listed in Appendix B.4. Applications of LCVD in microfabrication are summarized in Sect. 18.5.