Research Group on Laser Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary)

A laser- and laser applications- center of highest quality in Hungary. More than twenty years in the forefront of the field. Affiliated to the Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics of JATE University: more than 30 staff members. In the Project: responsible for developing laser- based technologies for fabrication of optical gratings in IO sensor chips and adapting the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique for production of sensing layers. (further details)

MicroVacuum Ltd. (Hungary)

MicroVacuum Ltd. was established 10 years ago to fulfil market needs. The small, flexible engineering company has now a good reputation in both the environmental, industrial and academic research community, and participates successfully in EU-funded programs like PECO, COPERNICUS, TD-QM PHARE, EUREKA, IV. Framework-TMR. The fields of activity are: development of thin film coating technologies; design, development and small-scale production of thin film sensors and electronic instruments. MicroVacuum Ltd. has 12 full time employees, half of them with higher education and several with 10-15 years of experience in applied research. In the present Project: production of thin films by alternative techniques; characterization of sensing layers, development and pilot production of new generation Integrated Optical sensors. (further details)

National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics (Romania)

The Lasers Department, the dominating part of the National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, established in 1968, has a permanent staff of 160, out of them 110 high education graduates, 40 PhDs and more than 40 young scientists, preparing their PhD theses. Vital links to other Institutes of the Rumanian Ministry of Science and Technology located in the same area of Magurele. The significant contribution of the Laser Processing of Thin Films Group to laser materials processing and thin film deposition is widely appreciated. In the Project: responsible for the production of metallic, oxide and nitride thin films and multilayer structures of special sensing properties. (further details)

Laboratoire de Physique de l'Etat Solide, Université de Mons-Hainaut (Belgium)

One of the first laboratories in Europe entering the field of materials processing with lasers. A member of the high-technology center (Pole d'excellence de recherche et de technologie en materiaux nouveaux) Materia Nova, established and supported by both EC and Region Wallonne to promote technological development. At present focus on the interaction between matter and excimer laser with a staff of five. In the Project: responsible for financial management, contributes to thin film production and characterization and serves as a training centre. (further details)

Surface Acoustic Wave Laboratory of the Istituto di Acustica "O.M. Corbino" (Italy)

One of the oldest institutes of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). The reference institute for acoustics in Italy involved in acoustical physics, low frequency acoustics for geophysics, voice analysis, noise, surface acoustic waves, acoustooptics, piezoelectrics. A permanent staff of 15 researchers + 10 technicians. The main activities of the Surface Acoustic Wave Laboratory include thin film technologies, R&D and (laboratory-level) production of SAW devices. In the Project: contribution to thin film deposition, responsible for fabrication of advanced SAW sensor devices. (further details)


The front-line areas in the Research Group on Laser Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, affiliated to the Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics of JATE University, Szeged are the research and development of lasers and laser-amplifier systems; generation, measurement and characterization of ultrashort (femtosecond) pulses; investigation of propagation and pulse front distortion of femtosecond pulses in optical systems and bulk media, and interaction of laser light with materials.

The Group directly involved in the present Project has more than ten years experience in laser materials processing, especially in surface patterning by laser chemical vapour and liquid phase deposition, ablation and transfer of metals and dielectrics, and - recently - in Pulsed Laser Deposition of thin films. The primary interest of the Group lies in basic science aspects of surface structuring and PLD, in understanding and description of the processes governing material removal and film growth, and in improving the quality of PLD films by using special techniques like application of liquid targets and/or ultrashort pulses.

The strength of the RGLP is the technical background of laser systems (covering the femtosecond - cw time domain and the 0.19 - 1.06 µm spectral range), and of equipment for measurement and characterization of laser pulses, eg.:

- nitrogen, argon-ion, Nd:YAG and excimer lasers, a Q-switched, active-passive mode-locked Nd:YAG laser with amplifiers, grating tuned and distributed feedback dye lasers,

- an optical multichannel analyser, a Hamamatsu streak camera, a computer controlled 40 GHz sampling oscilloscope, and a 5 GHz real-time oscilloscope.

This laser-optical background, in conjunction with the materials processing experience form a unique potential in performing any type of surface structuring and PLD experiments [cf: HomePage and particularly: Z. Tóth, T. Szörényi, and A.L. Tóth: Ar+ Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT): a Novel Method for Micrometer-size Surface Patterning, Appl. Surf. Sci., 69, 317-320 (1993); K. Bali, T. Szörényi, M.R. Brook, and G.A. Shafeev: High Speed Laser Writing of Gold Lines from Organic Solutions, Appl. Surf. Sci., 69, 75-78 (1993); Z. Kántor, Z. Tóth, T. Szörényi and A.L. Tóth: Deposition of micrometer sized tungsten patterns by laser transfer technique, Appl. Phys. Lett. 64 (25) 3506-3508, (1994); Z. Tóth, B. Hopp, Z. Kántor, F. Ignácz, T. Szörényi and Z. Bor: Dynamics of excimer laser ablation of thin tungsten films as monitored by ultrafast photography, Appl. Phys. A60, 431-436 (1995); Z. Kántor and T. Szörényi: Dynamics of long-pulse laser transfer of micrometer-sized metal patterns as followed by time-resolved measurements of reflectivity and transmittance, J. Appl. Phys., 78, (4) 2775-2781 (1995); T. Szörényi and J.M. Ballesteros: Dependence of the thickness profile of pulsed laser deposited bismuth films on process parameters, Appl. Surf. Sci., 109-110, 327-330 (1997); Zs. Geretovszky and T. Szörényi: Can laser deposition from liquid phase be made competitive? Appl. Surf. Sci., 109-110, 467-472 (1997); Z. Kántor and T. Szörényi: Numerical calculation of pulsed laser deposited film profiles, Vacuum 50, 421-424 (1998)

Optical spectroscopy, ellipsometry, optical picture analysis, Atomic Force Microscopy and (medium resolution) Scanning Electron Microscopy are the characterization techniques available in-house.

The facilities for performing experiments in high vacuum and in controlled atmospheres need improvement and amplification. The PLD system currently used is based on an oil-diffusion pump, and in its present form is not appropriate for the R&D work planned within the frame of the Project. The multipurpose PLD system to be acquired with NATO support will allow full exploitation of the existing R&D potential.

MicroVacuum Ltd. is a typical small-size-enterprise, where research & development projects form the base of future profitable production. Beside the 90 m2 well equipped office, there is a 80 m2 workshop for in house equipment development and production, and a 150 m2 laboratory for thin film sensor development and production. The laboratory has 20 m2 laminar flow boxes for clean sample handling, high-purity water, special gas distribution systems, thermal and plasma deposition facilities, etching and characterising tools.

MicroVacuum Ltd. is currently producing the biosensor chip Model ASI 2400 µV, which is an IO waveguide sensor developed in the frame of the international cooperation project EUREKA (947), MEMOCS. These sensor chips are used all over the world in biophysical and biochemical laboratories. The main customer is ASI AG (Zurich), the distributor and seller of its high accuracy measuring equipment, the BIOS-1. ASI AG has an exclusive right to distribute MicroVacuum Ltd.'s ASI 2400 µV biosensor chips. The annual production quantity of the ASI 2400 µV sensor chips amounts to several thousand pieces.

MicroVacuum Ltd. has a strong interest in the R&D of a new family of IO sensors possessing double grating structures and multiple sensing areas for medical, biological and environmental monitoring applications. Several potential customers have already expressed their interest in large scale purchase of such improved sensor chips.

In the National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics there is a long tradition and experience in various aspects of laser processing of thin films, most notably in laser doping (Ti in LiNbO3), laser crystallisation of a-Si:H and a-SiC:H, and laser oxidation, as well documented by an impressive list of publications.

Several papers demonstrate the important contribution of the Thin Film Group to the challenging field of thin film growth in reactive atmospheres. Experiments revealed that reactive PLD can effectively be used for deposition of high quality silicon nitride thin films by ablation of a Si target in NH3 reactive atmosphere, boron carbonitride layers by sequencial ablation of BN/C targets in nitrogen atmosphere, GaN films by liquid phase Ga ablation in nitrogen and CxNy films by RF discharge assisted laser ablation of graphite targets. PLD proved to be effective in fabrication of ZnO thin films with reasonable piezoelectric characteristics and in AlN film synthesis by ablation of an Al target in nitrogen reactive atmosphere. These films showed encouraging characteristics in test structures [cf. List of relevant publications of M. Dinescu]. The majority of this work has in fact been made in foreign laboratories, in the frame of bi- and multilateral cooperations. In Bucharest the PLD experiments run in a home-made laser deposition system using a Nd:YAG laser. In collaboration with the Low Temperature Plasma Physics Department there is possibility to perform radiofrequency plasma assisted pulsed laser deposition experiments as well. The Group has direct access to FTIR and Spectroellipsometry. In cooperating institutes further analytical techniques, most notably RBS, XRD, TEM, SEM, and XPS are available.

In order to meet the stringent specifications of the devices to be fabricated in the frame of the proposed project it is absolutely necessary to improve the vacuum equipment available, and extend the wavelength domain of the processing laser into the UV. This need validates the planned acquisition of a turbomolecular pump ensuring UHV conditions and a Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1.06, 0.53, 0.344 and 0. 265 µm.

The theme of research in the Laboratoire de Physique de l'Etat Solide, Université de Mons-Hainaut is the interaction between matter and excimer laser. The main objectives are: understanding the mechanisms of interaction between an excimer laser beam and ceramics, composites or polymers; exploitation of excimer-induced processes for fabrication of thin films presenting useful characteristics and for surface patterning of functional ceramics and polymers.

The small team is extremely well equipped: 3 excimer lasers from Lambda Physik with optics and X-Y tables, thin film production facilities by thermal evaporation and PLD, CARY-5 Varian UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, PHILIPS CM200 transmission and XL20 scanning electron microscopes, Auger and photoemission spectroscopes, metallographic microscope, DEKTAK surface profilometer ensure effective work. As a member of the high-technology center (Pole d'excellence de recherche et de technologie en materiaux nouveaux) Materia Nova, established in 1995 and supported by both EC and Region Wallonne to promote technological development in this region of Belgium, the Department is especially attractive as a training centre and meeting point of both academics and industry people working in the fields of materials processing and characterization.

The experience in thin film technologies and the solid background of equipments available in the Surface Acoustic Wave Laboratory of the Istituto di Acustica "O.M. Corbino" (together with those of the Industrial Partner) favourably complement the contribution from the laser people. Metal thin film deposition by thermal evaporation or R.F. sputtering, thin film surface profiling, UV and DUV Microlitography, and Reactive Ion Etching are the techniques at the Partners' disposal. Complete electroacoustic characterization up to 3 GHz (by a Network Analyser) of the prototype SAW devices under well controllable and specified conditions are available in the Laboratory. Since this Laboratory possesses all equipments necessary for gas sensors tests, all (IO & SAW) devices to be fabricated in the frame of the Project will be tested here under identical (or comparable) conditions, which ensures an unparalleled possibility for comparison of device performance.

The first thin films of ZnO, AlN and PZT with orientation required for piezoelectric transduction have already been successfully deposited on Si substrates [P. Verardi, M. Dinescu, A. Andrei, Characterization of ZnO Thin Films Deposited by Laser Ablation in Reactive Atmosphere, Applied Surface Science 96-98 (1996) 827-830; M. Dinescu, P. Verardi, ZnO Thin Film Deposited by Laser Ablation of Zn Target in Oxygen Reactive Atmosphere, Applied Surface Science 106 (1996) 149-153; P. Verardi, M. Dinescu, C. Gerardi, L. Mirenghi, V. Sandu, AlN thin film deposition by laser ablation of Al target in nitrogen reactive atmosphere, Applied Surface Science 109/110 (1997) 371-375; M. Dinescu, P. Verardi, F. Craciun, Reactive pulsed laser deposition -A tool for obtaining high quality piezoelectric thin films, SPIE Proc. 3093 (1997) 249; P. Verardi, M. Dinescu, F. Craciun, V. Sandu, Oriented PZT thin films obtained at low substrate temperature by pulsed laser deposition, Thin Solid Films 311, (1997) 171; P. Verardi, F. Craciun, M. Dinescu, C. Gerardi, Epitaxial piezoelectric PZT thin films obtained by pulsed laser deposition, Thin Solid Films (1998), in press; P. Verardi, M. Dinescu, F. Craciun, M. Carpentieri, Ferroelectric PZT/Si structure for integrated sensor applications, J. de Physique, submitted].

The experiments were mostly trial-and-error-type without process optimisation. The morphology, orientation and the piezoelectric properties of the deposited films have not been completely characterized. In other words, the feasibility of the ideas formulated in the respective part of the Project Plan has been proved; the state of the art is ideal for starting the project proposed.