LabVIEW Implementation of Single-Laser, Alternating-Target Pulsed-Laser Deposition

Alternating target pulsed laser deposition is a thin-film growth technique used for fabricating materials that require the use of more than one solid target. While it is possible to adapt a standard pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) system to accommodate the alternating-target PLD technique, very little literature exists to assist in this effort. We have developed a LabVIEW implementation of this technique that synchronizes and controls the necessary system components to enable alternating-target PLD using up to xx targets. To test this implementation, we grew thin films of tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide (W_xV_1–xO₂), a material with a temperature-dependent metal-insulator transition. Since the temperature at which the films transition to the metallic state is linearly dependent upon the tungsten doping fraction, we were able to use the results of films with doping fractions in the range from x = 0 (i.e., pure VO₂) to x = 0.02 (i.e., 2.0at%) in steps of x = 0.0025 (i.e., 0.25at%) to verify the implementation of this method in our PLD system. In this presentation, we will show both the LabVIEW implementation and the results of our verification experiment.