Digital Control Design and Demonstration for Pulsed Laser Deposition ofSuperconducting Films

摘要

The design and implementation of a new Pulsed Laser Deposition system for growingHigh Temperature Superconducting film at Wright Labs is described and demonstrated. The capabilities of the new system go far beyond the typical laboratory deposition setup. The important system features include real time data acquisition and storage, deposition process automation, and digital control of three key environmental variables, specifically the laser energy, substrate temperature, and chamber oxygen pressure. It is hoped that process repeatibility can be achieved through control of these environmental variables. Additional in situ measurements on plume characteristics should help increase the understanding of the PLD process in general. The effectiveness of the new system is demonstrated by the successful growth of superconducting films.