Laser chemical vapor deposition

Laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) is a chemical process used to produce high purity, high performance films, fibers, and mechanical hardware (MEMS). It is a form of chemical vapor deposition in which a laser beam is used to locally heat the semiconductor substrate, causing the vapor deposition chemical reaction to proceed faster at that site.^[1] The process is used in the semiconductor industry for spot coating,^[2] the MEMS industry for 3-D printing of hardware such as springs and heating elements,^2,6,7,9 and the composites industry for boron and ceramic fibers.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} As with conventional CVD, one or more gas phase precursors are thermally decomposed, and the resulting chemical species 1) deposit on a surface, or 2) react, form the desired compound, and then deposit on a surface, or a combination of (1) and (2).^[10][11][12]

References

1. Allen, S.D. (1981-11-01). "Laser chemical vapor deposition: A technique for selective area deposition". Journal of Applied Physics. 52 (11): 6501–6505. doi:10.1063/1.328600. ISSN 0021-8979.
2. Method and Apparatus For the Freeform Growth of Three-Dimensional Structures Using Pressurized Precursor Flows and Growth Rate Control (US Patent # 5,786,023)
3. Laser Assisted Fiber Growth (US Patent # 5,126,200)
4. T. Wallenberger, Frederick & C. Nordine, Paul & Boman, Mats. (1994). “Inorganic fibers and microstructures directly from the vapor phase”. Composites Science and Technology v 51. pp. 193-212.
5. T. Wallenberger, Frederick & C. Nordine, Paul. (1994). “Amorphous Silicon Nitride Fibers Grown from the Vapor Phase”. Journal of Materials Research v 9. pp. 527 - 530.
6. Laser-assisted CVD Fabrication and Characterization of Carbon and Tungsten Microhelices for Microthrusters, Uppsala University, 2006, Dissertation, K.L. Williams
7. Björklund, K.L & Lu, Jun & Heszler, P & Boman, Mats. (2002). “Kinetics, thermodynamics and microstructure of tungsten rods grown by thermal laser CVD”. Thin Solid Films v 416. pp. 41–48.
8. Boman, Mats & Baeuerle, Dieter. (1995). “Laser‐Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition of Boron”. Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society v 42.
9. S. Harrison, J. Pegna, J. Schneiter, K.L. Williams, and R. Goduguchinta, (2017) “Laser Printed Ceramic Fiber Ribbons: Properties and Applications,” 2016 ICACC Proceedings/Ceramic Materials for Energy Applications VI, pp. 61-72
10. Maxwell, James & Chavez, Craig & W. Springer, Robert & Maskaly, Karlene & Goodin, Dan. (2007). “Preparation of superhard BxCy fibers by microvortex-flow hyperbaric laser chemical vapor deposition”, Diamond and Related Materials v 16. pp. 1557-1564.
11. Williams, K.L. & Jonsson, K & Köhler, Johan & Boman, Mats. (2007). “Electrothermal characterization of tungsten-coated carbon microcoils for micropropulsion systems”. Carbon v 45. pp. 484-492.
12. Maxwell, James & Boman, Mats & W Springer, Robert & Narayan, Jaikumar & Gnanavelu, Saiprasanna. (2006). “Hyperbaric Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition of Carbon Fibers from the 1-Alkenes, 1-Alkynes, and Benzene”. Journal of the American Chemical Society v 128. pp. 4405-4413.