The pulsed laser deposition of copper oxide, cobalt(II)oxide, cobalt(III)oxide, diamond-like carbon, gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, and indium nitride thin films

Copper Oxide (CuO), which occurs in a monoclinic structure in nature, has been hypothesized to be a superconductor if in a rocksalt form. Therefore, an attempt to grow CuO in the rocksalt structure via epitaxy on lattice matched substrates such as MgO(001), CoO(001), SrTiO{dollar}sb3{dollar}(001), and LiF(001) was made. The CuO films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD).; Single crystal films of both rocksalt CoO and spinel CO{dollar}sb3{dollar}O{dollar}sb4{dollar} were epitaxially grown with (001) orientations on MgO(001) substrates by PLD from CoO targets. The samples were characterized by low energy electron diffraction and XRD. Both films were determined to have undergone tetragonal distortions, although to different degrees, due to the biaxial stress present in these epitaxial films.; Diamond-like carbon films were grown at substrate temperatures of 600, 800, and 1000{dollar}spcirc{dollar}C in high vacuum and in 5 mTorr of H{dollar}sb2.{dollar} Boron nitride was deposited as a buffer layer onto silicon(001)substrates prior to the deposition of the carbon films. The films were characterized using XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Raman spectroscopy. Higher substrate temperatures led to a larger percentage of sp{dollar}sp3{dollar} hybridized carbon atoms in the films.; Gallium nitride (GaN) films have been grown for the first time by PLD on sapphire(0001) substrates in high vacuum at 500, 700, and 800{dollar}spcirc{dollar}C. The films were analyzed using XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and room temperature Van der Pauw-Hall measurements. Higher temperatures produced films of inferior quality.; Epitaxial aluminum nitride (AlN), GaN, and indium nitride (InN) films were grown by PLD on sapphire(0001) substrates in high vacuum and in a nitrogen ambient. The films were analyzed using XRD, SEM, AFM, and room temperature Van der Pauw-Hall measurements.; Single crystal thin films of GaN were epitaxially grown by PLD on sapphire(0001) and MgO(001) substrates in both high vacuum and a nitrogen ambient. The films were analyzed using XRD, SEM, XPS, optical absorption spectroscopy, and variable temperature van der Pauw-Hall measurements. The GaN films grown on sapphire had the wurtzite structure, whereas the films grown on MgO had the metastable zincblende structure.