Tantalum oxide and nitride spectral features from a laser-produced plasma

We report measurements of time-resolved Ta, TaO and TaN emission spectroscopic signatures from a laserproduced plasma. Plasmas were generated using 1064 nm, 6 ns pulses from an Nd:YAG laser focused onto a pure Ta metal target in a gaseous environment with varying percentages of O2/N2 for controlling gas-phase oxidation/plasma chemistry. Time-resolved analysis showed that Ta oxide emission is prominent at later times in plasma evolution, whereas strong atomic emission is present at early times in air. Emission spectral features as a function of O2 partial pressure showed that TaO emission intensity increases, while the peak intensity of TaO appears earlier with increasing O2 availability. We also report emission spectra of TaN, and show that plasma chemistry favors TaO formation instead of TaN when O2 is present in the environment.

Automated summary

We measured the time-resolved emission spectroscopic signatures of Ta, TaO, and TaN from a laser-produced plasma. Varying the O2/N2 percentages in the gaseous environment, we observed that Ta oxide emission is more prominent in later stages of plasma evolution, while strong atomic emission is present in the early stages in air. The emission intensity of TaO increases, and its peak intensity appears earlier with increasing O2 availability. Additionally, we found that the presence of O2 favors TaO formation over TaN in the plasma chemistry.