Influence of pressure on the Pt nanoparticle growth modes during pulsed laser ablation

Pulsed laser deposition of a platinum target was performed in solution and in a He background gas atmosphere at pressures ranging from 10(-5) to 11 Torr. The influence of the plasma dynamics on the structural properties of the nanostructured Pt films was investigated by time-of-flight and space-resolved emission spectroscopy (velocity measurements). It is shown that two different growth modes exist. In the first, formation of nanoparticle is occurring in the surrounding media (gas or solution), while in the second one, diffusion and reorganization of atomic species at the substrate surface is favored. In a gaseous environment, the transition between both modes is occurring at He pressure of similar to 0.5 Torr, which corresponds to a velocity of similar to 5.8 X 10(3) m s(-1). (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3463204]