Growth of calcium phosphate thin films by in situ assisted ultraviolet pulsed laser deposition

Abstract Calcium phosphate (CaP) thin films including hydroxyapatite were intensively studied in order to optimize the technology of the bone prostheses manufacturing. A drawback in the CaP films processing is the poor mechanical characteristics, especially hardness, tensile strength and adherence to the metallic substrate. We report a new method for the growth of high quality CaP films with substantial improvement of the mechanical properties: pulsed laser deposition (PLD) assisted by in situ ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted by a low pressure Hg lamp. The depositions were made on Si and Ti-5Al-2.5Fe alloys in very low ambient oxygen at pressures of 10 −2 to 10 −1 Pa with the substrates maintained at 500–600 °C temperature. The films were analyzed by electron microscopy, white light confocal microscopy (WLCM), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and Berkovich nanoindentation. The films were crystalline and exhibited remarkable mechanical characteristics with values of hardness and Young modulus of 6–8 and 150–170 GPa, respectively, which are uncommonly high for the CaP ceramics. The UV lamp radiation enhanced the gas reactivity and atoms mobility during processing, while the tensile strength between the film’s grains and the bonding strength at the CaP film-substrate interface were increased.