Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Techniques for laser-photochemically depositing localized thin films are reviewed. A comparison is made between techniques relying on gas-phase and surface-phase photochemistry. New photoreactions, confined entirely to surface phases, are described, including multimolecular reactions based on methyl methacrylate, and multicomponent reactions based on mixtures of trimethylaluminum and titanium tetrachloride. Recent developments in the use of surface photochemistry to nucleate subsequent growth by pyrolytic chemical vapor deposition are also reported.