Pulsed laser induced confined vapor deposition for thin layer of dense nanoparticle arrays on various substrates

•We examined a new surface nanostructuring process, pulsed laser confined vapor deposition (PLCVD).•We found that PLCVD could be used to generate various nanostructures, such as high density and uniform size distribution monolayer nanoparticles and microrings, on various surfaces respectively.•Three kinds of materials, gold thin film deposited on silicon, polished AA6061 and silicon wafer, were used to demonstrate feasibility of PLCVD.•The generation mechanism of nanostructures was investigated. A general approach to generate dense nanostructure on various substrates has been investigated in this paper. During this process, so called pulsed laser induced confined vapor deposition (PLCVD), a pulsed laser irradiation with a transparent confinement was applied to various surfaces, such as gold thin film on silicon wafer, AA6061 alloy and silicon wafer. When a 20nm thick Au film was irradiated by 3kHz pulsed laser, a short-range ordered thin layer of nanoparticles with average diameter of 9.0±3.5nm and density of 43.8×1010cm−2 is observed. Highly dense alumina nanoparticles were deposited on surface of AA6061 alloy by PLCVD process. Several silicon nanostructures, such as nanoparticles and microrings, can be produced under different experimental conditions. The formation mechanisms of these nanostructures were also discussed.