Experimental results of the pulsed laser ablation and thin film deposition of titanium carbide and silicon carbide by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) are presented. PLD takes place by evaporation of a target sample composed of the desired film material, ejection and transfer in the gas phase, and deposition onto a substrate. Films thus grown benefit from the kinetics of the laser generated plume as well as from the high ion flux at the substrate. A major impediment to the PLD process is the contamination of films by molten and/or solid material ejected during ablation. Experimental parameters determine which contaminant is produced. This work presents two methods designed for film improvement by incorporating an electric field to the process. The first technique diverted a portion of the ionic plume component away from the trajectories of large particulates also generated during the laser-target interaction. The second technique involved the generation of an electric discharge across the laser generated plasma prior to deposition. The current across the plasma/plume initiates collisions in the plume that effectively break down the solid contaminants. Three laser pulse durations were used for material evaporation, employing long nanosecond pulses (Nd:YLF, 10 mJ, 250 ns), short nanosecond pulses (Nd:YAG, ∼3.5 ns) and femtosecond pulses (Ti:Sapphire, ∼150 fs). Included are gas phase studies using mass spectrometry, Langmuir ion probes, and deposition monitors that allowed the relative ion yields as well as their kinetics to be measured. The deposits were examined topographically by scanning electron and atomic force microscopies (SEM and AFM, respectively), and chemically by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)