Laser induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) of silicon nitride and silicon dioxide single and double layers has been investigated using excimer laser operating at a wavelength of 193 nm. Single layers of silicon nitride were formed from SiH4/NH3 gas mixture with Si/N atomic ratio of 0.6-0.7. The layers that contained a small amount of hydrogen had a refractive index and extinction coefficient of n = 2, k = 0015 at 600 nm. Deposition of silicon dioxide was investigated using SiH4/N2O. Using this gas mixture the film composition depended strongly upon the SiH4/N2O ratio. At high ratio the film formed was silicon oxynitride, which contained both Si-N and Si-O bonds. The film also contained small a amount of Si-H bonds. Decreasing the SiH4/N2O ratio led to the formation of pure silicon dioxide with a refractive index of 1.45. A two layer coating of silicon nitride and silicon dioxide resulted in the formation of an antireflection coating with a reflectivity of about 0.5% at 750 nm.