Comparison of Laser Chemical Processing and LaserMicroJet for structuring and cutting silicon substrates

This paper deals with the development of a new cutting method for thin silicon solar wafers with liquid-jet-guided lasers (LaserMicroJet®, LMJ, and Laser Chemical Processing, LCP). Several laser systems with different wavelengths were tested to find the optimum laser system and processing parameters in terms of efficient material removal and deep laser cutting. Water and potassium hydroxide were used as carrier liquids to enhance laser ablation. The ablation efficiency was defined as a target parameter and experimentally determined by performing single laser grooves. It is demonstrated that the ablation process of LMJ is mainly affected by silicon melting and then removing by the liquid-jet momentum for single laser grooves. Best result for deep laser grooves is achieved if evaporation dominates the ablation process. Better surface quality referred to laser-induced crystalline damage is presented for a cut wafer with LMJ in comparison to a standard multiwire slurry saw. This shows a great potential of wafering with liquid-jet-guided lasers although no optimal liquid media was used.     

Nanoparticle formation during laser ablation of solids in liquids

The experimental data on the generation of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles during their laser ablation in liquids is reviewed. The dependence of the morphology of noble metal nanoparticles on the liquid type and laser parameters is discussed. The data on the kinetics of the formation of alloyed Au-Ag nanoparticles under laser irradiation of a mixture of colloid solutions of individual nanoparticles are presented. The effect of femtosecond laser beam self-action during metal ablation in liquids via the second harmonic generation at Ag nanoclusters is discussed. The data on the generation of core-shell nanoparticles during laser ablation of alloys and in the presence of the chemical interaction of formed nanoparticles with surrounding liquid are presented. It was shown that laser ablation of CdS and ZnSe crystals leads to the formation of quantum dots of these semiconductors in solution. The parameters controlling the properties of nanoparticles during ablation in liquids and possible applications of the method are discussed.     

Femtosecond laser drilling of high-aspect ratio microchannels in?glass

A femtosecond laser is used to fabricate microchannels with high aspect ratios by laser direct ablation. Drilling both in air and in water is investigated. It is found that at low pulse energy, drilling in water can generate channels with high aspect ratios. However, at high pulse energy, water-assisted drilling stops working and only very shallow holes can be obtained. The reason for this is presented. On the contrary, the aspect ratio of holes drilled in air increases significantly at high pulse energy. The effects of writing speed and repeated fabrication are also investigated, and an optimum writing speed is determined for fixed laser parameters.     

Properties of nanoparticles generated during femtosecond laser machining in air and water

Femtosecond laser ablation is used to generate nanoparticle aerosols and colloids from solid targets of various materials (Ti, Ag, Au, Co, etc.) in air and water ambience. We determine the influence of different laser parameters (pulse energy, pulse overlap) and properties of media (air, airbrush, water) on the rate of production and size distribution of the laser-generated nanoparticles. It is shown that the pulse overlap and laser fluence are the parameters determining the nanoparticle size. At optimum conditions the nanoparticle productivity can be increased by 150–300%. The generation of multimaterial nanoparticle dispersions is demonstrated. Being free of toxic impurities, the laser-produced nanoparticles may be promising for biomedical applications. PACS 79.20.Ds; 81.16.Mk; 81.16.-c; 52.38.Ph; 06.60.Jn     

Double-pulse LIBS of gadolinium oxide ablated by femto- and nano-second laser pulses

Emission characteristics of gadolinium (Gd) oxide are studied, using ns and fs laser pulses for ablation in double-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In the current conditions of pulse energy and signal detection timing, emission intensity enhancement in the reheating mode is 25-fold, but little effect can be observed in a pre-pulse mode. It is shown that the optimum focus position of the ablation pulse is about 5 mm apart from the sample surface in the reheating mode. Although little emission can be observed in the single-pulse configuration with fs ablation pulses, the intense emission can be observed in the reheating mode in the double-pulse configuration.     

Metal absorptivity in femtosecond pulsed laser ablation

In this paper, the effect of the absorptivity of metal on femtosecond pulsed laser ablation is investigated. The formulas for the absorptivity depending on target temperature are derived from Maxwell Equations and the Lambert-Beer’s law. Based on this, a new two-temperature model is proposed to describe the femtosecond pulsed laser ablation with metal. Then, using Au as an example, a finite difference method is employed to simulate the space-dependent and time-dependent absorptivity and the target temperature. The temperature evolution of our model is compared with the result obtained form the heat conduction model taking the absorptivity as constant. It is shown that the absorptivity plays an important role in the femtosecond pulsed laser ablation. The results of this paper are helpful in choosing the best technical parameters in femtosecond pulsed laser ablation.      

飞秒激光在空气和水中对硅片烧蚀加工的实验研究

采用1 kHz,800 nm,50 fs—24 ps的钛宝石激光脉冲对单晶硅样品在空气和水溶液环境中的烧蚀加工特性进行了研究.实验观察到了超短脉冲激光在空气氛围中烧蚀形成的双层环状结构,分析揭示了加工区域中心和边缘的烧蚀物理机制分别为热熔化和库仑爆炸,并测量了双层环状结构半径随入射激光能量、脉冲数及持续时间等的变化关系,结果表明获取较大深-宽比的加工效果需选择小能量脉冲激光的多次作用.在水溶液环境中,实验发现飞秒激光在样品表面诱导产生了亚微米量级的多孔状结构,而皮秒激光则更容易实现对硅表面的非热性去除.这是由于激光诱导的光机械应力和空泡效应随脉冲宽度变大而增强所致,在实验上确立了区分这两种不同加工状态的临界脉冲宽度. 关键词： 飞秒激光 硅片 激光加工     

Two-dimensional model of thermal smoothing of laser imprint in a double-pulse plasma

The laser prepulse effect on the thermal smoothing of nonuniformities of target illumination is studied by means of a two-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamics simulation, based on the parameters of a real experiment. A substantial smoothing effect is demonstrated for the case of an optimum delay between the prepulse and the main heating laser pulse. The enhancement of the thermal smoothing effect by the laser prepulse is caused by the formation of a long hot layer between the region of laser absorption and the ablation surface. A comparison with experimental results is presented.     

Plasma-mediated ablation of biofilm contamination

Ultra-short pulsed laser removal of thin biofilm contamination on different substrates has been conducted via the use of plasma-mediated ablation. The biofilms were formed using sheep whole blood. The ablation was generated using a 1.2 ps ultra-short pulsed laser with wavelength centered at 1552 nm. The blood contamination was transformed into plasma and collected with a vacuum system. The single line ablation features have been measured. The ablation thresholds of blood contamination and bare substrates were determined. It is found that the ablation threshold of the blood contamination is lower than those of the beneath substrates including the glass slide, PDMS, and human dermal tissues. The ablation effects of different laser parameters (pulse overlap rate and pulse energy) were studied and ablation efficiency was measured. Proper ablation parameters were found to efficiently remove contamination with maximum efficiency and without damage to the substrate surface for the current laser system. Complete removal of blood contaminant from the glass substrate surface and freeze-dried dermis tissue surface was demonstrated by the USP laser ablation with repeated area scanning. No obvious thermal damage was found in the decontaminated glass and tissue samples.     

Comparative Study of Two Methods of Orthogonal Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Aluminum

Double-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (DP-LIBS) of aluminum sample is studied experimentally in orthogonal configuration in air. In this configuration, two schemes of reheating and pre-ablation are examined and the results are compared with single pulse one. The effect of delay time between two laser pulses on emission line intensities of plasma is investigated. Some of the parameters that have been involved in different mechanism of signal enhancement such as plasma temperature, sample heating effects, atmospheric effects, and modification of the ablation dynamics are more discussed. Investigation of the effect of laser pulse energy on emission line intensities in single pulse LIBS experiment demonstrate that because of saturation effects the intensities will not increase necessarily by increasing the laser pulse energy. Moreover, the results show that the electron temperature and rate of mass removal in orthogonal configuration of DP-LIBS is higher than that of single pulse with the same total energy. It is suggested that for correct comparison between single and double pulse results, the optimum pulse energy in single pulse should be considered. Overall, our results demonstrate that under optimized conditions the signal enhancement is much more in pre-ablation configuration than re-heating configuration.     

脉冲CO2激光烧蚀锡靶等离子体的数值研究

使用一维辐射流体力学程序MULTI模拟了脉冲CO2激光烧蚀平面锡靶的过程,研究了脉冲宽度、峰值功率密度、靶材初始密度对锡等离子体电子密度、电子温度的时空分布的影响,并结合统计分析得到最有利于产生13.5 nm 极紫外光的激光脉冲宽度。模拟结果表明,脉冲宽度为100~200 ns的长脉冲激光产生的等离子体有利于实现极紫外输出的最佳条件,通过分析等离子体的电子密度、电子温度的分布对这一结论进行了解释。临界电子密度区域有效吸收了脉冲能量,而低密度的羽辉对激光与极紫外辐射的吸收很少。采用长脉冲激光,使得辐射极紫外等离子体持续时间更长,是提高极紫外辐射效率的有效手段。同时模拟还发现,靶材初始密度对等离子体参数的影响不大。     

蒸气压对激光辐照靶材烧蚀速率的影响

研究了强激光辐照碳/碳复合材料靶材引起的烧蚀现象及蒸气压对烧蚀速率的影响。基于傅里叶定律,建立了强激光辐照靶材的热传导模型,模拟了忽略蒸气压影响时烧蚀速率随功率的变化;通过Mott-smith近似方法描述了Knudsen层间断区域,分析了间断两侧表面粒子状态参数;结合质量连续方程和蒸气压与温度关系方程,并由气体状态方程描述蒸气流状态,对蒸气压条件下激光烧蚀碳/碳复合材料靶材的速率随功率变化的关系进行了数值模拟。结果表明,在高能激光对靶材的烧蚀过程中,蒸气压力变化会导致靶材的饱和蒸气温度发生变化,进而影响烧蚀速率且使其随功率呈非线性变化,与忽略蒸气压作用时的线性变化规律相差较大,从理论上解释了忽略蒸气压导致的实验数据与理论结果的差异。     

Modeling of UV pulsed-laser ablation of metallic targets

A model to describe the laser ablation of metallic targets is presented. It accounts for the main physical processes involved in the laser–solid–plasma interaction by considering the photon absorption and the ionization mechanisms that are active in the plasma, as well as the laser-produced plasma kinetics. The model is used to simulate the laser ablation of aluminum targets irradiated with a 6-ns UV laser pulse at 0.35 μm, and the results are compared with experimental findings. Calculations show that all the investigated plasma parameters strongly depend on the laser intensity until a roll-off is reached at irradiance ≥1.5 GW cm^-2. The satisfactorily good agreement between model predictions and experimental findings confirms that laser–plasma interaction processes and plasma kinetics play a relevant role during nanosecond laser ablation of metals in the laser intensity range of concern in this study. Received: 12 February 1999 / Accepted: 12 April 1999 / Published online: 7 July 1999     

连续端泵浦激光晶体长度的确定

利用光子能流理论,得到了确定激光晶体最佳长度的方法.实验表明:晶体最佳长度不仅与晶体本身的参量有关;而且还与谐振腔输出镜的反射率有关.     

Laser-induced plasmas in liquids for nanoparticle synthesis

Spatially and temporally resolved emission spectroscopy is used to study the major features of the onset and evolution of plasmas created by pulsed laser irradiation of targets immersed in liquids. It is shown that double pulse operation provides an enhanced rate of nanoparticle formation and increases the emission signal from the plasma atoms and ions owing to more efficient ablation of the target material. The main parameters (density of atoms, electron temperature and density) of laser-induced plasmas in liquids are estimated. The prospects of laser ablation in liquids as a method for producing nanoparticles are analyzed.     

Vaporization and Plasma Shielding during High Power Nanosecond Laser Ablation of Silicon and Nickel

A thermal model to describe the high-power nanosecond pulsed laser ablation is presented. It involves the vaporization and the following plasma shielding effect on the whole ablation process. As an example of Si target, we obtainthe time evolution of the calculated surface temperature, ablation rate and ablation depth. It can be seen that plasma shielding plays a more important role in the ablation process with time. At the same time, the ablation depth with laser fluence based on different models is shown. Moreover, we simulate the pulsed laser irradiation Ni target. The evolution of the transmitted intensity and the variation of ablation depth per pulse with laser fluence are performed. Under the same experimental conditions, the numerical results calculated with our thermal model are more in agreement with the experimental data.     

单晶金刚石微杯形谐振子的激光刻蚀制造方法

基于激光刻蚀技术,提出了一种新型单晶金刚石微杯形谐振子的三维制造方法。由于高弹性模量、低热弹性阻尼以及较大的声波传递速度等优异的性质,单晶金刚石是一种理想的谐振子加工材料,但是金刚石硬度大且化学性能稳定,难以采用传统的加工方法成形加工。激光刻蚀因精度高,加工结构对称性好以及破损率低等特点,是一种较好的单晶金刚石加工方法。采用紫外激光加工机,研究了不同激光参数对单晶金刚石刻蚀质量的影响,通过合理设计微杯形谐振结构,规划激光刻蚀加工的轨迹,采用优化后激光刻蚀参数,实现了结构对称性较好的微杯形谐振子的加工,有望应用于高性能微杯形谐振陀螺。     

Measurement of ablative laser propulsion parameters for aluminum, Co–Ni ferrite and polyurethane polymer

Laser ablation propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion in which a pulsed laser ablates a target material thus producing thrust. We report in this work the measurements of various parameters related to laser-induced micropropulsion in toluene diisocyanate-based polyurethane polymer, aluminum and Co–Ni ferrite. The targets were irradiated by a Q-switched pulsed Nd–YAG laser at 1064 nm (pulse duration 5 ns) under atmospheric conditions. A contact-free optical triangulation method was used to measure the laser ablation induced thrust in the samples. The measurements and calculations depict that Co–Ni ferrite is better in terms of critical propulsion parameters C _m and I _sp. It has been observed that the propulsion parameters depend on the energy per pulse of the incident laser beam.     

The effect of target size on α-Fe nanoparticle preparation by?pulsed laser ablation

Two methods of preparing Fe nanoparticles at atmospheric pressure were conducted using pulsed laser ablation of a 0.5-mm-diameter Fe wire and a bulk Fe target. Passivated α-Fe nanoparticles covered with a shell of γ-Fe₂O₃ were prepared at different process parameters. The influences of average laser power, repetition rate, pulse duration and carrier-gas pressure on the mean particle size for two laser ablation methods were investigated, respectively. The results show that the target size has a large effect on the nanoparticle preparation though we have the same range of laser process parameters. Except the carrier-gas pressure, the influence of the laser parameters on the mean particle size is almost opposite for the two laser ablation methods. Besides, the ablation mechanisms were discussed to understand the variation of mean particle sizes with target size.     

掺杂红外染料聚叠氮缩水甘油醚工质激光烧蚀推进性能优化探索

选择含能聚合物聚叠氮缩水甘油醚(GAP)作为激光烧蚀微推力器的工质,分析了红外染料掺杂对激光烧蚀GAP工质推进性能的影响.通过对比掺杂红外染料GAP在不同激光功率密度、掺杂浓度、靶材厚度和激光烧蚀模式下的推进性能数据和烧蚀羽流,初步探索了掺杂红外染料GAP工质的推进性能优化方式.实验结果表明:透射式激光烧蚀模式下,激光能量的指数衰减特性和掺杂红外染料GAP的强黏性使得烧蚀羽流中易存在未充分烧蚀的工质; GAP的推进性能受红外染料掺杂浓度和靶材厚度的综合影响,当靶材厚度与激光吸收深度接近时,靶材充分吸收激光能量使中心烧蚀区达到化学能释放的温度阈值,同时沿激光传播方向未充分烧蚀的质量最少,此时推进性能达到最优值.反射式下掺杂红外染料的聚合物的激光烧蚀过程遵循"先吸收激光能量先喷射"的规律,工质分解充分,推进性能优于透射式.