Laser heating and ablation at high repetition rate in thermal confinement regime

Laser heating and ablation of materials with low absorption and thermal conductivity (paint and cement) were under experimental and theoretical investigations. The experiments were made with a high repetition rate Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (10 kHz, 90 ns pulse duration and λ = 532 nm). High repetition rate laser heating resulted in pulse per pulse heat accumulation. A theoretical model of laser heating was developed and demonstrated a good agreement between the experimental temperatures measured with the infrared pyrometer and the calculated ones. With the fixed wavelength and laser pulse duration, the ablation threshold fluence of paint was found to depend on the repetition rate and the number of applied pulses. With a high repetition rate, the threshold fluence decreased significantly when the number of applied pulses was increasing. The experimentally obtained thresholds were well described by the developed theoretical model. Some specific features of paint heating and ablation with high repetition rate lasers are discussed.     

Laser removal of loose uranium compound contamination from metal surfaces

Pulsed laser removal of surface contamination of uranyl nitrate and uranium dioxide from stainless steel has been studied. Most of the loosely bound contamination has been removed at fluence levels below 0.5 J cm⁻², leaving about 5% fixed contamination for uranyl nitrate and 15% for uranium dioxide. Both alpha and beta activities are then sufficiently low that contaminated objects can be taken out of a restricted radiation area for re-use. The ratio of beta to alpha activity is found to be a function of particle size and changes during laser removal. In a separate experiment using technetium-99m, the collection of removed radioactivity in the filter was studied and an inventory made of removed and collected contamination.     

Laser ablation and micropatterning of thin TiN coatings

Laser ablation of thin TiN films deposited on steel substrates has been studied under wide-range variation of irradiation conditions (pulsewidth, wavelength, energy density and spot size). It has been demonstrated that both picosecond (150–300 ps) and nanosecond (5–9 ns) laser pulses were suitable for controllable ablation and microstructuring of a 1-μm-thick TiN film unlike longer 150-ns pulses. The ablation rate was found to be practically independent of the wavelength (270–1078 nm) and pulsewidth (150 ps–9 ns), but it increased substantially when the size of a laser spot was reduced from 15–60 μm to 3 μm. The laser ablation technique was applied to produce microstructures in the thin TiN films consisting of microcraters with a typical size of 3–5 μm in diameter and depth less than 1 μm. Tests of lubricated sliding of the laser-structured TiN films against a steel ball showed that the durability of lubricated sliding increased by 25% as compared to that of the original TiN film. Received: 28 July 1999 / Accepted: 17 April 2000 / Published online: 20 September 2000     

Influence of laser fluence and irradiation timing of F2 laser on ablation properties of fused silica in F2-KrF excimer laser multi-wavelength excitation process

A collinear irradiation system of F₂ and KrF excimer lasers for high-quality and high-efficiency ablation of hard materials by the F₂ and KrF excimer lasers’ multi-wavelength excitation process has been developed. This system achieves well-defined micropatterning of fused silica with little thermal influence and little debris deposition. In addition, the dependence of ablation rate on various conditions such as laser fluence, irradiation timing of each laser beam, and pulse number is examined to investigate the role of the F₂ laser in this process. The multi-wavelength excitation effect is strongly affected by the irradiation timing, and an extremely high ablation rate of over 30 nm/pulse is obtained between -10 ns and 10 ns of the delay time of F₂ laser irradiation. The KrF excimer laser ablation threshold decreases and its effective absorption coefficient increases with increasing F₂ laser fluence. Moreover, the ablation rate shows a linear increase with the logarithm of KrF excimer laser fluence when the F₂ laser is simultaneously irradiated, while single KrF excimer laser ablation shows a nonlinear increase. The ablation mechanism is discussed based on these results. Received: 16 July 2001 / Accepted: 27 July 2001 / Published online: 2 October 2001     

Laser removal of copper particles from silicon wafers using UV, visible and IR radiation

Laser removal of small copper particles from silicon wafer surfaces was carried out using Nd:YAG laser radiation from near-infrared (1064 nm) through visible (532 nm) to ultraviolet (266 nm). It has been found that both 266 nm and 532 nm are successful in removing the particles from the surface whereas 1064 nm was shown to be ineffective in the removal of particles. The damage-threshold laser fluence at 266 nm was much higher than other wavelengths which provides a much wider regime for safe cleaning of the surface without causing any substrate damage. The cleaning efficiency was increased with a shorter wavelength. The effect of laser wavelength in the removal process is discussed by considering the adhesion force of the particle on the surface and the laser-induced cleaning forces for the three wavelengths. Received: 31 May 2000 / Accepted: 14 July 2000 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

Millimeter-long nanofibers of PMMA spun at super-high speed by ablation with a single pulse of a KrF excimer laser

A new form of matter removal in laser ablation is reported. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) nanofibers are obtained when a PMMA target is irradiated with a single pulse of a KrF excimer laser, whose beam is sharply imaged on a square of side the order of 140 μm, so that a strong intensity gradient is produced. The fluence threshold at which fibers appear, 3 J/cm², is much larger than the ablation threshold, approximately 0.8–1 J/cm². Above this fluence, the melt depth is then large enough and the temperature profile is such that explosive boiling is obtained. The model suggests an expulsion of energetic droplets from the intense pressure of the plume to the exterior of the spot. For the transient melt of a polymeric viscoelastic liquid resulting from UV-laser excitation, such droplets provide the heads of the jets pulled from the melt bath, giving rise, after solidification, to nanofibers. The speed of fiber spinning is extremely high (∼800 m/s) and unusual properties of the laser-produced nanofibers may be expected. Received: 16 April 2002 / Accepted: 17 April 2002 / Published online: 19 July 2002     

Laser surface alloying of Ni-plated steel with CO2 laser

Laser surface alloying of low carbon steel electroplated with thin (10 μm) Ni using an 850 W CW CO₂ laser is reported for the first time. Fe-Ni binary alloys of different concentrations are formed by varying laser traverse speed from 0.5 to 5 m/min. The phase transformation from α to α + γ is discussed as a function of Ni contents. Development of microstructure in the modified zone is analysed in terms of solidification rate and Ni concentration. A three-fold increase in the microhardness of the binary alloy is observed. Formation of homogenous, adherent and crack free surface alloys is reported.     

Femtosecond laser ablation of carbon reinforced polymers

Interaction of intense ultrashort laser pulses (120 fs at 795 nm) with polymer based composites has been investigated. We have found that carbon filled polymers exhibit different ultrafast ablation behaviour depending on whether the filling material is carbon black or carbon fiber and on the polymer matrix itself. The shape and dimensions of the filling material are responsible for some geometrical bad quality effects in the entrance and inner surfaces of drilled microholes. We give an explanation for these non-quality effects in terms of fundamentals of ultrafast ablation process, specifically threshold laser fluences and material removal paths. Since carbon fiber reinforced polymers seemed particularly concerned, this could prevent the use of ultrafast ablation for microprocessing purposes of some of these materials.     

Effect of gas residence time on the morphology of silicon surface etched in SF6 plasmas

This paper describes the effect of the SF₆ gas residence time on the morphology of silicon (1 0 0) samples etched in a reactive ion etching system. Profilometry and atomic force microscopy techniques were used to characterize the etching process focusing attention on the evolution of the surface morphology. Under the condition of variable pressure and gas flow rate, the decrease of the residence time leads to an increase of the silicon etch rate concomitantly with an increase of the surface roughness. Contrary fact is observed when the gas flow is fixed and the pressure is varied. Here, the increasing of residence time leads to a constant increase of silicon etch rate with small variations in final surface roughness. To better understanding this resident time effect, mass spectrometry analyses were realized during the discharge for both gas flow conditions.     

Laser ablation of polysulfone films: a laser ionization TOF mass spectrometric study

2 . Major peaks were assigned to direct fragments and recombination products ejected from the PS surface. The arrival profiles of these ablation products varied from product to product and were fitted by using a shifted Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution with a center-of-mass flight velocity [(1.4-5.6) ×10⁵ cm/s] and a Knudsen layer temperature (350–3810 K). Two types of ablation products, whose velocities and temperatures showed different dependences on laser fluence, were found to exist. Dynamical aspects in the decomposition of the polymer chain, the ejection of various fragments, and their expansion are discussed on the basis of a photothermal ablation model, where a heated surface layer with a temperature gradient along its depth plays an important role. Received: 11 August 1998/Accepted: 12 August 1998     

Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier with tunable repetition rate and pulse duration

A pulsed master-oscillator power fiber amplifier (MOPFA) system based on Yb³⁺-doped large mode area (LMA) double-clad optical fiber was developed. The system generated pulses of changeable duration ranging from about 8.5 to 250.0 ns at the repetition rate of up to 500 kHz. The laser system emitted up to 22 W of average output power at the wavelength of 1064 nm.     

Laser-induced periodic surface structures on different poly-carbonate films

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) were generated on oriented and amorphous thick, as well as on spin-coated thin, poly-carbonate films by polarized ArF excimer laser light. The influence of the film structure and thickness on the LIPSS formation was demonstrated. Below a critical thickness of the spin-coated films the line-shaped structures transformed into droplets. This droplet formation was explained by the laser-induced melting across the whole film thickness and subsequent de-wetting on the substrate. The thickness of the layer melted by laser illumination was computed by a heat-conduction model. Very good agreement with the critical thickness for spin-coated films was found. The original polymer film structure influences the index of refraction of the thin upper layer modified by the laser treatment, as was proven by the dependence of the structure’s period on the angle of incidence both for ‘s’- and ‘p’-polarized beams. The effect of the original surface roughness – grains in thick films or holes in thin films – was studied using atomic force microscopy. It was shown that the oblique incidence of ‘s’-polarized beams results in an intensity confinement in the direction of the forward scattering and in asymmetrical interference pattern formation around these irregularities. A new, two-dimensional grating-like structure was generated on spin-coated films. These gratings might be used as a special kind of mask. Received: 10 July 2001 / Accepted: 23 July 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

Fabrication of planar gratings by direct ablation using an ultrashort pulse laser in a common optical path configuration

Planar gratings have wide applications and to date, many methods for the fabrication of gratings have been reported. Ultrashort pulse lasers have been used for the machining of gratings primarily because they allow direct ablation and the manufacturing of sub-wavelength structures. In this paper, we present a novel direct ablation technique for the fabrication of planar gratings which makes use of the interference of ultrashort pulses in a common optical path configuration. This technique of grating fabrication not only simplifies the optical setup, but also immunizes the system to extraneous and inherent vibrations, thus enabling the manufacturing of planar gratings of good edge acuity. We have successfully fabricated planar gratings on a copper substrate. Received: 6 November 2001 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +65/77-904-674, E-mail: mvenkata@ntu.edu.sg     

Excimer laser polymer ablation: twenty years on

Research and development in excimer laser polymer ablation has been actively pursued for some twenty years, driven by interest in the basic science as well as by numerous applications that have emerged for this high-resolution technique for material removal. This paper reviews some of the basic mechanistic aspects of the UV laser–polymer interaction as a prelude to dealing with practical matters related to polymer processing by ablation. Applications in micro-machining and potential areas for future research are briefly covered. Received: 7 October 2002 / Accepted: 8 February 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +44-1482/465-606, E-mail: p.e.dyer@hull.ac.uk     

Photochemical effects in the UV laser ablation of polymers: Implications for laser restoration of painted artworks

0 ∝t^1/2. The best results are expected for a circular top-hat beam shape. Received: 15 January 1999 / Accepted: 18 January 1999     

Sub-wavelength Ripple Formation on Silicon Induced by Femtosecond Laser Radiation

Periodic microstructures on silicon bulk axe formed by the irradiation of the femtosecond laser with the laser wavelength of 800 nm and the pulse length of 130 fs. We investigate the surface periodic ripple structures produced by femtosecond laser treatment. The effects of feedrate of sample, v, on laser-induced surface topography are studied. We find that the femtosecond laser produce periodic ripples of the sub-micron level on silicon surface. At the same time, we realize the optimal conditions to produce these surface structures. When choosing NA = 0.3, and v = 2000μm/s or 3000μm/s, we find a series of periodic-structure ripples where the spacing is about 120 nm and the width is about 45nm. The experimental results indicate that femtosecond laser treatment can produce line arrays on the sub-micron level, which is a positive factor for fabricating grating and other optical applications in nanoscales.     

Femtosecond laser ablation of crystals SiO2 and YAG

Damage threshold of crystals SiO₂ and YAG against 60-900 fs, 800 nm laser pulses are reported. The breakdown mechanisms were discussed based on the double-flux model and Keldysh theory. We found that impact ionization plays the important role in the femtosecond laser-induced damage in crystalline SiO₂, while the roles of photoionization and impact ionization in YAG crystals depend on the laser pulse durations.     

Near field induced defects and influence of the liquid layer thickness in Steam Laser Cleaning of silicon wafers

The removal of particles from commercial silicon wafers by Steam Laser Cleaning was examined. Polystyrene colloids were used as model contaminants due to their well defined size and shape. In contrast to previous studies, where the experimental conditions on the surface were only roughly determined, special care was taken to control the amount of liquid applied to the surface. We report measurements of the cleaning threshold for different particle sizes. The comparability of the results was ensured by the reproducible conditions on the surface. Moreover, we studied the influence of different liquid film thicknesses on the cleaning process. Investigations of laser induced liquid evaporation showed that the cleaning threshold coincides with the fluence necessary for the onset of explosive vaporization. After particle removal, the surface was examined with an atomic force microscope. These investigations demonstrated that near field enhancement may cause defects on the nm-scale, but also showed that Steam Laser Cleaning possesses the capability of achieving damage-free removal for a large range of different particle sizes. Received: 14 January 2003 / Accepted: 16 January 2003 / Published online: 28 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-7531/88-3127, E-mail: florian.lang@uni-konstanz.de     

Dependence of stimulated Brillouin scattering in pulsed fiber amplifier on signal linewidth,pulse duration,and repetition rate

The dependencies of stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) threshold in pulsed fiber amplifiers on spectral linewidth,pulse duration,and repetition rate are measured and discussed.Experimental results show that the SBS threshold is highly related to spectral linewidth and pulse duration.Therefore,the power handling limitation in a pulsed fiber amplifier may be the average power in some cases and the peak power in others.