Modeling of femtosecond ablation of aluminum film with single laser pulses

Detailed investigation of pulsed laser ablation dynamics is performed for aluminum target under action of 100 fs pulses with peak intensity 3.95 × 10¹² W/cm² and wavelength 0.8 μm.Non-equilibrium two-temperature model with hydrodynamic Stephan problem was used for modeling. Explicit tracking of moving interphase boundaries permits exact determination of their velocity and amount of removed and evaporated material. Detailed ablation process is analyzed using the study of temperature, pressure and density evolution in the target. High phase front velocities (melting up to 5 km/s and evaporation up to 350 m/s) are caused by strong overheating of solid and liquid phases.     

Short-pulse ablation rates and the two-temperature model

A numerical simulation of the two-temperature model has been performed for Au, Ag, Cu and Al. Based on findings in the numerical simulation, an analytical model for the ablation rates in the high fluence regime is proposed. Furthermore, it is shown that a temperature-dependent electron-lattice coupling must be introduced to have qualitative agreement with the logarithmic growth in the low fluence regime. For aluminum, experimental ablation rates with varying fluence is presented and compared with the numerical simulation.     

Metal thin film ablation with femtosecond pulsed laser

Micromachining thin metal films coated on glass are widely used to repair semiconductor masks and to fabricate optoelectrical and MEMS devices. The interaction of lasers and materials must be understood in order to achieve efficient micromachining. This work investigates the morphology of thin metal films after machining with femtosecond laser ablation using about 1 μm diameter laser beam. The effect of the film thickness on the results is analyzed by comparing experimental images with data obtained using a two-temperature heat transfer model. The experiment was conducted using a high numerical aperture objective lens and a temporal pulse width of 220 fs on 200- and 500-nm-thick chromium films. The resulting surface morphology after machining was due to the thermal incubation effect, low thermal diffusivity of the glass substrate, and thermodynamic flow of the metal induced by volumetric evaporation. A Fraunhofer diffraction pattern was found in the 500-nm-thick film, and a ripple parallel to the direction of the laser light was observed after a few multiple laser shots. These results are useful for applications requiring micro- or nano-sized machining.     

Multi-material two-temperature model for simulation of ultra-short laser ablation

We investigate the interaction of 100 fs laser pulses with metal targets at moderate intensities (10¹² to 5 × 10¹³ W/cm²). To take into account effects of laser energy absorption and relaxation we develop a multi-material two-temperature model based on a combination of different approaches. The backbone of the numerical model is a high-order multi-material Godunov method in a purely Eulerian form. This formulation includes an interface-tracking algorithm and treats spallation at high strain rates and negative pressures. The model consistently describes the hydrodynamic motion of a two-temperature plasma and accounts for laser energy absorption, electron-phonon/ions coupling and electron heat conductivity. In particular, phase transitions are accurately taken into account by means of a wide-range two-temperature multi-phase equation of state in a tabular form. The dynamics of the phase transitions and the evolution of the heat-affected zone are modeled and analyzed. We have found that a careful treatment of the transport coefficients, as well as consideration of phase transitions is of a great importance in obtaining reliable numerical results. Calculation results are furthermore compared for two metals with different electron-phonon coupling parameters (Au and Al). We have found that the main part of ablated material results from fragmentation of melted phase caused by tensile stresses. A homogeneous nucleation mechanism alone does not explain experimentally observed ablation depth.     

Ultra-short pulse laser ablation of copper, silver and tungsten: experimental data and two-temperature model simulations

Experimental results of femtosecond laser ablation of the metals copper, silver and tungsten are compared to simulations based on the two-temperature model. The comparison provides new information about the laser-heating process: For the noble metals (Cu, Ag), the energy transport via ballistic electrons must be included, while this effect is negligible for a transition metal (W). The comparison provides values for the range of ballistic electrons in the noble metals. The model calculation is also employed to investigate the dependence of the threshold fluence and melting depth on pulse duration. It is observed that for pulses shorter than approximately 1 ps the threshold fluence and melting depth are independent of the pulse duration, while they increase as τ ^0.47 and τ ^0.51, respectively, for pulses longer than ∼40 ps, in good agreement with approximate analytical expressions predicting a ?{t}\sqrt{\tau} dependence.     

Thermal analysis of intense femtosecond laser ablation of aluminum

This paper numerically simulates the process of ablation of an aluminum target by an intense femtosecond laser with a fluence of 40 J/cm 2 based on the two-temperature equation,and obtains the evolution of the free electron temperature and lattice temperature over a large temporal and depth range,for the first time. By investigating the temporal evolution curves of the free electron temperature and lattice temperature at three representative depths of 0,100 nm and 500 nm,it reveals different characteristics and mechanisms of the free electron temperature evolution at different depths. The results show that,in the intense femtosecond laser ablation of aluminum,the material ablation is mainly induced by the thermal conduction of free electrons,instead of the direct absorption of the laser energy; in addition,the thermal conduction of free electrons and the coupling effect between electrons and lattice will induce the temperature of free electrons deep inside the target to experience a process from increase to decrease and finally to increase again.     

Time-resolved shadowgraphs and morphology analyses of aluminum ablation with multiple femtosecond laser pulses

Aluminum ablation by multiple femtosecond laser pulses is investigated via time-resolved shadowgraphs and scanning electron microscope(SEM) images of the ablation spot. The spatial distribution of the ejected material and the radius of the shock wave generated during the ablation are found to vary with the increase in the number of pulses. In the initial two pulses, nearly concentric and semicircular stripes within the shock wave front are observed, unlike in subsequent pulses. Ablation by multiple femtosecond pulses exhibits different characteristics compared with the case induced by single femtosecond pulse because of the changes to the aluminum target surface induced by the preceding pulses.     

Sub-micron ablation of metallic thin film by femtosecond pulse laser

The ability to machine very small features in a material has a wide range of applications in industry. We ablated holes into thin film of 100 nm thickness made from various metals by femtosecond pulsed laser ablation. Using a Ti:Sapphire laser which supplies a laser pulse of 150 fs duration at central spectrum wavelength of 400 nm, we have produced a series sub-micron holes, whose diameters are less than 200 nm with a focused laser spot of 1.7 μm. We found that the material damage threshold has a great influence on the quality of the produced features. Experimental results shows that the heat-affected zone and the degree of being affected reduce with the increase of threshold value.     

Micromachining of a thin film by laser ablation using femtosecond laser with masks

A gold thin film was machined by laser ablation using a femtosecond laser with mask patterns in the shape of lines and numbers. The patterns were successfully transferred with proper focusing and laser fluence. The optimal femtosecond laser fluence to keep the line width was about 5.2 mJ/cm² on the mask, and 99 mJ/cm² on the film. The processing resolution was 13 μm, and the narrowest line width was about 4 μm.     

基于双相延迟模型的飞秒激光烧蚀金属模型

为了分析飞秒激光烧蚀过程,在双相延迟模型的基础上建立了双曲型热传导模型.模型中考虑了靶材的加热、蒸发和相爆炸,还考虑了等离子体羽流的形成和膨胀及其与入射激光的相互作用,以及光学和热物性参数随温度的变化.研究结果表明:等离子体屏蔽对飞秒激光烧蚀过程有重要的影响,特别是在激光能量密度较高时;两个延迟时间的比值对飞秒激光烧蚀过程中靶材的温度特性和烧蚀深度有较大的影响;飞秒激光烧蚀机制主要以相爆炸为主.飞秒激光烧蚀的热影响区域较小,而且热影响区域的大小受激光能量密度的影响较小.计算结果与文献中实验结果的对比表明基于双相延迟模型的飞秒激光烧蚀模型能有效对飞秒激光烧蚀过程进行模拟.     

Single-shot front-side nanoscale femtosecond laser ablation of a thin silver film

Nano- and microscale holes, as well as related sub-ablative nanospikes and sub-micron bumps, were produced in a 30-nm thick silver film on a silica substrate by single femtosecond laser pulses with variable pulse energies, focused by different strong focusing optics. Characteristic laser energy deposition dimensions exceed the expected focal spots by nearly 2 microns, indicating the considerable lateral thermal transport in the film, while the effective hole formation thresholds decrease versus increasing numerical aperture of focusing optics. Morphologies of the sub-ablative solidified surface nanostructures and numerical estimates of deposited volume energy density undermine blowing-off the molten film due to subsurface boiling and near-critical phase explosion at lower and higher sub-threshold fluences, respectively.     

Effect of film properties on the material removing characteristics in femtosecond laser rear-side ablation of chromium film

The microfabrication of films with femtosecond lasers has been researched widely for its high spatial resolution and sub-spot-size features. Compared with the common front-side ablation, femtosecond laser rear-side ablation mechanism of films is more complex due to the possible film breaking process. In this paper, the effect of film properties such as adhesion strength and cohesion strength on the material removing characteristics in femtosecond laser rear-side ablation of Cr film is investigated. The possible film breaking process in the rear-side ablation is analyzed firstly, and then some experiments with different films, the vapor deposited Cr film, the sputtered Cr film and the Cr film of photomask are performed. The experimental results indicate that the film properties are key factors influencing material removal characteristics for laser rear-side ablation. By varying film properties and laser fluence, femtosecond laser rear-side ablation technique can be applied in laser cleaning process and fabrication of nanostructures. The unique feature of rear-side ablation will widen the application of femtosecond laser micromachining technique.     

Time-resolved shadowgraphs of material ejection in intense femtosecond laser ablation of aluminum

The dynamic process of intense 50 fs laser ablation of aluminum is investigated by ultrafast time-resolved microscopy. A stripe pattern preceding phase explosion is clearly seen in the shadowgraph of 1 ns time delay. Intermittent material ejections are observed within the ejected plume after 2.5 and 7 ns time delay, respectively, which may be attributed to the material response to the generation of an extremely strong thermoelastic wave. Similar processes are also recorded in the ablation of silicon and glass samples, except for the glass samples, the intermittent material ejections are not found.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of cluster distribution from femtosecond laser ablation in aluminum

Femtosecond laser ablation and plume evolution of aluminum is investigated for various inhomogeneous laser pulses. For the simulations of the atoms the molecular dynamics code IMD is used. The ablated gas-phase is scanned by a cluster algorithm (DBSCAN), from which we gain a cluster size distribution of the ablated material. Per single pulse, only a small portion of the total volume evaporates into the gas phase. Therefore??to have reasonable statistics??we have to deal with huge samples (6×10⁷?atoms). The ablation threshold is determined by comparing the depth of the holes to the applied fluence. Angular and velocity distributions of the plume are compared to experiments.     

飞秒脉冲激光加热金属薄膜的理论和实验研究

超短脉冲激光加热可应用于研究材料中载能子之间的超快相互作用,同时也广泛应用于超快激光加工.此前人们提出的双温度模型和抛物一步模型都只能用于描述超短脉冲激光加热金属薄膜后热量传递过程的特定片段.基于双温度模型和傅里叶导热定律,提出普适的理论模型可用于完整描述飞秒激光加热金属薄膜/基底时的整个热量传递过程.同时在300 K温度下,采用背面抽运-表面探测瞬态热反射法实验研究了飞秒脉冲激光加热金属薄膜的热量传递过程,理论预测曲线和实验测量结果符合较好,验证了理论模型的正确性.基于此模型测量得到了金薄膜的电子-声子 关键词： 飞秒脉冲激光 电子-声子耦合 界面热导 瞬态热反射     

Improved two-temperature model including electron density of states effects for Au during femtosecond laser pulses

The electron temperature dependences of the electron–phonon coupling factor and electron heat capacity based on the electron density of states are investigated for precious metal Au under femtosecond laser irradiation. The thermal excitation of d band electrons is found to result in large deviations from the commonly used approximations of linear temperature dependence of the electron heat capacity, and the constant electron–phonon coupling factor. Results of the simulations performed with the two-temperature model demonstrate that the electron–phonon relaxation time becomes short for high fluence laser for Au. The satisfactory agreement between our numerical results and experimental data of threshold fluence indicates that the electron temperature dependence of the thermophysical parameters accounting for the thermal excitation of d band electrons should not be neglected under the condition that electron temperature is higher than 10⁴ K.     

Damage mechanism and morphology characteristics of chromium film in femtosecond laser rear-side ablation

In this paper, damage mechanism and morphology characteristics of chromium film in femtosecond laser rear-side ablation are investigated. The film removing process includes two key sub-processes: the laser ablation dynamic process and subsequent breaking and ejecting dynamic process. Film morphology in rear-side ablation is determined by the interrelation between the laser energy and the film strength. When lower laser energy is used, residual out-layer film is relative thick and tends to break into some large fragments, which results in an irregular ablation shape. While when higher pulse energy is used, thinner residual film with weaker break strength breaks into small fragments, the ablation quality improves correspondingly. Besides laser energy and film property, energy distribution of laser beam also affects the ablation quality. In experiments, this kind of effect is researched by changing the focal position. It is found that ripples, which are familiar nano-structures in front-side ablation, also exist in rear-side ablation. These ripples are formed initially at the interface between quartz substrate and film, and their coverage varies with the energy distribution. Additionally, increasing number of scans is an effective method to shorten the period of ripples.     

Laser ablation of metals by femtosecond pulses: Theoretical and experimental study

We have investigated ultrashort laser micromachining of metals, both from the point of view of the basic physical processes, and the technological implications. The process of hole drilling of Ni with ≈300 fs SHG (λ = 527 nm) Nd-glass and Al samples with 100 fs Ti:sapphire (λ = 800 nm) laser pulses, respectively, has been experimentally addressed by using time-gated optical emission spectroscopy of the ablated material and SEM analysis of the targets. The ablation process has also been analyzed by classical, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, by using a Morse potential to describe the interaction between the atoms, and taking into account the electron heat diffusion contribution. The dependence of the ablation depth on laser fluence, as measured by SEM analysis, is in good agreement with the numerical simulations and is also well correlated with the optical emission yield of the expanding plume.