Abstract

Ablation of materials by short laser pulses is of interest in the areas of thin film deposition of semiconductors and superconductors, polymer etching, and in micromachining. Ablation by excimer nanosecond pulses has been successfully employed in industrial and scientific applications. However, the need for greater control over the ablated, material bas spawned, interest in the effects of shorter pulses. We have conducted a systematic investigation of ablation in the picosecond and femtosecond regimes. Experiments and theoretical calculations have been performed on the effects of short pulse, sub-nanosecond, laser irradiation of silicon and gold.

© 1994 Optical Society of America