Femtosecond pulsed laser ablation of thin gold film

✍ Scribed by K. Venkatakrishnan; B. Tan; B.K.A. Ngoi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 370 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0030-3992
• DOI: 10.1016/s0030-3992(01)00110-4

✦ Synopsis

Laser micromachining on 1000 nm-thick gold ÿlm using femtosecond laser has been studied. The laser pulses that are used for this study are 400 nm in central wavelength, 150 fs in pulse duration, and the repetition rate is 1 kHz. Plano-concave lens with a focal length of 19 mm focuses the laser beam into a spot of 3 m (1=e 2 diameter). The sample was translated at a linear speed of 400 m=s during machining. Grooves were cut on gold thin ÿlm with laser pulses of various energies. The ablation depths were measured and plotted. There are two ablation regimes. In the ÿrst regime, the cutting is very shallow and the edges are free of molten material. While in the second regime, molten material appears and the cutting edges are contaminated. The results suggest that clean and precise microstructuring can be achieved with femtosecond pulsed laser by controlling the pulse energy in the ÿrst ablation regime.