Effect of surface roughness on femtosecond laser ablation of 4H-SiC substrates

Ablation threshold is an important concept in the study of femtosecond laser micro-and nano-machining.In this paper,the ablation experiments of three kinds of surface roughness 4H-Si C substrates irradiated by femtosecond laser were carried out.The feature thresholds were systematically measured for three surface roughness Si C substrates and found in the modification and annealing regions ranging from coincidence(R_(a)=0.5 nm)to a clear demarcation(R_(a)=5.5 nm),eventually being difficult to identify the presence of the former(R_(a)=89 nm).Under multi-pulse laser irradiation,oriented ripple structures were generated in the annealing region,where deep subwavelength ripples(about 110 nm,Λ≈0.2λ)can be generated above substrates with surface roughness higher than 5.5 nm.We investigated the effect of surface roughness on the ablation morphology,ablation threshold,and periodic structures of femtosecond laser ablation of 4H-Si C substrates,while the ablation threshold was tended to decrease and stabilize with the increase of pulse number N≥500.

Effects of Parameters in Femtosecond Laser Micromachining on Ablation of Silicon

A series of ablation experiments on silicon surface by femtosecond laser system of 775 nm and 150 fs duration pulses were carried out.The morphological characteristics and the associated effect in the ablation were tested by atomic force microscope(AFM),scanning electron microscope(SEM),focused ion beam(FIB),and the optic microscope.The single pulse threshold can be obtained directly.For the multiple pulses,the ablation threshold varies with the number of pulses applied to the surface due to the incubation effect.By analyzing the experimental data,the thresholds of laser fluences under various laser pulse numbers were obtained,and the relationships between ablation area and laser energy and laser pulse number were concluded.Meanwhile,the periodic ripple structure on silicon surface was found.Under the condition of certain laser power,the number of laser pulse can influence the formation of ripples.

Effect of fluence and ambient environment on the surface and structural modification of femtosecond laser irradiated Ti

Under certain conditions, ultrafast pulsed laser interaction with matter leads to the formation of self-organized conical as well as periodic surface structures （commonly reffered to as, laser induced periodic surface structures, LIPSS）. The purpose of the present investigations is to explore the effect of fsec laser fluence and ambient environments （Vacuum ＆ 02） on the formation of LIPSS and conical structures on the Ti surface. The surface morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The ablation threshold with single and multiple （N = 100） shots and the existence of an incubation effect was demonstrated by SEM investigations for both the vacuum and the 02 environment. The phase analysis and chemical composition of the exposed targets were performed by x-ray diffraction （XRD） and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy （EDS）, respectively. SEM investigations reveal the formation of LIPSS （nano ＆ micro）. FFT d-spacing calculations illustrate the dependence of periodicity on the fluence and ambient environment. The periodicity of nano-scale LIPSS is higher in the case of irradiation under vacuum conditions as compared to 02. Furthermore, the 02 environment reduces the ablation threshold. XRD data reveal that for the 02 environment, new phases （oxides of Ti） are formed. EDS analysis exhibits that after irradiation under vacuum conditions, the percentage of impurity element （A1） is reduced. The irradiation in the 02 environment results in 15% atomic diffusion of oxygen.

Femtosecond laser ablation of Au film around single pulse threshold

Ablation process of 1-kHz femtosecond lasers （pulse duration of 148 fs, wavelength of 775 nm） of Au film on silica substrates is studied. The thresholds for single and multi pulses can be obtained directly from the relation between the squared diameter D^2 of the ablated craters and the laser fluence Ф0. From the plot of the accumulated laser fluence NCth（N） and the number of laser pulses N, incubation coefficient of Au film is obtained to be 0.765. Some experimental data obtained around the single pulse threshold are in good agreement with the theoretical calculation.