A model based on a time-dependent treatment of the ablation of organic polymer surfaces by UV laser radiation is proposed. It relates the dynamics of the etching process to the experimental parameters such as the fluence, wavelength, and the width of the laser pulse. The model is applied to poly(methyl methacrylate) and to polyimide in order to predict the etch characteristics quantitatively and to compare them systematically to the experimental results. This model accounts for a wide variety of observations such as fluence thresholds, wavelength-dependent etch rates, ‘‘incubation’’ pulses, filtering by photofragments, fast intrapulse etching, thermal contributions, and even the influence of pulse compression so that a consistent picture of the mechanisms underlying the ablation process becomes apparent.

Articles you may be interested inEnhancement of material ablation using 248, 308, 532, 1064 nm laser pulse with a water film on the treated surface Study of surface reflectivity and etch rates of polyimide (Kapton H) utilizing doublepulsed 308 nm laser radiation Cumulative effect near ablation threshold of polymer by 308nm excimer laser pulse

No abstract

Articles you may be interested inTimeresolved infraredspectroscopic observation of relaxation and reaction processes during and after infraredmultiphoton excitation of 12CF3I and 13CF3I with shaped nanosecond pulsesThe rotating wave approximation, including the incorporation and importance of diagonal dipole moment matrix elements, for infrared multiphoton excitations Infraredmultiphoton excitation and wave packet motion of the harmonic and anharmonic oscillators: Exact solutions and quasiresonant approximation

No abstract