Abstract
We present a novel experimental apparatus that can be used for extensive systematic studies of (single- and multi-shot) ultra-short laser pulse ablation. It is fully automated and generates a large number of ablation sites in a short time on a small sample surface area. For each site, the apparatus takes four in situ images: an image of the incident ablation beam (to determine pulse energy), a white light reference image of the pristine sample site, an image of the reflected ablation spot, and a white light image of the ablated sample site. The setup can perform ablation experiments as a function of many parameters, including pulse energy, pulse duration, number of pulses, time between pulses, and focus size. As a proof of concept, we present example results on single-shot ablation off crystalline silicon. Using only data acquired in situ in the presented setup, we determine the single-shot ablation threshold as a function of pulse duration and verify the threshold value using optical interferometric profilometry. The values we found agree well with literature values.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 073003 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Journal | Review of Scientific Instruments |
| Volume | 93 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This publication is part of the project “Wafer damage control: understanding and preventing light-induced material changes in optical measurement systems” (with Project No. 17963) of the research program High Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM), which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The project is co-financed by ASM Laser Separation International (ALSI) and ASML. The authors thank Paul Planken, Javier Hernandez Rueda, and Vina Faramarzi for the careful reading of the manuscript and Paul Jurrius, Dante Killian, Aron Opheij, Cees de Kok, Guido de Haan, Ester Abram, Dimitry Lamers, and Igor Hoogsteder for technical support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Author(s).
Funding
This publication is part of the project “Wafer damage control: understanding and preventing light-induced material changes in optical measurement systems” (with Project No. 17963) of the research program High Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM), which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The project is co-financed by ASM Laser Separation International (ALSI) and ASML. The authors thank Paul Planken, Javier Hernandez Rueda, and Vina Faramarzi for the careful reading of the manuscript and Paul Jurrius, Dante Killian, Aron Opheij, Cees de Kok, Guido de Haan, Ester Abram, Dimitry Lamers, and Igor Hoogsteder for technical support.