Ultraviolet laser ablation of polymers: spot size, pulse duration, and plume attenuation effects explained

A versatile model for ultraviolet (UV) laser ablation of polymers is presented, which is very successfully applied to the calculation of a variety of different properties of this process, including the influence of plume attenuation dynamics. The polymer is described as a system of chromophores with two possible electronic states. The model is based on the combination of photothermal decomposition and photodissociative bond breaking in the electronically excited state. Laser induced chemical modifications are incorporated via different absorption coefficients for the initial and for the modified polymer after absorption of UV light. Dynamic attenuation of the expanding ablation plume and heat conduction are taken into account. The results of the theoretical calculations are compared with the results of three different series of experiments performed with polyimide (PI) and polymethylmethacrylate at the excimer laser wavelength 248 nm and with PI also at 308 nm: (1) Measurement of the ablation rate as a function of fluence for four different pulse durations between 20 and 250 ns; (2) Measurements of the ablation rate as a function of fluence for five different laser irradiation spot radii between 10 and 150 mu m, and (3) Time resolved measurement of the dynamic plume attenuation at the ablating laser wavelength as a function of fluence for four different pulse durations between 20 and 250 ns. The model leads to a prediction of etch rates, ablation thresholds, plume attenuation, and surface temperatures during the ablation process, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The observed increase of the ablation rate with increasing pulse length and with decreasing laser spot size can be explained by the model as a consequence of laser induced modified absorption in combination with the dynamic shielding of the expanding plume. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.