Microdeposition of metal and oxide structures using ultrashort laser pulses

Microdeposition of chromium metal and indium oxide microstructures via femtosecond KrF excimer laser (248 nm) ablation in a forward-transfer mode has been studied. The short pulse length, the short absorption length, and the consequently limited thermal diffusion, lower the ablation threshold and enable the deposition of high-definition features. Experiments carried out in a low-vacuum (0.1 Torr) environment result in highly reproducible, well-adhered structures of submicron size. Microdeposition of Cr and polycrystalline In2O3 on glass and silicon substrates is performed. The superior quality of the results allows the direct, one-step fabrication of binary-amplitude and multilevel optical diffractive structures.