Possibility of controllable ablation by femtosecond lasers

We are studying the laser ablation of ceramics and semiconductors by the femtosecond laser (800 nm wavelength, 100 fs pulse duration) in air. The ceramics (Al₂O₃) and the silicon single crystal (<100>, P-types) were used as the target material. The crater profiles were analyzed using the confocal laser scanning microscope. We used two methods to evaluate the ablation rate. The ablation thresholds were determined by the ablation rate dependence on the laser fluence. Reproducibility and controllability of the ablation characteristics for the ceramics and semiconductors will be summarized