Micromachining results using industrial fluorine lasers at 157 nm

Summary form only given.Our studies utilized a fluorine laser (Lambda Physik NovaLine F600) with more than 20 mJ/ pulse at 600 Hz. The samples were machined by mask imaging. Since radiation at 157 nm is strongly absorbed by oxygen and water vapor, we evacuated the beam path from the output coupler to the objective lens and purged (N/sub 2/) the path between the objective lens and the sample. As a fluorine laser is electrically and mechanically similar to an excimer, we employed an ArF mix into the fluorine laser in order to keep all aspects of the setup equal. We produced features at a fixed fluence of 6.5 J/cm/sup 2/, examined the smoothness of the ablated area, the edge quality and the surrounding material for damage resulting from thermal loading.