Advances in excimer laser surface processing of materials

The use of pulsed excimer lasers to surface processing of materials hinges on an understanding of the nature of the interaction between the laser energy and the material. One of the advantages of excimer laser processing is the relative uniformity of that interaction across diverse materials. The short wavelength, (200-400 nm depending on the laser gas) and the short pulse length (30 ns) mean that for most materials, the energy is absorbed in a region of the surface that is shallow (10 nm) relative to the thermal diffusion length (100 nm) in the material.