Laser-induced forward transfer: the effect of pulse width and target-substrate distance

Summary form only given. The laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a promising method for micron-sized thin films deposition onto a substrate. This method has the advantages of simplicity, fast deposition rate, applicability for different materials, micron-sized patterned deposition, and so on. In this study, in order to investigate the effect of laser pulse width on the deposition characteristics of LIFT, deposition of micronsized gold thin films was carried out with different pulse widths from 140 fs to 60 /spl mu/s. The morphologies of the ablated area on the target and the deposited film were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for different pulse durations of ablation lasers and target substrate distances.