Appl. Phys.

A 63, 109115 (1996)

Femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond laser ablation of solids
B.N. Chichkov, C. Momma, S. Nolte, F. von Alvensleben, A. Tu nnermann
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Hollerithallee 8, D-30419 Hannover, Germany
(Fax: #49-511/2788-100)
Received: 23 February 1996/Accepted: 27 February 1996
Abstract. Laser ablation of solid targets by 0.25000 ps
Ti : Sapphire laser pulses is studied. Theoretical models
and qualitative explanations of experimental results are
presented. Advantages of femtosecond lasers for precise
material processing are discussed and demonstrated.
PACS: 81.15
Ecient use of lasers for precise material processing is
impossible without a thorough knowledge of the funda-
mental laws governing the interaction of laser radiation
with matter. For this goal systematic studies of the laser-
matter interaction are necessary. Due to the recent pro-
gress of laser systems, especially those based on the chir-
ped pulse amplication (CPA) technique, such systematic
studies have become possible in a very broad range of
laser parameters. With CPA systems the laser pulse dura-
tion can be varied from about one hundred femtoseconds
to several nanoseconds leaving other laser parameters
unchanged. This allows to perform a very detailed analy-
sis of dierent nonstationary laser-matter interaction pro-
cesses. As an example, recent investigations of the damage
threshold [1], of the ablation threshold [2], and of the
high-intensity laser ablation [3] can be mentioned. Note
that such systematic studies have just begun, much more
should be done for the understanding and demonstration
of the potential of femtosecond laser systems for precise
material processing.
Recently several experiments [46] comparing laser
ablation of solid targets by femtosecond and nanosecond
pulses have been performed. In [4] and [5, 6] advantages
of femtosecond lasers for precise material processing with
dye and excimer laser systems have been demonstrated. In
this paper, we present our results on ablation and hole
drilling with a commercial, 10 Hz, femtosecond Ti : Sap-
phire laser system which provides laser pulses at 780 nm
with a pulse energy of up to 100 mJ and a variable pulse
duration in the range of 0.2 to 5000 ps. Experiments are
performed in a low uence regime, slightly above the
evaporation threshold. This regime is most interesting for
precise material processing, since in this case the energy
deposited into the solid and the heat-aected zones are
minimized. We discuss and demonstrate advantages of the
femtosecond-pulse lasers. We hope that our results can
stimulate new investigations in this eld. In Sect. 1, char-
acteristic features of the low uence laser ablation of metal
targets in three dierent pulse duration regimes: fem-
tosecond, picosecond and nanosecond are considered.
The experimental setup and results are presented in
Sect. 2.
1 Theoretical background
During the interaction of low intensity short laser pulses
with metal targets the laser energy is absorbed by free
electrons, due to the inverse Bremsstrahlung. Then the
evolution of the absorbed laser energy involves thermali-
zation within the electron subsystem, energy transfer to
the lattice, and energy losses due to the electron heat
transport into the target. If we assume that the thermaliz-
ation within the electron subsystem is very fast and that
the electron and the lattice subsystems can be character-
ized by their temperatures (
C
and
G
), the energy trans-
port into the metal can be described by the following
one-dimensional, two-temperature diusion model [7, 8]:
C
C
c
C
ct
"!
cQ(z)
cz
! (
C
!
G
)#S, (1)
C
G
c
G
ct
" (
C
!
G
) , (2)
Q(z) "!k
C
c
C
/cz, S"I(t) A: exp (!:z) . (3)
Here z is the direction perpendicular to the target surface,
Q(z) is the heat ux, S is the laser heating source term, I(t)
is the laser intensity, A"1!R and : are the surface
transmissivity and the material absorption coecient,
C
C
and C
G
are the heat capacities (per unit volume) of the
electron and lattice subsystems, is the parameter charac-
terizing the electron-lattice coupling, k
C
is the electron
thermal conductivity. In the above equations a thermal
conductivity in the lattice subsystem (phonon component)
is neglected. The electronic heat capacity is much less than
the lattice heat capacity, therefore electrons can be heated
to very high transient temperatures. When the electron
temperature (in units of energy) remains smaller than the
Fermi energy, the electron heat capacity and the
nonequilibrium electron thermal conductivity are given
by C
C
"C'
C

C
(where C'
C
is a constant) and k
C
"k

(
G
)

C
/
G
(where k

(
G
) is the conventional equilibrium ther-
mal conductivity of a metal) [911]. Expressions for the
coupling constant are given in [7, 12] and results of
recent measurements in [11, 13, 14].
Equations (13) have three characteristic time scales t
C
,
t
G
and t
*
, where t
C
"C
C
/ is the electron cooling time,
t
G
"C
G
/ is the lattice heating time (t
C
t
G
) and t
*
is the
duration of the laser pulse. These parameters dene three
dierent regimes of the laser-metal interaction which we
call femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond regimes.
Femtosecond pulses
First we consider the case when the laser pulse duration is
shorter than the electron cooling time, t
*
t
C
. For tt
C
,
which is equivalent to C
C

C
/t
C
, the electron-lattice
coupling can be neglected. In this case (1) can be easily
solved. Since the general solution of this equation is quite
complicated, we neglect the electron heat conduction term
in our formulas. This can be done when the following
condition is fullled D
C
t
*
(:\, where D
C
"k
C
/C
C
is the
electron thermal diusivity. In this case (1) reduces to
C'
C
c
C
/ct"2I
?
: exp(!:z) (4)
and gives

C
(t)"

#
2I
?
:
C'
C
t exp (!:z)

. (5)
Here I(t)"I

is assumed constant, I
?
"I

A, and

"
C
(0) is the initial temperature. At the end of the
laser pulse the electron temperature is given by

C
(t
*
)K

2F
?
:
C'
C

exp(!z/o) , (6)
where
C
(t
*
)

is assumed, F
?
"I
?
t
*
is the absorbed
laser uence, and o"2/: is the skin depth.
The evolution of the electron and lattice temperatures
after the laser pulse is described by (13) with S"0. Initial
conditions for the electron and lattice temperatures are
given by (6) and
G
"

. After the laser pulse the elec-

trons are rapidly cooled due to the energy transfer to the
lattice and heat conduction into the bulk. Since this elec-
tron cooling time is very short, (2) can be written as

G
K
C
(t
*
) t/t
G
(here the initial lattice temperature is
neglected). The attainable lattice temperature is deter-
mined by the average cooling time of the electrons
t?
C
"C'
C

C
(t
*
)/2 and is given by

G
<
C
(t
*
)
C'
C
2C
G
K
F
?
:
C
G
exp (!:z) . (7)
Note that the problem of the hot electron relaxation
dynamics in metals after the excitation by a femtosecond
laser pulse has been intensively studied during the last
years [1416]. It has been shown that the time scale for
the fast electron cooling and a considerable energy trans-
fer to the lattice is of the order of 1 ps.
The signicant evaporation occurs when C
G

G
be-
comes larger than jD, where j is the density and D is
the specic (per unit mass) heat of evaporation. Using (7),
we can write the condition for strong evaporation in the
form
F
?
5F
RF
exp(:z) , (8)
where F
RF
KjD/: is the threshold laser uence for evapo-
ration with femtosecond pulses. Then the ablation depth
per pulse is
K:\ ln(F
?
/F
RF
) . (9)
The logarithmic dependence of the ablation depth on the
laser pulse uence is well known for the laser ablation of
organic polymers. Recently the logarithmic dependence of
the ablation depth per pulse has been demonstrated for
metal targets with femtosecond KrF-laser pulses [5].
Due to the very short time scales involved in the
ablation with femtosecond laser pulses the ablation pro-
cess can be considered as a direct solid-vapor (or solid-
plasma) transition. In this case the lattice is heated on
a picosecond time scale which results in the creation of
vapor and plasma phases followed by a rapid expansion in
vacuum. During all these processes thermal conduction
into the target can be neglected in a rst approximation.
These advantages of femtosecond laser pulses allow very
precise and pure laser-processing of metals (and other
solids) which is experimentally demonstrated below.
Picosecond pulses
Now we turn to the discussion of ablation with
picosecond laser pulses when the following condition is
fullled t
C
t
*
t
G
.
At a time tt
C
which is equivalent to C
C

C
/t
C
,
(1) for the electron temperature becomes quasistationary,
and (13) reduce to
c/cz (k
C
c
C
/cz)!(
C
!
G
)#I
?
: exp(!:z)"0, (10)

G
"
1
t
G
R

exp

!
t!0
t
G

C
(0) d0#

. (11)
Here (2) for the lattice temperature is written in the inte-
gral form. These equations describe heating of metal tar-
gets by the laser pulses with t
*
t
C
. When the condition
tt
G
is fullled, (11) can be simplied due to the quasi-
stationary character of the electron temperature. Neglect-
ing

, we get

G
<
C
(1!exp(!t/t
G
)) <(t/t
G
)
C
. (12)
As can be seen from this expression, in the picosecond
regime the lattice temperature remains much less than the
110
electron temperature. This allows to neglect the lattice
temperature in (10). The analysis of (10, 12) is especially
simple when the condition k
C

C
:
C
is fullled.
In this case the electron cooling is due to the energy
exchange with the lattice. The electron temperature and
the lattice temperature at the end of the laser pulse are
given by

C
<
I
?
:

exp(!:z) ,
G
<
F
?
:
C
G
exp(!:z) . (13)
Note that the attainable lattice temperature after the laser
pulse is again determined by the electron cooling time.
Since t
C
t
*
, the attainable lattice temperature and
the lattice temperature at the end of the laser pulse are
approximately equal. In femtosecond and picosecond
regimes (7) and (13) give the same expressions for the
lattice temperature. Therefore, the condition for strong
evaporation given by (8), the uence threshold and
the ablation depth per pulse given by (9) remain un-
changed.
Thus, the logarithmic dependence of the ablation
depth on the laser pulse uence is also possible in the
picosecond range. In our derivations we have neglected
the electron heat conduction into the target. This is a very
crude assumption for the description of laser ablation of
metal targets in the picosecond regime. Laser ablation in
this case is accompanied by the electron heat conduction
and formation of a melted zone inside the target. In spite
that at the surface we can again consider evaporation as
a direct solid-vapor (or solid-plasma) transition, the pres-
ence of the liquid phase inside the target reduces the
precision of laser processing of metals in this regime (see
below).
Nanosecond pulses
Here we briey discuss ablation with nanosecond laser
pulses when the condition t
*
t
G
is fullled. In this case
the electron and lattice temperatures are equal

C
"
G
", and (13) reduce to
C
G
c/ct"c/cz (k

c/cz)#I
?
: exp(!:z) . (14)
Laser heating of metal targets by long laser pulses has
been a subject of many experimental and theoretical stud-
ies [1720]. In this regime the absorbed laser energy rst
heats the target surface to the melting point and then to
the vaporization temperature. Note that metals need
much more energy to vaporize than to melt. During the
interaction the main source of energy losses is the heat
conduction into the solid target. The heat penetration
depth is given by l:(Dt), where D is the heat diusion
coecient, D"k

/C
G
. Note that for long-pulse laser abla-
tion of metal targets the condition Dt
*
:1 is usually
fullled. The energy deposited inside the target per unit
mass is given by E
K
:I
?
t/jl. When at a certain moment
t"t
RF
this energy becomes larger than the specic heat of
evaporation D, signicant evaporation occurs. From the
condition E
K
:D we get t
RF
:D(Dj/I) (see [17]). Thus,
the condition for strong evaporation, E
K
'D (or t
*
't
RF
),
can be written as
I'I
RF
:
jDD
t
*
, F'F
RF
:jDD;t
*
(15)
for laser intensity and uence, respectively. The threshold
laser uence which is necessary for evaporation with long
laser pulses grows as t
*
.
In case of ablation with long laser pulses there is
enough time for the thermal wave to propagate into the
target and to create a relatively large layer of melted
material. In this case the evaporation occurs from the
liquid metal, which makes precise material processing of
metal targets in vacuum with nanosecond pulses very
complicated.
2 Experimental setup and results
Now we turn to the discussion of experimental results on
a low uence laser ablation of metals and other solids. In
our experiments a commercial femtosecond Ti : Sapphire
laser system (BMI Alpha 10A) based on the chirped-pulse
amplication (CPA) technique [21] is used. A detailed
description of the principal setup is given in [22]. This
system provides laser pulses at 780 nm with a variable
pulse energy of up to 100 mJ. Due to the CPA technique
the pulse duration can be varied from 200 fs up to 400 ps.
In this pulse duration range the spectral pulse width
remains constant (approximately 8 nm). Pulse duration
measurements for pulses shorter than 10 ps are performed
by a background free second order autocorrelator and for
pulses longer than 10 ps by a picosecond streak camera
(Hadland, IMACON 500). Pulse widths of 35 ns are
obtained when the regenerative amplier (see [22]) is not
seeded by the femtosecond oscillator (Coherent, Mira
Basic). In this case the regenerative amplier operates as
an oscillator, and the spectral width of the generated
pulses is signicantly reduced. The time durations of the
nanosecond pulses have been measured by a photodiode
in combination with a fast sampling oscillograph and by
the streak camera.
Our experiments are performed in the low uence
regime (F"0.15 J/cm) with an imaging geometry. An
aperture (d"5 mm), mounted in the beam pass, is imaged
(with demagnication factor of <1/30) onto the target
surface by a f"140 mm suprasil lense. The laser beam
diameter is approximately 20 mm. As target materials
steel, copper, AlN and silicon plates are used. These plates
are attached to a computer controlled x,y,z-translation
stage which is mounted in a vacuum cell at a pressure
below 10\ mbar. The number of pulses which are neces-
sary to drill through the target plate is controlled by
a photodiode mounted behind the targets.
First we present our results on the laser processing of
metal targets. We compare holes drilled in 100 m thick
steel foils (in vacuum) with 10 laser pulses in three dier-
ent regimes: femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond. In
Fig. 1 schematic of femtosecond-pulse laser ablation and
the hole drilled with 200 fs, 120 J, F"0.5 J/cm laser
pulses are shown. As can be seen, there is no trace of the
molten material. Only a vapor dust ring around the hole.
111
a b
Fig. 2a, b. Schematic of
nanosecond-pulse laser ablation
and holes drilled in a 100 m
thick steel foil with (a) 80 ps,
900 J, F"3.7 J/cm; and
(b) 3.3 ns, 1 mJ, and
F"4.2 J/cm laser pulses at
780 nm
Fig. 1. Schematic of femtosecond-pulse laser ablation and a SEM
photograph of a hole drilled in a 100 m thick steel foil with 200 fs,
120 J, F"0.5 J/cm laser pulses at 780 nm
In Fig. 2 schematic of nanosecond-pulse laser ablation
and the holes drilled with (a) 80 ps, 900 J, F"3.7 J/cm;
and (b) 3.3 ns, 1 mJ, and F"4.2 J/cm laser pulses are
shown. The trace of the molten material can be seen in
these gures. The presence of liquid phase leads to an
unstable drilling process (see Fig. 2a). In case of ablation
with nanosecond pulses there is enough time for the
thermal wave to propagate into the metal target and
to create a relatively large molten layer. In this case the
target material is removed both in vapor and liquid
phases, since the vaporization process creates a recoil
pressure that expels the liquid. In Fig. 2b a corona
created due to the recoil vapor pressure is clearly seen.
Note that these are the best results which we obtain with
80 ps and 3.3 ns laser pulses at uences as low as possible.
When the laser uence is reduced further the drilling
through the 100 m steel plate in vacuum becomes im-
possible.
Comparing Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the advantages of fem-
tosecond-pulse lasers for precise material processing be-
come evident. Moreover, due to the absence of thermal
losses in the femtosecond regime, holes in metal targets
can be drilled with much lower laser uences.
Below we present additional illustrative information
on femtosecond-pulse laser ablation of dierent targets
with the second harmonic of Ti : Sapphire laser radiation
(z"390). The second harmonic is used to minimize dif-
fraction eects and to improve the quality of image projec-
tion. In Fig. 3 the development of the ablation process
with the increasing number of 250 fs, 0.5 mJ, and
F"2.5 J/cm laser pulses a) 10, b) 100, c) 10 and
d) 5;10 is shown. The target is a 0.5 mm steel plate. In
Fig. 3c the creation of characteristic structures is clearly
seen. These structures appear due to the instability of
a plane evaporation front [23].
In Fig. 4 the evolution of femtosecond-pulse laser
ablation of a 1 mm thick copper target is shown with:
a) 10, b) 100, c) 10, and d) 3;10 pulses. In Fig. 5
112
Fig. 3ad. Femtosecond-pulse
laser processing of a 0.5 mm
steel plate with 250 fs, 0.5 mJ,
and F"2.5 J/cm second
harmonic radiation
(z"390 nm) and dierent
number of pulses: (a) 10,
(b) 100, (c) 1000 and (d) 5000
laser pulses
Fig. 4ad. Evolution of
femtosecond-pulse laser
ablation of a 1 mm thick copper
target with: (a) 10, (b) 100,
(c) 10, and (d) 3;10 pulses.
Laser parameters are the same
as in Fig. 3
results of laser ablation of a 0.3 mm thick silicon target are
demonstrated with: a) 10, b) 100, c) 5;10, and d) 10
pulses. Redeposition of the ablated material on the target
surface is much stronger than in the case of metal targets.
In Fig. 6 the ablation of a 0.8 mm AlN target with: a) 10,
b) 10, and c) 3.5;10 laser pulses is illustrated. The
laser parameters in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are approximately the
same as in Fig. 3.
113
Fig. 5ad. Laser ablation of
a 0.3 mm thick silicon target
with: (a) 10, (b) 100, (c) 5;10,
and (d) 10 pulses. Laser
parameters are the same as in
Fig. 3
Fig. 6ac. Ablation of a 0.8 mm
AlN target with: (a) 10, (b) 10,
and (c) 3.5;10 laser pulses.
Laser parameters are
approximately the same as in
Fig. 3
Closing this section we summarize the main features
of femtosecond laser material processing: very rapid
creation of vapor and plasma phases, negligible heat
conduction and the absence of liquid phase. The
absence of the liquid phase allows better control during
the drilling process. Therefore, the reproducibility
of our results with femtosecond laser pulses is very
good.
114
3 Conclusion
Theoretical models and experimental results on femto-
second, picosecond and nanosecond laser ablation of
metal targets are presented. Very pure ablation of metal
targets in vacuum with femtosecond laser pulses is demon-
strated. Sharp well dened patterns can be ablated in
metal and other solid targets by an image projection
technique. These advantages of femtosecond lasers are
very promising for their future applications in precise
material processing.
Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Hanna Jacobs for tech-
nical assistance and acknowledge nancial support by the German
Ministry of Science, Education, Research, and Technology (BMBF,
13N6590/0).
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