Laser ablation characteristics of yttria-doped zirconia in the nanosecond and femtosecond regimes

The laser ablation characteristics of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) have been investigated as a function of the target microstructure and dopant level for different nanosecond- [ArF, KrF, and XeCl excimers; Nd:YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) (fourth harmonic)] and femtosecond-laser sources [Ti:sapphire (fundamental and third harmonic)]. Particle ejection, which compromises the quality of coatings prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), was analyzed in detail. Nanosecond-laser pulses cause a severe thermomechanical surface cracking and exfoliation of micron-sized fragments on a microsecond to millisecond time scale in the case of 8-9.5 mol % Y2O3-doped, fully stabilized zirconia (8YSZ and 9.5YSZ) targets. As a consequence of the intrinsic material brittleness, fully stabilized YSZ coatings deposited by PLD contained particles for all tested conditions. Lower doped partially stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) exhibits a superior fracture toughness attributed to a laser-induced partial transition to the monoclinic phase, detected by Raman spectroscopy, which enables the deposition of particle-free dense thin films by conventional PLD using nanosecond-UV laser radiation at moderate fluences of 1.2-1.5 J/cm(2). The ablation dynamics of ultrashort laser pulses differ fundamentally from the nanosecond regime as evidenced, e.g., by time-resolved shadowgraphy and light scattering experiments. Femtosecond pulses prevent the exfoliation of micron-sized fragments but result invariably in a pronounced ejection of submicron particles. The resulting PLD coatings are porous and reveal a large surface roughness as they consist of an agglomeration of nanoparticles. Femtosecond-NIR pulses provide a factor of 2.5-10 higher material removal rates compared to nanosecond- and femtosecond-UV pulses. The ablation metrics, i.e., threshold fluence and effective absorptivity, mainly depend on the laser wavelength while the pulse duration, target microstructure, and dopant level are of minor importance. Evidence is presented that incubation effects play a significant role in nanosecond- and femtosecond-laser ablations of YSZ enabling material removal at comparatively low fluences for sub-bandgap photon energies.