XUV-laser induced ablation of PMMA with nano-, pico-, and femtosecond pulses

For conventional wavelength (UV-vis-IR) lasers delivering radiation energy to the surface of materials, ablation thresholds, etch (ablation) rates, and the quality of ablated structures often differ dramatically between short (typically nanosecond) and ultrashort (typically femtosecond) pulses. Various very short-wavelength (lambda < 100 nm) lasers, emitting pulses with durations ranging from similar to 10 fs to similar to 1 ns, have recently been placed into routine operation. This has facilitated the investigation of how ablation characteristics depend on the pulse duration in the XUV spectral region. Ablation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) induced by three particular short-wavelength lasers emitting pulses of various durations, is reported in this contribution. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.