A model of nanosecond laser ablation of compound semiconductors accounting for non-congruent vaporization

We report a model of nanosecond laser ablation of compound semiconductors taking into account stoichiometry loss as a result of different volatilities of the material components. The model is based on the heat-flow equation for the bulk material and the diffusion equation for its atomic constituents and takes into account variations of material properties as functions of temperature and composition. Changing the optical response which results from stoichiometry violation is described within the concept of an effective medium and a multi-layer reflection model is applied. For cadmium telluride, as an example, the processes of ablation, melting, and resolidification under the action of a KrF laser have been studied in dynamics for particular experimental conditions in a wide range of laser fluences from the ablation threshold to the plasma shielding regimes described by the effective plasma plume representation. Multi-shot irradiation regimes have been investigated and the mechanism of the irradiation-controlled stoichiometry reversal has been elucidated.