Abstract
Abstract Laser processing implies the generation of a material function defined by the shape and the size of the induced structures, being a collective effect of topography, morphology, and structural arrangement. A fundamental dimensional limit in laser processing is set by optical diffraction. Many material functions are yet defined at the micron scale, and laser microprocessing has become a mainstream development trend. Consequently, laser microscale applications have evolved significantly and developed into an industrial grade technology. New opportunities will nevertheless emerge from accessing the nanoscale. Advances in ultrafast laser processing technologies can enable unprecedented resolutions and processed feature sizes, with the prospect to bypass optical and thermal limits. We will review here the mechanisms of laser processing on extreme scales and the optical and material concepts allowing us to confine the energy beyond the optical limits. We will discuss direct focusing approaches, where the use of nonlinear and near-field effects has demonstrated strong capabilities for light confinement. We will argue that the control of material hydrodynamic response is the key to achieve ultimate resolution in laser processing. A specific structuring process couples both optical and material effects, the process of self-organization. We will discuss the newest results in surface and volume self-organization, indicating the dynamic interplay between light and matter evolution. Micron-sized and nanosized features can be combined into novel architectures and arrangements. We equally underline a new dimensional domain in processing accessible now using laser radiation, the sub-100-nm feature size. Potential application fields will be indicated as the structuring sizes approach the effective mean free path of transport phenomena.
Highlights
The capacity of intense optical beams to modify and structure solids has been recognized almost at the same time with the invention of the laser [1], the first interactions with solid and soft matter being already reported in the beginning of the 60s [2,3,4]
Laser processing implies the generation of a material function defined by the shape and the size of the induced structures, being a collective effect of topography, morphology, and structural arrangement
Access to sub-100-nm scales will define the new generation of laser processing technologies
Summary
The capacity of intense optical beams to modify and structure solids has been recognized almost at the same time with the invention of the laser [1], the first interactions with solid and soft matter being already reported in the beginning of the 60s [2,3,4]. The interest in generating nanoscale feature sizes remotely using directional optical beams is tremendous. Resulting from topography or morphology landscapes and sizes, this function can be a consequence of scalability and packaging, e.g. a major drive factor in microelectronics, or it can be a genuine new characteristic of the solid, altering in a deterministic way its optical, contact, mechanical, and transport properties. The new function can be local, as the effect of single features with defined geometries, or nonlocal, depending on a collective behavior of multiple nanoscale structures. Laser nanostructuring is more than just making nanoscale structures, it implies the understanding and the controlling of the process and of the function it generates
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