Optical modeling of laser ablated microstructures

Abstract

From only an a priori knowledge of the optical parameters of a laser beam, the delivery system together with a substrate's material properties, a ray-tracing model capable of predicting the 3-D topology of micro/nanostructures machined by pulsed laser ablation has been developed. The model includes secondary illumination effects produced by the microstructure created by successive pulses (wall reflections, refraction, wave guiding, shadowing, etc.) as well as the complete optical properties of the beam delivery system. We have used material ablation by pulsed excimer lasers and associated beam delivery systems to demonstrate some of the capabilities of the model. Good agreement is obtained between computations and experimental results in terms of the predicted ablation depth per pulse and the wall taper angle of channels and holes. The model can predict ablated profiles of holes and indicate the most efficient drilling strategy in terms of material removal rates. The model also shows diffraction effects are not required to explain the tapering vertical walls observed when ablating microstructures. Finally, the model has been used to demonstrate aberrations in an optical imaging system limiting the creation of submicron features in an ablated microstructure. Provided photons are absorbed linearly in a substrate according to Beer's law with negligible thermal diffusion effects, the model is equally applicable to using other types of pulsed laser sources and systems with imaged or focused beams.