Vacuum Ultraviolet Laser-Induced Surface Alteration of SiO2

Abstract

Intense vacuum ultraviolet laser radiation is generated from rare gas excimer lasers. 9.8 eV photons from an argon excimer laser change surfaces of SiO2 to silicon. The reaction proceeds without the aid of reactive gas or solution and is thus called the “superdry process”. 9.8 eV photons create excitons via an efficient one-photon absorption process, and then these high-density excitons induce bond-breaking between Si and O.