Session S5 - Laser Ablation of Biological and Polymeric Materials.
INVITED session, Wednesday afternoon, March 24
524AB, Palais des Congres
Laser ablation of polymers has become an established technique in the electronic industry and the large number of studies published annually indicates that this is still an attractive area of research. Several new approaches with new techniques and materials have given new insights in the ablation process. One of these approaches is the development of polymers designed specifically for laser ablation which are a unique tool for probing the ablation mechanisms as well as for improving ablation properties. These novel polymers exhibit very low thresholds of ablation, with high ablation rates (even at low fluences), and excellent ablation quality. New commercial applications will require improved ablation rates and control of undesirable surface effects, such as debris. The complexity of the interactions between polymers and laser photons are illustrated by the various processes associated with different irradiation conditions. i) Photothermal-photochemical laser ablation under excimer laser irradiation. ii) Dopant-induced laser ablation. iii) Photo-oxidative etching with lamps in an oxidizing atmosphere. iv) VUV etching in the absence of oxidizing conditions. v) Photokinetic etching with CW UV lasers. vi) Ultrafast laser ablation, affected by pulse length, wavelength, and possibly shock waves. vii) Shock assisted photothermal ablation on picosecond time scales. viii) VUV laser ablation: purely photochemical? ix) Synchrotron structuring. x) Mid-IR ablation (FEL and CO2 laser), the influence of exciting various functional groups. Several of these new approaches and processes will be discussed to emphasize the importance of different approaches but also to review some fundamental processes. The combination of various experimental techniques (new approaches and ‘well-known’) with materials made to measure has given new insights in the ablation mechanisms, but has also shown new possible future directions of laser polymer ablation.