Femtosecond Laser Ablation of Titanium and Silicon

Abstract

Femtosecond laser ablation of titanium and silicon samples has been studied via time-of-flight (TOF), emission spectroscopy and microscopy measurement. Laser pulses of around 100 fs (FWHM) at λ = 800 nm were delivered by a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser system. A vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10−7 torr was built for ion TOF measurement. These ion TOF spectra were utilized to determine the velocity distribution of the ejected ions. While nanosecond laser ablation typically generates ions of a few tens of eV, femtosecond laser irradiation even at moderate energy densities can produce energetic ions with energies of up to a few keV. The most probable energy of these fast ions is proportional to the laser fluence. The structure and number of peaks of the TOF spectra varies with the laser fluence. Images of plume emission were captured by an intensified CCD (ICCD) camera. The plume emission spectrum was analyzed by a spectrometer. Laser ablated craters were measured by an interferometric microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Ablation yield was expressed as a function of laser fluence, and number of shots.