Ultraviolet Laser Photoablation of Polymers: A Review and Recent Results

The evolution since 1982, of far-UV laser photoablation of polymers is described. The experimental data can be fitted by using a dynamic model which states that the irradiated interface moves at a rate proportional to the difference between, the intensity reaching it, and the ablation threshold intensity It. The screening effect of the ablated gaseous products is taken into account. The experimental etch depth versus fluence, obtained with our new quartz crystal microbalance technique, can be fitted by adjusting two parameters of this model; the mean absorption coefficient of the products β and the so-called ablation rate constant k, which is the etch rate for I=It