Ablation of Deposited Carbon Thin Films by Nd: YAG Laser

Yasir Idrees and Hamad Ahmad

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

Abstract

A Q-Switched Nd: YAG laser (1064nm, 1.1MW, 10mJ, 12 ns) has been used to study the ablation of carbon thin films. Thin layers of carbon deposited on aluminum, silicon and plastic substrates (Conductor, Semiconductor, and Insulator) have been irradiated by 100 pulses of laser. Analyses of thin film exposed to laser have been carried out by optical microscope (MOTIC DBM Series). The results explain crater formation, energy transfer mechanism and condensation of ablated material around the ablation sites for carbon thin films exposed to high power laser.  The effect of ambient gasses, nature of substrate material on the ablation mechanism is also discussed.