Application of clean laser transfer for porphyrin micropatterning

Blister-based laser-induced forward transfer is proposed as a promising tool for clean, cold and liquid-free local transfer of various organic substances. The feature of the given technique is non-destructive local deformation of an absorbing metal film on a transparent support avoiding the metal sputtering. Application of the blister-based laser transfer of a Langmuir film to fabricate mesotetraphenylporphyrin micropatterns on a silica substrate has been demonstrated. The metal film thickness is found to be a key parameter, which determines the laser fluence range allowing the clean transfer, predominant mechanism of the blister formation and laser-induced heating of the transferred material. According to the numerical modelling confirmed by UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, the target with 1.5 μm thick titanium film provides negligible heating of the porphyrin transferred by 5 ns laser pulses.