Vacuum ultraviolet laser ablation of insulators and III-V semiconductors

Current excimer-laser processing techniques can be extended to a broader and more diverse range of materials by moving to the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV; 100-200 nm) spectral region. Most materials are highly opaque in the VUV and the harder photon energy readily breaks chemical bonds, minimizing thermal loading at target surfaces. Further, the short-wavelength radiation affords patterning of sub quarter-micron feature sizes. An experimental survey has been undertaken to evaluate laser etch rates and surface quality produced on several polymer, glass, and semiconductor materials by both ArF and F₂ excimer lasers, with the hope of defining new processing applications. A summary of this investigation is presented in this paper