Effects of static and dynamic femtosecond laser modifications of Ti/Zr multilayer thin films

• Published in: The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Vol. 75; no. 12
• Main Authors: Petrović, Suzana, Tsibidis, G. D., Kovačević, A., Božinović, N., Peruško, D., Mimidis, A., Manousaki, A., Stratakis, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ablation; Advances in Multi-Scale Modelling of Intense Electronic Excitation Processes; Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory; Atomic; Chemical composition; Femtosecond pulsed lasers; Irradiation; Laser ablation; Lasers; Molecular; Multilayers; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polarization; Quantum Information Technology; Quantum Physics; Regular Article – Optical Phenomena and Photonics; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spintronics; Thermal response; Thickness; Thin films; Zirconium
• ISSN: 1434-6060; 1434-6079
• DOI: 10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00291-5

The experimental study of the static and dynamic femtosecond laser ablation of the multilayer 15x(Ti/Zr)/Si system is reported. The layer-by-layer selective laser ablation mechanism was studied by analysis of the surface morphology and elemental composition in static single pulse irradiation in a range of pulse energy from 10 to 17
μ
J. The selective ablations, as number of concentric circles in modified spots are increased with the pulse energy. The boundary between the circles was shown a change in the depth, comparable to the thickness of the individual layers. Changes in the elemental composition at the edges are associated with the removal of the layer by layer. The dynamic multipulse irradiation was observed via the production of lines with laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) at different laser parameters (scan velocities and laser polarization). The spatial periodicity of the formed LIPSS depends on changes in the effective number of pulses and laser polarization, as well as the nature of the material. For better interpretation of the experimental results, simulations have been conducted to explore the thermal response of the multiple layered structure 15x(Ti/Zr) after static single pulse irradiation.
Graphic Abstract