Ablation and surface modification of polymers with ultraviolet laser radiation

The recent progress of UV-laser photoablation is reviewed with the sake of clarifying the various regimes of irradiation which are of interest for new processes. "Fast", "Slow" and "Pre-" ablation regimes are evidenced by Laser Ablation-Sputtered Neutrals Spectrometry (LA-SNMS). Mass spectra of a series of polymers. have been obtained. Sub-micron periodic structures and examples of microfabrication (microlens arrays) are presented. The recent developments of photoablation of polymers with the UV radiation of excimer lasers is reviewed. LA-SNMS is shown to be a very promising detector for future work in the photoablation of polymer area. The gases emitted by the ablative interaction are measured in ultra high vacuum conditions. Some polymer spectra (Kapton, Upilex, PEN) are presented and interpreted. The work on formation of submicron periodic structures is entering into a new phase with the discovery of systems giving visible structures which are studied by visible light diffraction. Photoablation is seen as an attractive tool for future development of microfabrications. The example of microlens arrays is presented. For clarity we define three main regimes of irradiation which we call: Pre-ablation, Slow Ablation and Fast Ablation. It is important to note that each regime of irradiation has evidenced interesting processes for the applications.