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Laser Induced Avalanche Ionization and Electron-Lattice Heating of Silicon with Intense Near IR Femtosecond Pulses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

P.P. Pronko ,
P.A. VanRompay ,
R.K. Singh ,
F. Qian ,
D. Du  and
X. Liu
P.P. Pronko
Affiliation:
Center for Ultrafast Optical Science; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
P.A. VanRompay
Affiliation:
Center for Ultrafast Optical Science; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
R.K. Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
F. Qian
Affiliation:
Center for Ultrafast Optical Science; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
D. Du
Affiliation:
Center for Ultrafast Optical Science; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
X. Liu
Affiliation:
Center for Ultrafast Optical Science; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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Abstract

A two temperature finite difference model has been developed and is used to describe the response of materials under ultrafast femtosecond laser pulses in the energy regime where melting and vaporization can occur. In applying this model to silicon it is observed that, for 800 nm light, laser pulse intensities that are just sufficient to achieve threshold for vaporization are also at the level of optical electric field strength where electron avalanche breakdown at the surface of the material can occur. For sub-picosecond pulses the physical response of the material is associated with a strongly temperature dependent coupling coefficient connecting electron and phonon thermal distributions. The results of these analyses demonstrate that a very thin near solid density plasma, caused by avalanche ionization, is responsible for the surface heating and subsequent thermodynamic response of the material. This interpretation is consistent throughout the pulse duration range from 80 femtoseconds to 0.2 nanoseconds. The proposed mechanism for absorption, at the near infra-red wavelength being used here, is very different from the types of mechanisms usually considered for nanosecond laser heating of semiconductors. Surface damage threshold is determined by atomic force microscopy and the threshold for plasma optical emission by photomultiplier detection . Melt deths are probed with SIMS impurity diffusion profiles and high resolution cross sectional TEM.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 397: Symposium B – Advanced laser Processing of Materials-Fundamentals and Applications , 1995 , 45
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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References

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