Ablative etching of nitrocellulose with infra-red and ultra-violet laser radiation
(EN)
Makropoulou, MI
(EN)
Serafetinides, AA
(EN)
Skordoulis, CD
(EN)
The ablative etching of nitrocellulose membranes with CO2 (lambda = 10.6 mu m), Nd:YAG (lambda = 1.06 mu m) and XeCl (lambda = 308 nm) lasers has been studied. From etch rate measurements the threshold fluence was estimated and the energy deposition at threshold fluence was calculated for the three wavelengths. The electron microscope examination of the infra-red laser ablated areas reveals a fairly clean etching under CO2 laser irradiation, confirming that melting of the crater surroundings cannot be considered as a criterion for the thermal mechanism, It is proposed that the CO2 laser, which also possesses some operational advantages, compared with excimer lasers, can be effectively used for the clean ablation of the nitrocellulose film dielectric.
(EN)
