LASER DIAGNOSTIC EXPERIMENTS ON KRF LASER-ABLATION PLASMA-PLUME DYNAMICS RELEVANT TO MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS

A brief review is given of the potential applications of laser ablatio n in the automotive and electronics manufacturing industries. Experime nts are presented on KrF laser ablation of three materials relevant to manufacturing applications: aluminum metal vs aluminum-nitride (AlN) and alumina (Al2O3) ceramics. Plasma and neutral-atom diagnostic data are presented from resonant-holographic-interferometry, dye-laser-reso nance-absorption photography, and HeNe laser deflection. Data show tha t plasma electron densities in excess of 10(18) cm-3 exist in the abla tion of AlN, with lower densities in Al and Al2O3. Aluminum neutral an d ion expansion velocities are in the range of cm/mus. Ambipolar elect ric fields are estimated to be 5-50 V/cm.