MODELING TOPOLOGY FORMATION DURING LASER-ABLATION

Micromachining high aspect-ratio structures can be accomplished throug h ablation of surfaces with high-powered lasers. Industrial manufactur ers now use these methods to form complex and regular surfaces at the 10-1000 mu m feature size range. Despite its increasingly wide accepta nce on the manufacturing floor, the underlying photochemistry of the a blation mechanism, and hence the dynamics of the machining process, is still a question of considerable debate. We have constructed a comput er model to investigate and predict the topological formation of ablat ed structures. Qualitative as well as quantitative agreement with exci mer-laser machined polyimide substrates has been demonstrated. This mo del provides insights into the drilling process for high-aspect-ratio holes. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.