"Pulsed laser – particle – surface" interaction processes: from dry laser cleaning (DLC) to nanofabrication
Résumé
Due to downscaling, the emerging nanotechnology industry requires new cleaning tools providing the ability to remove nanometer-size defects. The dry laser cleaning technique, which simply consists of the irradiation of materials with nanosecond laser pulses, is considered as a promising approach. Our study at LP3 laboratory contributes to a better understanding of the "laser–particles–surfaces" interaction processes. The experiments show that the removal results from a competition between several mechanisms. The ablation of molecular water trapped at the vicinity of contaminates was identified as the dominant cleaning mechanism in the low fluence regime. Among the optical damage mechanisms observed with larger fluences, we analyzed the substrate nanopatterning induced by near-field enhancement underneath the particles. Although this mechanism is not compatible with damage-free cleaning requirements, it may find numerous applications, like the fabrication of nanodevices.