Angular distribution of liquid droplets during the laser ablation of silicon target

Pulsed laser deposition of thin films involves an extremely complex process, and therefore, the study of the different aspects of the basic mechanism of laser ablation is still under investigation and development. In this work, the initial stages of laser ablation process have been studied by considering the roughness of the deposited surfaces, their continuous morphological changes and the angular distribution of liquid droplets produced by laser irradiation. Various experiments on silicon wafers, using a KrF excimer laser (248 nm) impinging at 45° with respect to the target were performed. Scanning electron microscopy technique was used to investigate the morphological changes of the silicon surface and the angular emission distribution of the liquid droplets. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.