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Han RZ, Zhang YC, Jiang QL et al. Ultrafast dynamics of femtosecond laser-induced high spatial frequency periodic structures on silicon surfaces. Opto-Electron Sci 3, 230013 (2024). doi: 10.29026/oes.2024.230013
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Article Open Access
Ultrafast dynamics of femtosecond laser-induced high spatial frequency periodic structures on silicon surfaces
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Abstract
Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) have been extensively studied over the past few decades. In particular, the period and groove width of high-spatial-frequency LIPSS (HSFL) is much smaller than the diffraction limit, making it a useful method for efficient nanomanufacturing. However, compared with the low-spatial-frequency LIPSS (LSFL), the structure size of the HSFL is smaller, and it is more easily submerged. Therefore, the formation mechanism of HSFL is complex and has always been a research hotspot in this field. In this study, regular LSFL with a period of 760 nm was fabricated in advance on a silicon surface with two-beam interference using an 800 nm, 50 fs femtosecond laser. The ultrafast dynamics of HSFL formation on the silicon surface of prefabricated LSFL under single femtosecond laser pulse irradiation were observed and analyzed for the first time using collinear pump-probe imaging method. In general, the evolution of the surface structure undergoes five sequential stages: the LSFL begins to split, becomes uniform HSFL, degenerates into an irregular LSFL, undergoes secondary splitting into a weakly uniform HSFL, and evolves into an irregular LSFL or is submerged. The results indicate that the local enhancement of the submerged nanocavity, or the nanoplasma, in the prefabricated LSFL ridge led to the splitting of the LSFL, and the thermodynamic effect drove the homogenization of the splitting LSFL, which evolved into HSFL. -
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References
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Supplementary information for Ultrafast dynamics of femtosecond laser-induced high spatial frequency periodic structures on silicon surfaces 
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Han RZ, Zhang YC, Jiang QL et al. Ultrafast dynamics of femtosecond laser-induced high spatial frequency periodic structures on silicon surfaces. Opto-Electron Sci 3, 230013 (2024). doi: 10.29026/oes.2024.230013
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Figure 1.
(a) Confocal optical microscopy image of LSFL prefabricated on silicon surface, and (b) cross-sectional profile of LSFL.
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Figure 2.
(a) Experiment setup of the collinear pump-probe imaging system; HWP is half wave plate, PBS is polarized beam splitter, and BS is beam splitter. (b) Spectra of the white-light pulse with (red solid curve) and without (black dotted curve) the short-wave-pass filter. (c) Laser spot area on the object plane with and without the concave lens. (d) The profile of the normalized intensity of blue light emission and laser field intensity along the arrow in (c).
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Figure 3.
Optical images of surface microstructures before (a) and after (b–c) irradiation by a single laser pulse.
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Figure 4.
Optical micrographs of the silicon surface at different delay times after single-pulse laser irradiation. The horizontal double arrow shows the laser polarization direction.
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Figure 5.
Two-dimensional FT images of the surface nanostructures shown in Fig. 4 at different delay times. (a) 100 ps, (b) 250 ps, (c) 700 ps, and (d) 850 ps, respectively. (e) The FT spectra in the x-direction of Ky=0.
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Figure 6.
The delay time dependence of the peak intensity ratio of HSFL to LSFL corresponding to the FT images.
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Figure 7.
Optical micrographs of the silicon surface with pre-fabricated LSFL at different delay times after irradiation by a single laser pulse with different fluences. (a–e) Laser fluence is 0.44 J/cm2, (f–j) is 0.59 J/cm2, (k–o) is 1.76 J/cm2, and (p–t) is 3.53 J/cm2. The red horizontal double arrow shows the laser polarization direction. The gray scale in all figures is 3 microns.
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Figure 8.
Evolution of surface morphology with delay time under single pulse irradiation with different laser fluences. LSFL was pre-fabricated prior to irradiation by a single pulse.
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Figure 9.
The laser fluence dependence of the period of uniform and clear HSFL under femtosecond laser irradiation.
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Figure 10.
(a–c) Schematic diagram of the formation process of submerged nanocavities during LSFL prefabrication. (d–f) Schematic diagram of the formation of uniform HSFL.
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Figure 11.
SEM images of the LSFL prefabricated on a silicon surface by direct writing with dual-beam interference, where a single-beam laser with a fluence of 0.13 J/cm2 and a scanning speed of 2 mm/s. (a–b) Before etched, and (c–f) after etched with HF solution.
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Figure 12.
SEM image of silicon surface by direct writing with dual-beam interference, where a single-beam laser with a fluence of 0.24 J/cm2 and a scanning speed of 2.0 mm/s. The sample was not corroded with HF solution.
