THE2. Influence of temporal and spatial intensity distribution on materials processing by excimer lasers

Presently available commercial excimer laser systems show variation of the beam power in time and space across the beam diameter. Depending on the position in the beam cross section with respect to the optical axis variations of local pulse energy (J/qcm), local pulse power (W/qcm), local pulse length (ns), and pulse shape have been recorded. The effect of such variations for general characteristics of materials processing by laser radiation is evident. For example, threshold phenomena such as ablation, surface melting, vaporization or laser-induced plasma formation depend on the laser intensity and time irradiation sensitivity...