Nanoprocessing of semiconductors and metals with nJ femtosecond laser pulses

We report on sub-m structuring of semiconductors, dielectrics, polymers and metals using a laser scanning microscope. A commercial Ti:Sapphire oscillator laser (20 nJ/pulse; 90 MHz; 150 fs) was coupled into a laser scanning microscope FemtOcut (JenLab GmbH). High numerical aperture objectives were applied to obtain fluences in the range of a few J/cm2 which are well above the ablation threshold. Such a cost-effective and reliable system compared to amplified lasers systems (J or mJ/pulse) is adapted for material manufacturing and can be of prime interest for specific applications in security like counterfeiting.