Studies of the confinement at laser-induced backside dry etching using infrared nanosecond laser pulses

In the present study, laser-induced backside etching of SiO2 at an interface to an organic material using laser pulses with a wavelength of λ = 1064 nm and a pulse length of τ = 7 ns have been performed in order to investigate selected processes involved in etching of the SiO2 at confined ablation conditions with wavelengths well below the band gap of SiO2. Therefore, in between the utilized metallic absorber layer and the SiO2 surface, a polymer interlayer with a thickness between 20 nm to 150 nm was placed with the aim, to separate the laser absorption process in the metallic absorber layer from the etching process of the SiO2 surface due to the provided organic interlayer. The influence of the confinement of the backside etching process was analyzed by the deposition of different thick polymer layers on top of the metallic absorber layer. In particular, it was found that the SiO2 etching depth decreases with higher polymer interlayer thickness. However, the etching depth increases with increasing the confinement layer thickness. SEM images of the laser processed areas show that the absorber and confinement layers are ruptured from the sample surface without showing melting, and suggesting a lift off process of these films. The driving force for the layers lift off and the etching of the SiO2 is probably the generated laser-induce plasma from the confined ablation that provides the pressure for lift off, the high temperatures and reactive organic species that can chemically attack the SiO2 surface at these conditions.