Study on metal microparticle content of the material transferred with Absorbing Film Assisted Laser Induced Forward Transfer when using silver absorbing layer

Absorbing Film Assisted Laser Induced Forward Transfer (AFA-LIFT) is a modified LIFT method where a high absorption coefficient thin film coating of a transparent substrate is used to transform the laser energy into kinetic in order to transfer the “target” material spread on it. This method can be used for the transfer of biomaterials and living cells, which could be damaged by direct irradiation of the laser beam. In previous experiments, ∼50-100 nm thick metal films have been used as absorbing layer. The transferred material can also contain metal microparticles originating from the absorbing thin film and acting as non-desired impurities in some cases. The aim of our work was to study how the properties (number, size and covered area) of metal particles transferred during the AFA-LIFT process depend on film thickness and the applied fluence. Silver thin films with different thickness (50-400 nm) were used as absorbing layers and real experimental conditions were modeled by a 100 μm thick water layer. The particles transferred without the use of water layer were also studied. The threshold laser fluence for the complete removal of the absorber from the irradiated area was found to strongly increase with increasing film thickness. The deposited micrometer and submicrometer particles were observed with optical microscope and atomic force microscope. Their size ranged from 100 nm to 20 μm and depended on the laser fluence. The increase in fluence resulted in an increasing number of particles of smaller average size.