Surface treatment of glass and ceramics using XeCI excimer laser radiation

Abstract

A XeCl excimer laser with uniform beam profile and 308 nm wavelength was used for ablation and surface modification of technical glasses and ceramics.The ablation behaviour and the resulting surface morphology of the different materials were measured in dependence upon the energy density and the number of pulses. In contradiction to ceramics, glasses show a higher ablation threshold and considerable higher ablation rates. Due to the short wavelength of the excimer laser, microstructuring of glass and ceramic surfaces is possible. Examples are presented, like marking of glasses, microline structuring of float glass, as well as positive and negative microstructuring of ceramics.