Laser-assisted plasma formation and ablation of Cu in a controlled environment

Shazia Bashir; Asadullah Dawood; Asma Hayat; Sameh Askar; Zubair Ahmad; Hijaz Ahmad; Muhammad Asad Khan

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18781

Laser-assisted plasma formation and ablation of Cu in a controlled environment

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 1;9(8):e18781. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18781. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Shazia Bashir¹, Asadullah Dawood^{1

2}, Asma Hayat¹, Sameh Askar³, Zubair Ahmad⁴, Hijaz Ahmad^{5

6

7}, Muhammad Asad Khan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics (CASP), Government College University Lahore, Pakistan.
² Department of Physics, National Excellence Institute (University), Islamabad, 04524, Pakistan.
³ Department of Statistics and Operations Research, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, 81100, Italy.
⁵ Near East University, Operational Research Center in Healthcare, 99138, Nicosia, TRC Mersin 10, Turkey.
⁶ Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁷ Section of Mathematics, Uninettuno International Telematic University Uninettuno, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 3900186, Roma, Italy.

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the surface and mechanical alterations of Cu, as well as the parameters of laser-assisted plasma and ablation. The irradiation source is a Nd: YAG laser with a constant irradiance of 1.0 GW/cm² (1064 nm, 55 mJ, 10 ns, 10 Hz). Physical parameters such as electron temperature (T_e) and electron number density (n_e), sputtering yield (yield), ablation depth (depth), surface morphology (morphology), and hardness (Vickers) of laser irradiated Cu are evaluated using instruments such as a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS), Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), Optical Emission Microscope (OEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Vicker's hardness tester. These physical characteristics have been studied in relation to changes in pressure (from 10 torr to 100 torr) and the composition of two inert ambient gases (Argon and Neon). Pressures of Ar and Ne are found to enhance the emission intensities of spectral lines of Cu, Te, and ne, as well as the sputtering yield, crater depth, and hardness of laser ablated Cu, to a maximum at 60 torr, after which they decrease with subsequent increases in pressure up to 100 torr. Increases in pressure up to 60 torr are connected with plasma confinement effects and increased collisional frequency, whereas decreases in pressure between 60 and 100 torr are ascribed to shielding effects by the plasma plume. All numbers are also found to be greater in Ar compared to Ne. In Ar, laser-ablated Cu reaches a maximum of 15218 K, 1.83 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3, 8.59 × 10¹⁵ atoms/pulse, 231 m, and 147 HV, whereas in Ne, it reaches a maximum of 12000 K, 1.75 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3, 7.70 × 10¹⁵ atoms/pulse, 200 m, and 116 HV. Ar is more likely than Ne to develop surface features such as craters, distinct melting pools with elevating edges, flakes, cones, etc. It is also shown that there is a significant association between the outcomes, with an increase in Te and ne being responsible for a rise in sputtering yield, ablation depth, surface morphology, and surface hardness. These findings have potential uses in plasma spectroscopy for materials science and in industrial applications of Cu.

Keywords: Crater depth; Environmental gases; LIBS; Laser ablation; Sputtering yield.