Abstract

The etch rate of Mylar [poly(ethylene terephthalate)] ablated with the low fluence of 193- and 248-nm radiation was precisely measured with a quartz crystal microbalance. Two regimes are seen. The first (Fig. 1) is the ablation of the solid polymer for fluences just above the threshold. The second (Fig. 1) is accompanied by melting of the surface, which favors the polymer photodegradation measured also with a quartz crystal microbalance (as seen in Fig. 1). SEM pictures of the ablated surfaces confirm this interpretation.

© 1988 Optical Society of America