As a promising transparent semiconducting oxide (TSO) candidate, zinc-tin-oxide (ZTO) thin films were fabricated by combining solution coating and ultraviolet (UV) laser annealing. Instead of external heating, an intense UV laser was applied to transform sol-gel coatings via surface heating and photoexcited dissociation into oxide films. The laser-induced phase transformation was extensively investigated with synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The chemical states and microscopic distributions of oxygen, zinc, and tin were significantly modified during the laser irradiation. Relative oxidation and surface migration between zinc and tin gradually evolved toward a combination of ZnO1−x host and SnO2−y grains. Our results present deeper insight into the use of UV laser annealing for developing a room temperature (RT) fabrication method of TSO thin films and other relevant solution coatings.
Requirements on glass manufacturing with exceptionally high mechanical strength triggered development of new laserbased processing methods. Localized modifications produced by ultrashort pulsed lasers are attractive but may lead to micro-crack generation in glass. Aiming to control stresses during volumetric material modifications, we have studied the effect of pulse duration experimentally. Bessel beam shapes with arbitrary conical angles have been generated using a programmable spatial light modulator (SLM), while stresses have been monitored using time-resolved optical transmission and cross polarized microscopy. Pulse duration variation influences mechanical stress in the laser glass interaction, and we found the optimized pulse duration exists in the laser glass machining by pump-probe microscopy.
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