Laser induced chemical etching of metals with excimer lasers

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of etching a metallized substrate by excimer laser radiation. The substrate is exposed to a selected gas, e.g., a halogen gas, which spontaneously reacts with the metal forming a solid reaction product layer on the metal by a partial consumption of the metal. A beam of radiation from an excimer laser, e.g. XeF laser operating at a wavelength of 351 nm or XeCl laser at 308 nm or KrF laser at 248 nm or KrCl laser at 222 nm or ArF laser at 193 nm or F.sub.2 laser at 157 nm, is applied to the reaction product in a desired pattern to vaporize the reaction product and thereby selectively etch the metal with a high resolution.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.