Premium
XPS and SIMS study of aluminium native oxide modifications induced by Q‐switched Nd:YAG laser treatment
Author(s) -
Barnier V.,
Heintz O.,
Roberts D. E.,
Oltra R.,
Costil S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.2181
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , aluminium , analytical chemistry (journal) , oxide , materials science , aluminium oxide , laser , surface roughness , chemistry , optics , metallurgy , nuclear magnetic resonance , composite material , physics , chromatography
During laser cleaning of aluminium in ambient atmosphere, modifications of the metal surface can be induced by transient thermal effects. This work aims to characterize the modification of the aluminium oxide layer on pure aluminium for a wide range of power per area using a Q‐switched Nd:YAG (1064 nm) laser with two pulse durations, 10 and 180 ns. Experiments were carried out with single laser shots in ambient air at fluences (e.g. energy per area) below the ablation regime. For 10‐ns pulses with fluences between 0.7 and 1.7 J/cm 2 , X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) revealed thermal oxidation with an increase of the oxide‐layer thickness for 0.7–1.3 J/cm 2 . Above a threshold at about 1.3 J/cm 2 the oxide thickness decreased. The Mixing Roughness Model was used for the SIMS depth profile. For 180‐ns pulses with fluences between 2.1 and 4.3 J/cm 2 , and therefore much lower power per area than with the 10 ns pulses, XPS showed a variation of surface composition with a different behaviour for 2.1–2.9 J/cm 2 compared to 3.1–4.3 J/cm 2 . However, no significant changes of the average thickness of the oxide layer were found. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.