Pulsed-CO2-laser-induced damage mechanisms in semiconductors

Laser irradiation induced damage to several materials of interest for use as 10.6 micrometer laser system windows and lenses is investigated in this paper. The irradiation source in these single shot experiments was a pulsed TEA CO2 laser (lambda equals 10.6 micrometer, (tau) pulse equals 3.5 microsecond, I equals 1 - 100 MW/cm2 onto the sample). A time resolved study of the damage process in semiconductors (Ge, ZnSe, ZnS) has been carried out during the interaction by measuring the variation of the transmitted and reflected intensity of a CO2 cw laser through the samples. An analysis of the pulse shape dependence on the damage parameters has been investigated. Results show that damages are initiated by the high power peak of the laser pulse on both surfaces and in the bulk of the materials. The damaged materials have been characterized for various incident fluences by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in terms of morphology.