Increase of efficiency for the XeCl excimer laser ablation of ceramics

The efficiency of XeCl excimer laser ablation of ceramics was increased by one order of magnitude due to special processing conditions. Increasing either the temperature of the material beyond 1000°C or using a water film on the workpiece surface enables ablation rates of more than 2 μm/pulse for Al2O3. The interaction phenomena are studied using process diagnostics.