This document provides an overview of excimer lasers. It describes excimer lasers as ultraviolet lasers that use a mixture of noble gases and halogens as their gain medium, with common examples being ArF, KrF, XeCl, and XeF lasers. The document discusses the construction of excimer lasers, noting they contain a noble gas, halogen gas, and buffer gas within a tube powered by an electrical current source. It also summarizes how excimer lasers work by exciting gas atoms into dimers that emit bursts of radiation before dissociating. Finally, it lists applications like photolithography and provides safety cautions about the lasers' high power ultraviolet outputs.

1. EXCIMER LASER
BY
M.UMAIR [MPHY01163113]
Submitted to:
Mam. Wajiha Shahid

2. Contents
1. Introduction
2. Construction
3. Working
4. Applications
5. Laser Power
6. Cautions(Safety)

3. 1. What Is Excimer Laser
➔ The term "excimer" stands for excited dimer.
➔ An excimer laser is an ultraviolet (UV) laser that uses a compound
of noble gases andhalogen, as its gain medium
➔ Typical examples being ArF excimer lasers (wavelength of 193
nm),
➔ KrF excimer lasers (wavelength of 248 nm),
➔ XeCl excimer lasers (wavelength of 308 nm),
➔ and XeF excimer lasers (wavelength of 351 nm).

4. 1. What Is Excimer Laser
➔ Excimer lasers have the characteristics of being able to oscillate at
an exceptionally high efficiency for lasers in the ultraviolet range
and enabling comparatively compact hardware, and are applied in
a variety of fields such as industry and medicine (vision correction
surgery such as LASIK.

5. Working and Construction

6. As discussed earlier all lasers consist of
three components: a pump (energy
source), a gain (or laser) medium, and an
optical resonator.
The pump provides energy which is
amplified by the gain medium. This energy
is eventually converted into light and is
reflected through the optical resonator
which then emits the final output beam.
Diagram of a basic laser
2. Construction

7. Like most gas lasers, Excimer laser power is provided by an
electrical current source. The laser medium is a tube filled with
three different types of gases:
➔ A noble gas (argon, krypton, or xenon)
➔ A halogen gas (fluorine, chlorine, or bromine)
➔ A buffer gas (typically neon or helium)
➔ The image below lays out the basic parts of an excimer laser.
Many such lasers include an integral fan as shown to reduce
device corrosion

8. The image below lays out the basic parts of an excimer laser
A basic excimer laser,

9. 3. Working
➔ Excimer lasers rely on the interaction between the noble gas and the
halogen gas to produce a high-powered beam.
➔ The current source pumps the gas medium using very short, high voltage
pulses transmitted through metal electrodes; the pulse excites the gas
atoms and causes them to fuse together into atomic pairs called dimers.
(The term "excimer" stands for excited dimer.)
➔ For example, pumping an Argon Flouride (ArF) laser causes asymmetric
molecules of ArF to form.

10. 3. Working
➔ Excimers only remain bound in an excited state, so that following the
pulsed electrical discharge the atoms separate once again.
➔ While active, though, the excimers emit a burst of electromagnetic
radiation before quickly dissociating into separate gases.
➔ This rapid dissociation prevents molecular reabsorption of the emitted
radiation, making it possible to achieve high gain using a relatively small
concentration of excimers. The radiation is then reflected by mirrors
placed at both ends of the gas tube (representing the optical resonator)
until the beam is emitted via the front mirror.

11. There are wide range of application of Excimer Laser
some applications are given below (just names)

12. 4. Applications
❏ The principal advantage of excimer lasers is that they are capable of
producing a very small, precise spot at a very low (UV) wavelength.
❏ Excimer lasers are excellent for removing excess material through laser
ablation due to the fact that they are able to precisely destroy material with
little to no thermal buildup.
❏ This contrasts with carbon dioxide lasers, which rely heavily on thermal
buildup to "boil off" material during ablation.
❏ Photolithography, especially in semiconductor manufacturin

13. 4. Applications

14. Laser Power and Safety

15. 5. Laser Power
➔ Because excimer lasers predominantly use pulsed output, manufacturers
specify their power as average power.
➔ Average power is calculated by multiplying the energy within each pulse
(in joules) by the number of pulses per minute.
➔ The nature of average power makes it difficult to discern an excimer
laser's actual power, since a laser with an average power of 50 W may
output five 10 joule pulses per minute or 100 500 millijoule pulses per
minute. For this reason, manufacturers often include specification values
for individual pulse energy and repetition rate as well as average power.

16. ❏ Safety is an important topic when
discussing excimer lasers due to their
high power ratings within the UV
spectrum.
❏ A split-second direct exposure to a
200 mW laser emitting 100 yards
away can cause permanent eye
damage; excimer lasers, which are
capable of power levels of several
hundred watts, are easily capable of
considerable damage to an operator's
eyes or skin.
6. Safety

17. THANK YOU
BY M.UMAIR
[MPHY01163113]