Surface modification of silicon carbide at atomic and close-to-atomic scale by femtosecond laser

Hexagonal silicon carbide exhibits great potential in various applications due to the excellent physical and chemical properties. However, the nature of hard and brittle makes it difficult to processing especially at atomic scale. In this study, the irradiation of femtosecond laser pulse on 4H-SiC (0001) Si-face is studied using both the experiments and the simulations of hybrid molecular dynamics (MD) and two temperature model (TTM). The removal and amorphous of material induced by single laser pulse are investigated with different fluences, and the influence of energy absorption depths is discussed. An ablation crater with 4 nm depth and sub-diffraction limited size is detected, implying the importance of multi-photon ionization. This study provides an atomic view on the interaction of laser with silicon carbide, illustrating that pulsed laser with shorter wavelength is more suitable for propelling atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM).