Advanced Design of Periodical Structures by Laser Interference Metallurgy in the Micro/Nano Scale on Macroscopic Areas

Methods for micro- and nanofabrication of structures are essential for many applications in different scientific areas like physics, chemistry, and materials science. In particular, interference lithography is a widely used method to produce periodic patterns over large areas. However, this method normally requires multiple steps to obtain the final structured surface. The Laser interference Metallurgy method is similar to the interference lithography technique in that an interference pattern is used. However, when using the interference metallurgy method the only step of processing is the irradiation of the surface of the sample with an interference pattern of a high-power pulsed laser without any subsequent steps like development of a photo resist and etching. This results in a direct, periodical, and local heating of the metal based on photo-thermal nature mechanisms with a well-defined long-range order. In this work, different aspects of the "Laser Interference Metallurgy" method were studied.