Nanoparticles induced by nanosecond extreme ultraviolet laser at 46.9 nm assisted by single-layer graphene

In this paper, dense nanoparticles are firstly reported to be formed in the ablation area of glass substrate irradiated by nanosecond extreme ultraviolet laser (EUV) with the assist of sing-layer graphene. The nanoparticles could be located on certain morphology which is controlled by the energy distribution of the focused EUV laser. The size of the nanoparticles is measured and analyzed by atomic force microscope (AFM). Raman spectroscopy is used to detect the variation of the graphene layer from the unablated area to the ablated area. The formation of the nanoparticles is discussed based on the nucleation process. According to the analysis, during the interaction, the absorption distinction of just 3% laser energy could cause this peculiar surface behavior. The results indicate that the nanosecond EUV laser is able to create self-formed nano-scale features under specific condition.