Strain in Vanadium Thin Film due Nanosecond Laser Treatment

Strain in Vanadium Thin Film due Nanosecond Laser Treatment

A thin coating of vanadium was grown on a glass substrate using vacuum coating technique. Piezoelectric thickness monitor was used to measure the thickness of the deposited coatings in-situ. The vanadium layer was then treated with a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser source in ambient conditions, and this resulted in the surface cracking due to heat dissipation from the laser. The density of cracks was observed to increase in a direct proportion to the laser fluence. The increase in the density of the cracks was accompanied by the surface modification of the of the vanadium layer as observed in the high-resolution scanning electron microscope. At higher laser fluence there are pinholes forming on the surface of the laser, and this is due to the laser punching and taking place at those experimental conditions.