Abstract
Laser-crystallized features were produced on as-deposited amorphous phase-change films by laser irradiation through a microlens array, which is a highly efficient patterning method since arbitrary features can be created uniformly over a large area in a short time. An Nd:YAG laser and a femtosecond laser were used as light sources. The dependence of feature size on laser wavelength and laser dose was studied. By using the femtosecond laser, sub-100 nm features can be produced. The patterned phase-change films included 30 nm thick Ge1Sb2Te4, Ge2Sb2Te5, Sb2Te3, and GeTe films, at 30 nm thick. It was found that the amorphous and laser-crystallized phase states of different phase-change films had different reactions to alkaline solution. Three dimensional micro/nanostructures, such as holes and bumps, in phase-change films were fabricated.