The main aim of this thesis is to develop a new method for direct micro/nano amorphization/ oxidation of silicon using femtosecond laser irradiation and its applications in maskless lithography and solar cell fabrication.

Amorphization and oxidation occur when crystalline silicon is exposed to the irradiation of femtosecond laser pulses below the ablation threshold. Mechanisms of amorphization and oxidation were discussed and the surface temperature model was developed to study the relation between laser parameters and observed amorphization and oxidation. A systematic theoretical and experimental study of the influence of the laser parameters on the quality of amorphorized area and the size of the feature fabricated through amorphization has been studied. It was found that during the process of silicon amorphization and oxidation, the higher repetition rate of laser pulses yields smooth morphology with better repeatability. Increasing pulse duration and number of pulses were seen to increase the line width. However, increasing the number of pulses does not result in ablation of the target area. An analytical model was developed for the calculation of the average surface temperature after n-pulses.

The effect of the laser pulse width was investigated by developing an analytical model for the calculation of the non-dimensional surface temperature with various pulse widths. It was found from experimental and analytical results that for a constant power and repetition rate, an increase in the pulse duration corresponds to a significant increase in the surface temperature. It results in an increase in the amount of modified material as well as improvement of light absorption in the case of amorphization.

The amorphous silicon and silicon oxide can act as an etch stop. Therefore, maskless lithography is possible with the direct patterning (amorphization and oxidation) of crystalline silicon. Experimental results have proved the feasibility of the proposed concepts. The thin-film of amorphous silicon generated on the silicon substrate has a potential for use in photovoltaic devices and solar cell fabrication. In comparison with previous methods, the direct oxidation/amorphization of silicon induced by the femtosecond laser is a maskless single-step technique which offers a higher flexibility and reduced processing time.