Fabrication of Periodic Nanostructures on Silicon Suboxide Films with Plasmonic Near-Field Ablation Induced by Low-Fluence Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Silicon suboxide (SiO(x), x ≈ 1) is a substoichiometric silicon oxide with a large refractive index and optical absorption coefficient that oxidizes to silica (SiO(2)) by annealing in air at ~1000 °C. We demonstrate that nanostructures with a groove period of 200–330 nm can be formed in air on a silicon suboxide film with 800 nm, 100 fs, and 10 Hz laser pulses at a fluence an order of magnitude lower than that needed for glass materials such as fused silica and borosilicate glass. Experimental results show that high-density electrons can be produced with low-fluence femtosecond laser pulses, and plasmonic near-fields are subsequently excited to create nanostructures on the surface because silicon suboxide has a larger optical absorption coefficient than glass. Calculations using a model target reproduce the observed groove periods well and explain the mechanism of the nanostructure formation.