Tailoring of chemical, morphological, and mechanical surface properties of materials with laser radiation

Following the requirements for present microsystems the necessary resolutions are restricted to about 100 /spl Aring/ in vertical direction and to higher than 10 /spl mu/m in lateral direction, respectively. The author shows that laser radiation has now found confirmed applications in the prototyping stages of device engineering and is now on the edge of also becoming a cornerstone technology in manufacturing of leading-edge devices.