Laser-Driven One- and Two-Dimensional Subwavelength Periodic Patterning of Thin Films Made of a Metal-Organic MoS₂...

Laser-based surface processing is an established way for the maskless generation of surface structures and functionalities on a large variety of materials. Laser-driven periodic surface texturing and structuring of thin films is reported for metallic-, semiconductive-, and polymeric films. Here, we introduce subwavelength surface patterning of metal-organic thin films of [Mo₂S₄(S₂CNBu₂)₂], a MoS₂ precursor. Accurate control of one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) periodic patterns is achieved on silicon wafers with a pulsed 532 nm ns laser. With suitable combinations of laser polarization, laser pulse energy, the thickness of the SiO₂ passivation layer, and the MoS₂ precursor's thin film thickness, high-quality 1D and 2D self-organized periodic structures are obtained in virtually unlimited areas. The material redistribution related to the pattern formation is thermally driven at low laser energies. Increasing pulse energies beyond a threshold level, in our experiments a factor of 2, fully converts the precursor to MoS₂.