Materials processing with lasers is a rapidly expanding field which is increasingly captivating the attention of scientists, engineers and manufacturers alike. The aspect of most interest to scientists is provided by the basic interaction mechanisms between the intense light of a laser and materials exposed to a chemically reactive or nonreactive surrounding medium. Engineers and manufacturers see in the laser a new tool which will not only make manufacturing cheaper, faster, cleaner and more accurate but which also opens up entirely new technologies and manufacturing methods that are simply not available using existing techniques. Actual and potential applications range from laser machining to laser-induced materials transformation, coating, patterning, etc. , opening up the prospect of exciting new processing methods for micromechanics, metallurgy, integrated optics, semiconductor manufacture and chemical engineering. This book concentrates on the new and interdisciplinary field of 1 aser-i nduced chemicaZ process i ng of materi als. The techni que permits maskless single-step deposition of thin films of metals, semiconductors or insulators with lateral dimensions ranging from a few tenths of a micrometer up to several centimeters. Moreover, materials removal or synthesis, or surface modifications, such as oxidation, nitridation, reduction, metallization and doping, are also possible within similar dimensions. This book is meant as an introduction. It attempts to cater for the very broad range of specific interests which different groups of readers will have, and this thinking underlies the way in which the material has been arranged.
