Lebogang Kotsedi
University of South Africa, South Africa
Title: Surface modification and oxidation of vanadium thin film using femtosecond laser
Biography
Biography: Lebogang Kotsedi
Abstract
A glass substrate vacuum coated with a thin film of vanadium metal with the thickness of 500 nm was treated with a femtosecond laser. The laser was pulsing at a fundamental wavelength of 1050 nm and the repetition rate of 500 kHz, the spot size of the laser on the sample was calculated to be 45 μm. The vanadium coating was then treated with various laser fluences, this resulted in the colouration and surface modification of the sample. From the UV-VIS-NIR study the is an evidence of the formation of the vanadium oxide on the surface of the vanadium thin film, furthermore x-ray diffraction patterns of the samples shows that the microstructure of the film has changed and there are new diffraction peaks emerging that point to the oxidation of the film. The High-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope of the sample clearly shows the evolution of the morphology of the samples due to laser treatment.