Simulations and experiments are used to study extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) laser drilling of submicrometer holes. The ablation process is studied with a 2D Eulerian hydrodynamic code that includes bound-free absorption processes relevant to the interaction of EUV lasers with a solid material. Good agreement is observed between the simulated and measured ablated depths for on-target irradiances of up to ${1\times 10}^{10}\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$. An increase in the irradiance to ${1\times 10}^{12}\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ is predicted to ablate material to a depth of $3.8\mu \mathrm{m}$ from a single pulse with a hole diameter 3 to 4 times larger than the focal spot size. The model allows for the simulation of the interaction of a laser pulse with the crater created by a previous shot. Multiple-pulse lower-fluence irradiation configurations under optimized focusing conditions, i.e., approaching the diffraction limit, are shown to be advantageous for applications requiring mesoscale [$(100\mathrm{nm})–(1\mu \mathrm{m})$] features and a high level of control over the ablation profile.

• Received 10 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.3.064013