The field of laser-induced synthesis, deposition and etching of materials is reviewed with an emphasis on the emerging trends and novel adaptations of the basic laser processing concepts. A number of examples are cited to illustrate the issues involved. These include rapid synthesis of titanium nitride by pulsed laser induced reactive quenching at Ti:liquid NH₃ interface, laser deposition of good quality thin films of such materials as hot oxide superconductors, zinc ferrite, iron oxide, stainless steel, etc. and laser etching of superconductor films.

Recent results on high-power pulsed-laser-induced transformations at liquid-solid interface are described in the context of synthesis of new metastable phases of materials. Specifically two types of problems are reported: (i) laser-induced synthesis of compound film at liquid solid interface, this process being termed “reactive quenching”, and (ii) laser-induced alloying of layered structure under liquid medium wherein the reactive aspect plays the minimal role. So far the reactive quenching process has been studied for different metals, compounds and thin film sandwiches in various liquid ambients such as H₂O, liquid ammonia (NH₃), liquid N₂ and benzene (C₆H₆). The identification of the metastable phases and the microstructural transformations therein subsequent to laser processing and thermal annealing have been brought out by employing a range of techniques such as conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), etc. Laser-induced alloying of layered structure in liquid ambient has been investigated in case of Fe/Al and Fe/B systems. The possible mechanism which could be responsible for the observed effects is discussed on the basis of time-resolved reflectivity measurements.

The progress in the area of applications of ion implantation and laser treatment to III–V semiconductors is reviewed. The achievements till todate are discussed alongwith the yet unresolved problems.

Ion beam and thermally-induced interface reactions between highT_c superconducting thin film of Y₁Ba₂Cu₃O_7−x and metal overlayer of Ag are studied with a view to control the interfacial property of contact resistance. The interface reaction is induced by 100 keV Ar⁺ ion beam with different ion dose values ranging from 5 × 10¹³ to 3×10¹⁴ ions/cm². The YBaCuO film-metal interface is characterized by using the small angle XRD to study the structural properties of the interfacial phases. The electrical property of the interface, specifically contact resistance, has been investigated for different dose values and thermal treatments. Three-probe vs four-probe configuration has been adopted to measure the contact resistance.

Thin films of Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor have been deposited on different substrates by pulsed excimer laser ablation from a superconducting pellet. The dependence of various process parameters such as substrate temperature, laser energy density, oxygen partial pressure, applied bias field and cooling rates on the quality of the films has been studied.

Non-contact processing technique involving the use of CW and pulsed CO₂ laser irradiation has been used for reducing the core loss of cold-rolled grain-oriented silicon steel. Laser scribing perpendicular to the rolling direction resulted in a refinement of domain wall spacing which subsequently reduced the loss of silicon steel. It was found that laser irradiation was more effective in a specimen with higher magnetic induction (Hi-B) and the loss was reduced by more than 10% under optimum conditions of the laser irradiation and the scribing speed. Since laser processing is a non-contact technique, it can be easily applied to the production line of the silicon steel.

Superconducting thin films of Y₁Ba₂Cu₃ O_{7 −x} have been deposited on (100) Y-ZrO₂ substrates by pulsed excimer laser ablation from anunreacted mixture of Y₂O₃, BaCO₃ and CuO. The films deposited at substrate temperature of 680°C and oxygen partial pressure of 200 mtorr were found to be superconducting with zero resistive transition temperature of 89 K and critical current density of over 3 × 10⁵ A/cm² at 77 K. These results are compared with those obtained by laser ablation from a sintered superconducting pellet.

Diamond like carbon films and C-N films were prepared using ion beam assisted deposition technique (IBAD). Tribological properties were studied by subjecting DLC coated films to the accelerated wear tests. These tests indicated a significant improvement in the mechanical surface properties of glass by DLC coating. Better wear features were obtained for thinner DLC coating as compared to the thicker ones. We also studied the optical properties and obtained a band gap of 1·4 eV for these films. An attempt was made to prepare C₃N₄ films by using IBAD. We observed variation in the nitrogen incorporation in the film with the substrate temperature.

Surface complexes involving silicon, germanium and carbon adatom on predefined adsorption sites of the 2×1 reconstructed Si(001) surface are investigated for their energetics and associated structural relaxations. Tersoff’s semi-empirical potential is used and the relaxations are obtained by employing the Monte Carlo simulated annealing technique. The results for the cases of Si, Ge and carbon adsorptions are compared. It is found that Si and Ge as adatoms on Si(001) 2×1 reconstructed surface behave in a similar fashion but the carbon adatom behaves in a markedly different way. Specifically, the carbon adatom induces a Si-C-Si chain configuration. It is also found that the adsorption sites between two dimer rows are the most favourable ones.