Pattern propagation by blanket illumination of patterned thermal conductors and patterned thermal insulator on a thermal conductor

A patterned film on a substrate (18) is transferred to an overlayer or an underlayer metallic film which absorbs laser light. Selective ablation of the metallic layer is produced by irradiating the structure using uniform, blanket or unpatterned illumination generated by a system including a laser (10). The process relies on laser heating of the overlayer or underlayer film where it is in contact with the thermal insulator to drive film ablation or chemical reaction. Regions in contact with a thermal conductor are of lower temperature and thus remain intact. The layer to be etched can be composed of one or several layers of different materials. The composite must be thin thermally and one layer of the composite absorbs a portion of the incident laser light. Laser energy is large enough so that the temperature increase caused by absorption is sufficient to drive the ablation or chemical etching reaction.