Previous work by the authors on micromachining of Al2O3-TiC ceramics using excimer laser radiation revealed that a columnar surface topography forms under certain experimental conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) observations show that the columns develop from small globules of TiC, which appear at the surface of the material during the first laser pulses. To understand the mechanism of formation of these globules, a 2D finite element ablation model was developed and used to simulate the time evolution of the temperature field and of the surface topography when a sample of Al2O3-TiC composite is treated with KrF laser radiation. Application of the model showed that the surface temperature of TiC rises much faster than that of Al-2-O-3, but since TiC has a very high boiling temperature, its vaporization is significant only for a short time. By contrast, the surface temperature of A1(2)O(3) rises above its boiling temperature for a much longer period, leading to a greater ablation depth than TiC. As a result, a small TiC globule stands above the Al2O3 surface. The results of the model are compared with experimental measurements performed by AFM. After three pulses, the height of the globules predicted by the model is about 340 nm, in good agreement with the height measured experimentally, about 400 nm. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.