We have investigated the process of copper layer ablation with a tightly focused Q-switched 532nm laser. Focusing 40ns long laser pulses to a micrometer-sized spot results in high energy density and gives rise to ablation phenomena not seen during laser processing with larger beam diameters. Use of acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) enabled us to test different laser beam steering approaches in terms of choosing the position for each laser pulse independently of the previous pulses. Random addressing of desired positions across a microstructure proved to be the most efficient method compared to various scanning approaches. Assigning a random order to the spatial sequence of laser pulses resulted in the fastest microstructuring process and featured lowest residual heating of the substrate. •Study of a nanosecond laser pulse interaction with a copper layer.•Ablation effects at a single micrometer scale.•Theory-supported explanation of the observed phenomena.•Development of laser beam steering approaches for copper layer microstructuring.