Mechanically metastable structures generated by single pulse laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) in the photoresist SU8

Abstract

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) with a periodicity of 351 nm are generated in the negative photoresist SU8 by single nanosecond laser pulse impact. Friction scans indicate the periodic pattern to comprise alternating regions of crosslinked and non-crosslinked SU8. Intriguingly, even minor mechanical stimuli in the order of nanonewtons cause the unfolding or rather the deletion of the characteristic periodic pattern similarly to the release of a pre-loaded spring. This feature combined with high resilience to heat and photon irradiation makes SU8-LIPSS attractive for applications such as mechanical stress monitors, self-destructing memory and passive micro actuators.

Formation of Highly Ordered Platinum Nanowire Arrays on Silicon via Laser-Induced Self-Organization

“…Laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) offer an elegant alternative since this method of pattern formation is of comparably low-cost, highly flexible and is a single step process [14]. First discovered by Birnbaum in the mid-1960s [15], the process of LIPSS-generation today is applicable to a wide variety of materials, such as metals, alloys, semiconductors, dielectrics and polymers [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. While the mechanism of LIPSS-formation is still not fully understood in every detail [14,20,23,24,25,26], the potential of this self-organization phenomenon is already applicable for practical applications.…”