Micro- and Submicrostructuring Thin Polymer Films with Two and Three-Beam Single Pulse Laser Interference Lithography

Abstract

In this work we report the application of two and three-beam single pulse laser interference lithography to thin polymer films of poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT). By irradiating the sample surface with temporary and spatially overlapped single pulses from two or three coherent beams and changing the angles of incidence, we have accomplished the fabrication of large-area polymer micro and submicrogratings as well as submicrometric cavities arranged in a hexagonal lattice. The characterization of the structures in real space by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has allowed us to determine the formation mechanism of the microgratings to be based on different ablation regimes depending on the local fluence. Moreover, complementary characterization of the submicrometric cavities in reciprocal space by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) confirms the existence of large areas where two-dimensional order is present. The experiments presented in this work demonstrate the suitability of single pulse laser interference lithography for micro and submicrostructuring polymer films, opening up new possibilities for patterning and paving the way for potential applications where polymer structures are involved.

Laser engineering of biomimetic surfaces

“…This is most likely the reason why this technique is mostly used with ns-or ps-laser pulses with a longer coherence length and suitably narrow spectrum, thus limiting the range of materials that can be processed over a large area. Impressive results have been obtained on thin polymer and metal films [280,281], but also on polymers [278,282], steel and Ti-based alloys [283].…”

“…(c) Topography image (5×5 µm 2 ) of the imprinted sub-micrometric cavities generated in a polymer film, with the depth profile along the red line depicted at the bottom. Adapted with permission from Ref [278],. Copyright (2014) American Chemical Society.…”

Femtosecond Direct Laser-Induced Assembly of Monolayer of Gold Nanostructures with Tunable Surface Plasmon Resonance and High Performance Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance and Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensing

“…This effect has been already reported by Fowlkes et al, in which laser heating has shown to induce melting of thin nickel film which results in a liquid phase and film dewetting. According to Fowlkes et al and Martín-Fabiani et al, the final shape and size of NPs depend on the laser dose, thickness of the film, and substrate properties. Upon solidification, the locally molten gold film which is accumulated in the contour of the beam is transformed into gold nanostructures of increased height.…”

Direct laser interference patterning of nonvolatile magnetic nanostructures in Fe60Al40 alloy via disorder-induced ferromagnetism

“…The goal of our study is to produce small nonvolatile magnetic structures 19,20 by focusing laser irradiation on the sample surface. In these experiments we employed direct laser interference patterning (DLIP) which allows for fabrication of large-area (up to 1 cm 2 ) regular structures with periodicities down to /2 (500 nm is laser irradiation wavelength) [26][27][28][29][30][31] . The main result we report in this article is demonstration of periodic magnetic nanostructures (PMNS) produced by DLIP.…”