Surface Micro-Structuring of Silica Glass by Laser-induced Backside Wet Etching

Abstract

We have investigated a one-step method to fabricate a microstructure on a silica glass plate by using laser-induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) that consists of excimer laser mask projection system and diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) laser beam scanning system. Well-defined deep microtrenches without crack formations on a fused silica glass plate were fabricated by LIBWE method with the UV lasers. We have demonstrated the microof pits-array and patterned grating on the surface of silica glass plates by LIBWE method at nm and 266 nm with dye solutions. The two new systems allow us to use rapid prototyping high precision surface microfabrication of silica glass as laser direct-write processing.

Laser-Induced Backside Wet Etching of Transparent Materials with Organic and Metallic Absorbers

“…Higher harmonics of high repetition rate Nd:YAG lasers (530 nm, 266 nm) were applied for etching, too [30,31]. However, the utilization of visible wavelengths requires special dyes for absorption and in addition higher laser fluences [30].…”

“…However, the utilization of visible wavelengths requires special dyes for absorption and in addition higher laser fluences [30]. For very high repetition rates, the bubble lifetime can exceed the pulse interval whereby the etching process is influenced and lower etch rates were found [30,31]. A wide range of liquids were investigated for H-LIBWE comprising mainly solutions of dyes in organic solvents [22,32], solutions of inorganic and organic absorbers in water [25,26,33,34], and liquid metals [27,35].…”