Fast fabrication of silicon based microstructures using 355 nm UV laser

Abstract

In this study, a 355 nm UV Nd:YAG laser is used to process silicon wafers. In order to obtain microstructures with high aspect ratio, a dual prism optical system is set up to control the cutting linewidth of the UV laser beam. During the laser beam propagation through the prisms, the two prisms are rotated with the same angular velocity, which results in the focal spot of the laser beam moving in a circular path on the silicon substrates. When the laser beam moves relative to the holder (workstation), a laser cutting process can be carried out. With this laser system, the cutting linewidth is controllable ranging from 10 μm to 1 mm by adjusting the initial phase difference in the two prisms. The experimental results show that arbitrary shaped silicon based microstructures with high aspect ratio can be fabricated by this 355 nm UV laser system, and the aspect ratio over 10 can be obtained.