Hi,

We use an excimer laser for our ablation work - this uses mask projection so
produces results in a "photolithographic-like" way. Typically the resolution
of the systems is around 1 micron - so that the smallest features you can
produce are of the order of a few microns in size. Holes and lines are
special cases and you may be able to get these down a bit smaller in size.

Aspect ratio, with all the usual problems in defining exactly what you mean
by aspect ratio, is comfortably between 1 and 5, but with care and the right
choice of materials we are achieving around 10 to 13.

The choice of material depends a lot on what you want to do, how thick you
want the structure to be, any thermal properties etc. However if you want to
machine onto a silicon wafer, SU-8 photoresist baked at any temperature, or
laminated dry film resists are pretty good. The advantage of the laser
ablation process on SU-8 is that it can be used to remove the unwanted SU-8
after plating without any difficulty.

Erol Harvey
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
 http://www.swin.edu.au/iris/mt/index.htm
CRC for Microtechnology, Australia
 http://www.microtechnologycrc.com

Lior Grossman wrote:

> Hi,
> I heard about the use of Laser Ablation for Microengineering.
> I would like to structure a material with Laser ablation method (after it
> was spinned on a Si wafer)
> and than to fill it with metal (by PVD, Electroplating, etc.).
> Do you know what is the material that I should use structuring?
> Do you know the resolution of the features that I can achieve with Laser
> Ablation?
>
> My Best Regards,
> Lior Grossman
> B.G. Technical Support Ltd
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