Selective ablation-assisted two-photon stereolithography for effective nano- and microfabrication

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 103; no. 4; pp. 1111 - 1116
• Main Authors: Lim, Tae Woo, Son, Yong, Yang, Dong-Yol, Kong, Hong-Jin, Lee, Kwang-Sup
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.06.2011; Springer
• Subjects: Ablation; Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Femtosecond; Lasers; Machines; Manufacturing; Microelectronic fabrication (materials and surfaces technology); Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Stereolithography; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Three dimensional; High Numerical Aperture; Selective Ablation; Femtosecond Laser; Linear Intensity; Subtractive Process; Microelectronic fabrication; Two photon process; Experimental device; Nanostructure; Stereolithography; Microstructure; Nanotechnology
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-010-6051-z

The two-photon stereolithography (TPS) process has strong merits for the direct fabrication of 2-D and 3-D microstructures with sub-100-nm resolution. In this paper, we report an effective fabrication process in which selective ablation-assisted TPS (SA-TPS) was used to ameliorate some of the limitations of the TPS process. In SA-TPS, two processes (namely, an additive process of two-photon induced photocuring and a subtractive process of selective laser ablation) were performed sequentially using a single femtosecond laser optical scanning system. The effectiveness of the proposed process was demonstrated in several applications, including precise high-resolution patterning at resolution levels higher than those achievable using the TPS process, and the fabrication of structures with high mechanical sensitivity.