Micropatterning of Quartz Substrates by Multi-WavelengthVacuum-Ultraviolet Laser Ablation

Photoablation of synthetic fused quartz by simultaneous irradiation of multi-wavelength beams of a vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) laser using high-order anti-Stokes Raman scattering is described. The VUV laser, which emits widely spread Raman-shifted lines from 133 nm to 594 nm, is ideal for effective laser ablation of the fused quartz. The well-defined patterns with a cross-sectional profile of a rectangular shape are formed by using a contact mask at an ablation rate as high as 13 nm/s. An effective absorption coefficient of 3.4×10-5 cm-1, which indicates that the multi-wavelength irradiation effect has an important role in the process, is obtained.