Micro-scale removal of Cu from a dielectric substrate has applications in microelectronics, patch antenna fabrication and frequency selective surface (FSS) manufacturing. Pulsed laser-based micro-scribing of Copper (Cu) from a dielectric is a preferred technique to avoid the adverse effects of chemical etching, such as toxicity and corrosive nature of the etchant, difficulty in fabrication of mask etc. However, pulsed laser-assisted removal of Cu from a dielectric in the air will produce recast layer/ redeposit, oxide layer near the ablation zone and thermal damage to the dielectric is another challenge. In this study, a hybrid technique with nanosecond laser-activated electrochemical micro-scribing of Cu is demonstrated. The technique was extended to remove 35 μm Cu from Rogers-RO4003 dielectric with a thickness ≈0.75 mm to fabricate FSS samples in X-band. The Cu-deposited dielectric substrate was immersed in Sodium Chloride (NaCl) solution, the laser beam was directed through a negatively biased tool electrode and the sample was biased positively. In this hybrid technique, along with laser-assisted material removal, laser-activated electrochemical etching also removed Cu selectively. The laser irradiation coupled with the NaCl solution induced preferential micro-etching, resulting in improved surface morphology without re-deposition and recast layer and thermal protection to the dielectric substrate. The FSS sample produced with the laser-hybrid micro-scribing was working at 10.3 GHz.
Recently, there is an increasing interest to create micro-channels on metal thin films for diverse applications, such as biomedical, micro channel heat exchangers, chemical separation processes and microwave antenna. Nanosecond (ns) Nd3+:YAG laser has been studied for generating micro-channels on Cu thin film (35 μm) deposited on polyimide substrate (50 μm). A pulsed Nd3+:YAG laser (532 nm / 355 nm) based scribing was performed in air and water ambiancePlasma shielding phenomenon is observed to influence the depth of microchannel at higher energies. A novel pump-probe experiment has been conducted for verifying the plasma shielding effect in air. In underwater scribing the recast layer was reduced significantly as compared to that in air. Laser scribing of Cu thin film followed by chemical etching using FeCl3 was studied. However, the approach of chemical etching resulted in undercut and thinning of Cu film. Alternatively, laser material processing in NaCl solution was studied. Cl− ions present in the solution reacts with Cu which is removed from the sample via laser ablation and forms CuCl2. Formation of CuCl2 in turn improved the surface morphology of the channel through localized etching. The surface roughness parameter Ra was less than 400 nm for NaCl solution based scribing which is smaller compared to air and underwater based methods which are typically around 800 nm or above. Preliminary studies using femtosecond (fs) laser based Cu scribing in air with the fluence of 0.5 J/cm2 resulted in a crated depth of 3 μm without any recast layer.
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