Micro- and nanostructures exhibit a growing commercial interest where a fast, cost-effective, and large-area production is attainable. Laser methods have a great potential for the easy fabrication of surface structures into flexible polymer foils like polyimide (PI). In this study two different concepts for the structuring of polymer foils using a KrF excimer laser were tested and compared: the laser-induced ablation and the laser-induced shock wave structuring. The direct front side laser irradiation of these polymers allows the fabrication of different surface structures. For example: The low laser fluence treatment of PI results in nano-sized cone structures where the cone density can be controlled by the laser parameters. This allows inter alia the laser fabrication of microscopic QR code and high-resolution grey-tone images. Furthermore, the laser treatment of the front side of the polymer foil allows the rear side structuring due to a laserinduced shock wave. The resultant surface structures were analysed by optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as well as white light interferometry (WLI).

Date Published: 12 March 2015
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 9351, Laser-based Micro- and Nanoprocessing IX, 935119 (12 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079434

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9351:
Laser-based Micro- and Nanoprocessing IX
Udo Klotzbach; Kunihiko Washio; Craig B. Arnold, Editor(s)