Nanosecond laser silicon micromachining

Jun Ren; Sergei S. Orlov; Lambertus Hesselink; Helen Howard; Alan J. Conneely

doi:10.1117/12.529442

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15 July 2004 Nanosecond laser silicon micromachining

Jun Ren, Sergei S. Orlov, Lambertus Hesselink, Helen Howard, Alan J. Conneely

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Proceedings Volume 5339, Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics III; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.529442
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2004, San Jose, Ca, United States

Abstract

We present theoretical calculations and experimental measurements of silicon micromachining rates, efficiency of laser pulse utilization, and morphology changes under UV nanosecond pulses with intensities ranging from 0.5 GW/cm² to 150 GW/cm². Three distinct irradiance regimes are identified based on laser intensity. At low intensity, proper gas dynamics and ablation vapor plume kinetics are taken into account in our theoretical modeling. At medium high intensity, we incorporate the proper plasma dynamics, and predict the effects of the laser generated vapor plasma and the electron hole plasma on the laser-matter interaction. At even higher intensity, we attribute the observed increased ablation rate to energy re-radiation from the laser heated hot plasma, the strong shock wave, and the accompanied strong shock wave heating effects. Experimentally measured data in these regimes agree well with our calculations, without changing parameters in the calculations used for the three regimes. Our results can be applied toward quantitatively characterize the behavior of ablation results under different laser parameters to achieve optimal results for micromachining of slots and vias on silicon wafers.

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Jun Ren, Sergei S. Orlov, Lambertus Hesselink, Helen Howard, and Alan J. Conneely "Nanosecond laser silicon micromachining", Proc. SPIE 5339, Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics III, (15 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.529442

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