Copper Vapor Laser Used in Etching and Deposition

ABSTRACTWe have carried out experiments for etching manganese-zinc ferrite in aqueous KOH solution using a copper vapor laser. The high repetition rate (5-10 KHz), the high peak power (∼ 250 KW), and the short pulse length (24-30 ns) result in rapid etching of grooves with high aspect ratios. The depth of the grooves increased with laser power and slower scan speeds while, the width was limited to the laser beam focus. The etching process is believed to be purely thermal in nature and limited only by the removal of the molten material out of the grooves. The copper vapor laser was also used as a source for projection deposition of various metals on quartz substrate by a pyrolytic process. This system achieved patterns with finefeature sizes, good resolution, and metallic properties of the deposits. In this technique, both the spun-on organometallic films as well as LCVD were tried.