Microfeature edge quality enhancement in excimer laser micromachining of metal films by coating with a sacrificial polymer layer

A novel technique for enhanced excimer laser micromachining of metallic thin films by first coating the metal film with a thin polymer film is presented. The sacrificial polymer film acts as a protective and a clamping layer, preventing the metal film from undergoing cracking and damage during the laser ablation. The machined patterns are characterized regarding their quality in terms of edge roughness, lateral overcut and boundary integrity in proximity machining. Significant improvement in these aspects is observed when the machining is carried out on metal films coated with thin polymer films. Details of the effects of the fluence and spot overlap on the micromachined patterns are investigated. The technique allows sharp machining of micropatterns on thin metal films, over length scales ranging from hundreds of micrometers down to a single micrometer, thereby proving to be the only technique that can be used to laser micromachine thin films at the length scale of a single micrometer. This technique is expected to be useful for large scale patterning of metallic films, particularly for plasmonic applications and infrared/terahertz metamaterials. (paper)