Modification of glass with Ultrashort Pulsed (USP) laser radiation with subsequent wet chemical etching is a well-known process, especially for fused silica, and is referred to as Selective Laser induced Etching (SLE). The main advantage of the SLE process is that almost any 3D geometry can be produced, but currently this is mainly limited to the use of fused silica samples with flat surfaces. To extend the SLE process, we have now processed 400 µm thick upward curved borosilicate glass. In the initial studies on planar borosilicate glass, the first process parameters are found and partially transferred to the curved samples. However, it is found that etching of simple structures occurs at different rates when comparing planar and curved material. This presents a challenge for processing curved surfaces, where optical aberrations like spherical aberrations, astigmatism, and coma distort the spot geometry. We are able to spiral cut the curved 400 μm thick borosilicate glass sample as well as drill through it using the SLE process. Difficulties are observed in the structuring of the area with high incident angles at greater radii, since here the influence of optical aberrations becomes dominant. Thus, sufficient modification by the laser radiation is no longer possible. This prevents the subsequent etching process. This allows the limits of the SLE process to be evaluated for thin upward curved borosilicate glass. The spiral created from the curved glass shows high flexibility and therefore the high durability of the material after processing.
Selective Laser-induced Etching (SLE) is a laser-based process which enables the fabrication of three-dimensional parts from transparent materials with an enormous freedom of geometry and micrometer precision. A current research focus for the SLE process is the development and fabrication of ion traps made of fused silica for the ion-based approach of quantum computing. With the help of micrometer-sized electrically controllable components, ions are trapped inside an electrical field and their state is manipulated by means of laser radiation in the context of complex computing operations. Another research focus is the fabrication of fiber-chip couplers which are necessary components of smallest laser sources with the purpose to minimize and simplify the current complex experimental setup of a quantum computer. This work presents the current development of laser / SLE-based processes for the fabrication of microelectronic devices and quantum computing applications.
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