Fabrication of Titanium Microchannels by using Ar+ Laser-assited Wet Etching

레이저 유도에칭을 이용한 티타늄 미세채널 제조

Characteristics of laser-assisted wet etching of titanium in phosphoric acid were investigated to examine the feasibility of this method for fabrication of high aspect ratio microchannels. Laser power, number of scans, etchant concentration, position of beam waist and scanning speed were taken into consideration as the major process parameters exerting the temperature distribution and the cross sectional profile of etched channels. Experimental results indicated that laser power influences on both etch width and depth while number of scans and scanning speed mainly affect on the etch depth. At a low etchant concentration, the cross sectional profile of an etched channel becomes a U-shape but it gradually turns into a V-shape as the concentration increases. On the other hand, surface of the laser beam focus with respect to the sample surface is found to be a key factor determining the bubble dynamics and thus the process stability. It is demonstrated that metallic microchannels with different cross sectional profiles can be fabricated by properly controlling the process parameters. Microchannels of aspect ratio up to 8 with the width and depth ranges of 8∼32 m and 50∼300 m, respectively, were fabricated.