Micromachining technology using photosensitive glass

감광성유리를 이용한 마이크로머시닝 기술

Micromachining of photosensitive glass by UV exposure, heat treatment, and etching processes is reported. Like photoresist, the photosensitive glass is also classified into positive and negative types by development characteristics. For the positive type, the exposed area is crystallized and etched away during the etching process in HF solution, whereas the unexposed area is crystallized and etched away for the negative type. The crystallized area of the photosensitive glass has an etch rate approximately 30~100 times faster than that of the amorphous area so that it becomes possible to fabricate microstructures in the glass. Based on the unique properties of glass such as high optical transparency, electrical insulation, and chemical/thermal stability, the glass micromachining technique introduced in this work could be widely applied to various devices in the fields of electronics, bio engineering, nanoelectonics and so on.