Novel laser micro-texturing on silicon with liquid lenses by breath figure method

Abstract

Surface texturing is a way of managing the surface properties of a material. This paper adopts a novel approach to laser texturing by using it in conjunction with liquid glycerin lenses and a polymer template. Such a process can effectively be used to produce micro- or even nano-scale textures on complex three-dimensional surfaces. A polymer film with an array of glycerin–water-mixed droplets proved economical and easy to produce. The resulting liquid lenses were penetrated by a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser. As the laser beam passed through the liquid lens array, it was refocused and converted to multiple beams that all engineered the substrate surface. The surface was thus successfully textured. The adaptation laser texturing technology shows potential for the application of textures to complex three-dimensional objects. In this study, a large area of microscale surface texturing on a silicon substrate was demonstrated; the texturing size lay between 1 and 3 μm, and the depth of the texturing was around 20 nm.