Laser photo ablation is a direct micromachining method. It is based on the removal of polymer material by using intense UV or infrared irradiation provided by a laser. The radiation wavelength used affects the removal mechanism. If infrared lasers are used, the irradiated material is heated and decomposes, leaving a void in the polymer material. If UV radiation is used, the irradiated polymer decomposes, presumably of a mixture of two mechanisms: thermal and direct bond breaking. Thermal bond breaking is induced by heat, as with infrared irradiation. In direct bond breaking, polymer molecules directly absorb ultraviolet photons, often absorbing enough energy so that the chemical bonds within the polymer chains are broken. The resulting smaller polymer chains are volatile or melt at much lower temperatures than the bulk polymers, leaving a void in the material.

Contact:

Fraunhofer IBMT

Fraunhofer-Institute for Biomedical Engineering
Head of Department Biomedical Microsystems
Dr. Thomas Velten
Ensheimer Strasse 48
66386 St. Ingbert
Germany

phone: +49 (0)6894 980-301
thomas.velten@ibmt.fraunhofer.de
IBMT homepage