Novel Approach to Fabrication of 3D Micro-Structures by Laser Machining

Miniaturization is a worldwide trend in manufacturing industry. Though lithography has been introduced to meet the basic needs, the technology is limited by its process complexity and the parts geometry to be produced. This research attempted to overcome the above obstacles by applying laser machining approaches on general 3D micro-parts. The machining model is based on a layer-by-layer concept. Experimental verification was made on a 1mm stainless steel sheet by applying a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with Q-switch option. Three main parameters: power, repetition rate and the speed of laser process were set to optimize the process quality. In the research round holes with the diameter ranging from 10 μm to 30 μm were drilled. The following step was the machining of a sloped groove with the area size of 100 μm × 100 μm for validation.