Direct laser writing of 3D metallic mid‐ and far‐infrared wave components
Erik Hagen Waller, Stefan Duran, Georg von Freymann
Abstract
Abstract A method for direct fabrication of 3D silver microstructures with high fabrication throughput on virtually any substrate is presented. The method is based on laser‐induced photoreduction of silver ions to silver atoms, supported by nucleation, substrate functionalization and a multiple exposure fabrication process. The combination of the novel photosensitive suspension and the novel fabrication scheme enables effective fabrication speeds of up to 1 cm per second, with a minimum structure size of less than 1 μm, a resolution of more than 750 lines/mm and a resistivity of 3.0 · 10 −8 Ωm. With this fabrication speed, it is now possible to produce conductive silver topographies several millimeters in length. Thus, with a single technology, one can fabricate photonic components with characteristic spectral features ranging from mid‐to far‐infrared.