Product Code: ICAL08_P150

Femtosecond Laser Micro-Patterning of Diamond Films for Device Fabrication
Authors:
Matthew Parrish, University of Tennessee Space Institute; USA
Yelena White, University of Tennessee Space Institute; Tullahoma TN USA
Lloyd Davis, University of Tennessee Space Institute; Tullahoma TN USA
Zbigniew Sikorski, University of Tennessee Space Institute; Tullahoma TN USA
Richard Thompson, University of Tennessee Space Institute; Tullahoma TN USA
William Hofmeister, University of Tennessee Space Institute; Tullahoma TN USA
Presented at ICALEO 2008

Diamond has a tremendous potential for device applications due to its unique superlative materials properties, such as high thermal conductivity, high wear resistance, chemical inertness, and large band gap. Our research focuses on 800 nm femtosecond laser processing of diamond films grown on silicon substrate. This technique has an advantage of direct writing of micro-size features and does not involve photolithography and reactive ion etching to form microstructures. The laser pulse energy varied between 0.2 micro-J to 3.5 micro-J with repetition rates up to 250 kHz. Ablated areas were studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and replication techniques. Features of less than 1 micron have been obtained. Careful selection of laser parameters, such as pulse energy and number of pulses, as well as spacing between machined patterns, allows reduction of graphitization during processing. Device prototyping leading to diamond emitter devices are discussed.