3D microstructuring and selective metallization of photosensitive glass by photochemical reaction using femtosecond laser

3D microstructuring of photosensitive glass is demonstrated by photochemical reaction using femtosecond (fs) laser for lab-on-chip application. True 3D hollow microstructures embedded in the glass are fabricated by the fs laser direct write followed by heat treatment and successive wet etching. Modification mechanism of the photosensitive glass by the fs laser attributed to the photochemical reaction is discussed. Advantages of the photochemical reaction are to reduce laser fluence and to enhance scanning speed compared with conventional fs laser processing, resulting in increasing throughput. A variety of labon-chip device components like microfluidics, microvalve, microoptics, etc. are fabricated by using this technique. The photochemical reaction of this process is also applied for selective metallization of the glass for manufacturing the lab-on-chip device.