Fabrication of microchannels on PMMA using a low power CO2 laser

This study presents a cheap and quick method for the formation of microchannels on poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA). A continuous wave CO2 laser with a wavelength of 10.6 mu m was used to inscribe periodic ripple structures on a PMMA substrate. A direct writing technique was employed for micromachining. As PMMA is very sensitive to such laser irradiations, a slightly low power CO2 laser was effective in inscribing such periodic structures. The results show that smooth and fine ripple structures can be fabricated by controlling the input laser parameters and interaction time of the laser beam. This direct laser writing technique is promising enough to prevent us from using complex optical arrangements. Laser power was tested starting from the ablation threshold and was gradually increased, together with the variation in scanning speed of the xy-translational stage, to observe the effects on the target surface in terms of depth and width of trenches. It was observed that the depth of the trenches increases on increasing the laser power, and the bulge formation on the outer sides of the trenches was also studied. It was evident that the formation of bulges across the trenches is dependent on the scanning speed and input laser power. The results depict that a focused laser beam with optimized parameters, such as controlling the scanning speed and laser power, results in fine, regular and tidy periodic structures.