Micromachining of packaging materials for MEMS using lasers

New lithographic, deposition, and etching tools for micro fabrication on planar silicon substrates have led to remarkable advances in miniaturization of silicon devices. However silicon is often not the substrate material of choice for applications in which there are requirements for electrically or thermally insulating substrates, low capacitance, resistance to corrosion, or hermetic sealing. Some of the MEMS packaging materials such as ceramics, polymers, and glass are currently being used to fabricate many microdevices. To support the rapid advancements of non-silicon MEMS it is necessary to introduce innovative techniques to process these MEMS packaging materials. In this study we present the application of pulsed laser ablation of ceramics, polymers and glass (MEMS packaging materials) to assist in fabrication of MEMS devices. Microstructuring of Al2O3 ceramic, polymers Poly-Vinyl-Alchohol (PVA), polystyrene (PS), and Pyrex glass were performed and studied by pulsed lasers at 193-nm, 266-nm and 308-nm wavelengths.