Excimer laser deep micro-structuring for LIGA process

LIGA process technique is a three-dimensional micromachining technology which is applied to fabricate 3D micromechanical parts. Because the LIGA process requires synchrotron radiation for deep-etch X-ray lithography, few can utilized this technique. In order to solve this problem, many efforts have been made in the world. In Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, an evolutionary process named Laser LIGA process is being developed. The recent progresses in the development of this process is reported. The mechanism of UV laser ablation,the design of experiment apparatus and the experiment procedures for fabrication of micromechanical parts are introduced. In the end of the paper the experiment result is presented, which is a phi 500 mu m micro-gear of 220 mu m depth.