Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
Selective Area Modification of Silicon Surface Wettability by Pulsed UV Laser Irradiation in Liquid Environment
Published on: November 9, 2015
Nano-holes in silicon wafers using laser-induced surface plasmon polaritons
Pal Molian1, Zhiqun Lin, Qingze Zou
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory for Lasers, MEMS and Nanotechnology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Abstract:
Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) have been explored for a multitude of applications including sub-wavelength lithography, data storage, microscopy and photonics. In this paper, we report the use of SPPs for nanomachining silicon in massively parallel fashion. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser beam was impinged on gold-thin film deposited, porous alumina membrane (PAM) that contains periodic 2-D array of thousands of nano-holes. The silicon substrate was placed in close proximity with PAM. The formation of SPPs and their coherent interference at the exit of PAM holes created strong nanoscale electrical fields which in turn produced 50-70 nm diameter holes in silicon.
