Development of a laser-focused ion beam combination machine.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• Microfabrication of optical components and micromedical devices requires high precision.
• Existing methods may struggle to achieve both ultrafine surface structures and complex geometries.
• The need for integrated systems capable of multi-scale processing is growing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a compound laser and focused ion beam (FIB) system for high-precision microfabrication.
• To demonstrate the system's capability in processing optical and micromedical devices.
• To achieve significant reduction in surface roughness for fabricated components.

Main Methods:

• Development of a hybrid system integrating focused ion beam (FIB) and multiple laser sources.
• Incorporation of an atomic force microscope for in-situ monitoring and characterization.
• Processing of a glasslike carbon microlens array mold using a femtosecond laser followed by FIB finishing.

Main Results:

• The compound system enables fabrication of decamicrometer areas using lasers and submicrometer areas using FIB in a single chucking operation.
• Femtosecond laser processing of a microlens array mold resulted in a diameter of 3.2 microm and depth of 0.43 microm.
• Subsequent finishing with FIB reduced the surface roughness from over Rz=0.5 microm to less than Rz=0.05 microm.

Conclusions:

• The integrated laser and FIB system offers a powerful solution for ultrafine precision processing of microstructures.
• This hybrid approach significantly enhances surface quality, achieving nanometer-level roughness.
• The developed system holds promise for advanced manufacturing of optical components and micromedical devices.