Preliminary Study of Ultrasonic Assisted Underwater Laser Micromachining of Silicon

The disturbances of vapor bubble to a laser beam in the underwater laser machinig process importantly limits the material removal rate and cut quality obtained. This issue is more essential for the laser micromachining process that a precise and small trench cut is highly needed. In this study, the ultrasound was used to energize and break up the bubble while the laser beam was performing a cut in water. Silicon was used as a work sample in this study as its significant usage in many micro-components. An ultrasonic transducer was located nearby the workpiece in an attempt to vibrate surrounding water. The results revealed that an increase in ultrasonic power increased the width and depth of cut channel. In addition, the workpiece surface obtained after the ablation was clean as similar to that performed by the ultrasonic cleaning. This combination of laser machining and ultrasonic cleaning processes can be another effective approach to cut thermal sensitive materials and also small components whose thermal damage and deposition of cut debris can be harmful to their functionality after laser ablation.