Investigation on UV solid-state nanosecond laser micromachining of microstructures on sapphire wafer

Ultraviolet (UV) solid-state laser has become an effective tool of processing hard and brittle materials due to its short wavelength, small spot and better beam quality. In this paper, experiment on the microgroove of hard and brittle sapphire wafers was carried out using a solid-state nanosecond laser with a wavelength of 266 nm. Samples were detected by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and optical microscope. The microgrooves on sapphire wafers were fabricated with different laser parameters through linear scanning experiments. The effects of laser energy, number of laser scans, and scanning speed on groove width and depth were investigated.