Three-dimensional fabrication of metallic micro/nanostructures by two-photon polymerization for metamaterials

Abstract

We report on selective metal deposition over complex polymer structures formed by two-photon induced photopolymerization (TPP) technique. Periodic three-dimensional (3D) polymer micro/nanostructures are fabricated by means of a microlens array to produce multiple spots from a single-beam femtosecond laser amplified by a regenerative amplifier. The photopolymerizable resin and the glass substrate are chemically modified, and a pre-treatment with SnCl2 is applied before realizing a uniform silver coating by electroless plating. This preparation enables a selective deposition of small silver particles only on the polymer surface all over the sample and to avoid metal deposition on the substrate. Electrical measurements show the structures to be highly conductive with typical resistivities ρ approx. 10^-7 Ωm, only a few times larger than the value for bulk silver. By taking advantage of the high accuracy and arbitrary shape modeling of TPP fabrication, we can realize complex periodic and/or metallic micro-nanostructures which were so far out of reach. Thus, a straightforward application could be the realization of metamaterials. The processing efficiency of our technique is demonstrated with the fabrication of several large samples, created by more than 700 objects written in parallel and metallized with silver.