Direct laser writing on porous silicon

Abstract

An easy and effective technique for locally oxidize, melt or remove Porous Silicon layers is presented and discussed. The method takes advantage from the very low thermal conductivity of Porous Silicon. With the aid of a focused laser beam, it is possible to reach temperatures of several hundreds °C at the illuminated spot. Results on fabrication of all-porous planar waveguides are presented and discussed. Preliminary results on the application of this technique for fabricating 2D and 3D photonic crystals are reported.