High-aspect-ratio grooves fabricated in silicon by a single pass of femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

High-aspect-ratio grooves have been fabricated in silicon by a single pass of femtosecond laser pulses in water and ambient air. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were employed to image for the morphology of the photoinduced grooves and analyze the chemical composition in the surrounding of the grooves. It was observed that the sidewall of the grooves fabricated in water was much smoother than that in ambient air, and there were homogeneous nano-scale protrusions on the sidewall of the grooves fabricated in water. Meanwhile, oxygen species, which was incorporated into the grooves fabricated in air, was not observed in those in water.