Laser direct etching of silicon on oxide for rapid prototyping

Structures have been etched in poly-silicon and amorphous silicon deposited on silicon oxide by laser direct writing. These patterns can be written with a high resolution and transferred to the underlying material via reactive ion etching. Three-dimensional structures can be obtained by multiple exposure of the silicon mask. Due to the fast turnaround time of direct writing processes, this technique can be applied for rapid prototyping of large-scale structures.