Surface Integrity of Thick Photo Resist Finished by Ultra-Precision Diamond Cutting(Ultra-precision machining)

Abstract

This paper deals with an experimental study on ultra-precision diamond cutting of photo resist. A good surface flatness of photo resist is needed to make three-dimensional micro structure by multi-layer LIGA-like process. In this study, an ultra-precision cutting technology is applied to UV lithography process in order to fabricate a flat structure of thick photo resist. The direct cutting of thick photo resist by diamond cutting tool was attempted before and after UV exposure. The surface integrity and the flatness of micro pattern were estimated. In result, the variation of steps was 2μm or less, while it was 130μm or more in the case that the diamond cutting was not applied. The roughness of finished surface by cutting was 0.01μm in arithmetic average roughness Ra.