Picosecond laser ablation for silicon micro fuel cell fabrication

Abstract

We have investigated laser ablation as a microfabrication approach to produce micro fuel cells (MFCs) in silicon. Picosecond pulses (15 ps) at a wavelength of 355 nm are used to make all of the MFC structures. To assess the benefits and drawbacks of laser ablation, reference cells have been produced by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) using matching geometries. Ablated and etched cells have been evaluated and compared side by side. Our conclusion is that picosecond laser ablation is very well suited for MFC fabrication. The ablated cells match or excel DRIE-microfabricated cells in terms of current and power densities. Ablated MFCs achieved 47.6 mW cm-2 of power density and 121 mA cm-2 current density.