Water-assisted femtosecond laser drilling of 4H-SiC to eliminate cracks and surface material shedding

This study adopted femtosecond laser with a wavelength of 515 nm to drill high-aspect-ratio micro through holes on a 500-μm thickness single-crystal SI-type 4H-SiC wafer. Firstly, through holes with a high aspect ratio of 20 were fabricated in air. However, the heat affect zone (HAZ), cracks, and surface material shedding around entrances and exits of the holes are inevitable in air even after chemical corrosion post-processing. In order to remove these defects, the water-assisted femtosecond laser drilling of 4H-SiC was investigated. The high-quality through holes free of cracks, surface material shedding, and HAZ were obtained under the action of internal scour and heat diffusion of water. Besides, the water layer thickness and the laser repetition frequency have a great influence on the processing quality and efficiency of the micro-holes. Finally, high-quality high-ratio-rate through micro-hole arrays on 4H-SiC were fabricated with the optimal process parameters, which is significant for the development of SiC electronic devices and the high-quality micro-fabrication of other hard and brittle materials.