Laser-enhanced plating and etching from aqueous solutions

We have developed an experimental plating and etching technique using a focused laser to write patterns by means of enhanced local plating (etching) at the point of laser absorption on a cathode (anode). Experiments used premetallized glass slides as substrates, the metallization serving as an equipotential surface. The following different kinds of laser-enhanced plating and etching have been demonstrated with rates as high as 10 μm/sec for incident power densities in the 104-106-W/cm2 range:

© 1982 Optical Society of America