Ablation and micromachining of PZT thick films using femtosecond laser

Femtosecond laser was used for the ablation and patterning of PZT thick films. The pulse width of the laser was 130 fs, and the repetition rate was 1 kHz. First, based on the relationship between the diameter of the ablated crater and the applied peak fluence, the ablation threshold fluence 100 J/cm2 for PZT was estimated by determining the magnitude of the peek fluence for zero ablated spot diameter (no damage); then, 50 to 300 mW femtosecond laser was used to pattern the PZT thick film actuator accurately and efficiently, the process of which had no heat affected zones and did not need a mask. Under the feed rate of 5 mm/s, the PZT thick film actuator was patterned. The driving ability of the actuator is enhanced by 30% after patterning.