Lithography & Microfabrication
Shaping the future – with light
When precision reaches the limits of mechanics, light takes over. Lasers have become the key enablers for advanced lithography and microfabrication, defining and structuring materials with unmatched accuracy, flexibility, and speed. From semiconductor patterning and 3D microprinting to holographic optics and transparent displays – laser light is the most precise tool.
Lasers are also central to the fabrication of volume holographic optical elements (HOEs) used in augmented reality displays and automotive lighting.
During recording, two or more coherent laser beams interfere inside a photosensitive glass or polymer, forming a three-dimensional refractive index modulation.
Lasers with precise wavelength tunability and outstanding coherence stability allow designers to encode wavelength-selective or angularly selective holograms that manipulate light for HUDs, AR waveguides, or dynamic lighting.
TOPTICA’s tunable diode lasers provide the spectral control and beam coherence required to master these complex interference patterns.
In precision manufacturing, lasers enable non-contact material processing with micrometer accuracy and minimal thermal damage.
Femtosecond and picosecond fiber lasers, often used as seeders for high-power amplification, deliver energy in ultrashort bursts – vaporizing or ablating material faster than heat can diffuse.
This technique is used to create micro-channels, optical fibers, waveguides, filters, and functional surfaces on metals, glass, and semiconductors.
Laser microfabrication combines speed, repeatability, and scalability – essential for today’s high-tech components in photonics, electronics, and medical devices.
When structure size moves below the optical diffraction limit, conventional exposure no longer suffices. Two-photon polymerization harnesses the extreme intensity of femtosecond lasers to polymerize photoresists only at the focal point – enabling freeform 3D structures with nanometer-scale resolution.
Applications range from micro-optics and photonic crystals to biomedical scaffolds and micro-robotics.
TOPTICA’s ultrafast laser platforms provide the pulse duration, repetition rate, and spatial coherence essential for high throughput and ultimate structural fidelity in 3D laser lithography.