Micromachining of PZT using ultrafast femtosecond laser

Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) is widely used in various actuator and transducers applications. Recently, the emphasis has been on the fabrication of the micro actuation systems using PZT's. Fabrication of the micro components requires evolution of surface features and machining on the micrometer scale. The traditional micromachining of PZT's performed using EDM, ultrasonic milling, sand blasting and Nd:YAG lasers is an difficult, time consuming and multistep process. In this manuscript, we report the results on successful micromachining of hard and soft PZT's using a femtosecond laser micromachining (FLM) system. A comprehensive study was performed on the optimization of the laser parameters causing ablation without any physical microscopic damage. Using these optimized parameters, surface channels with excellent surface quality were machined on both hard and soft PZT's. The piezoelectric properties were found to be unaffected by FLM. Lastly, a 3-dimensional microgear (diameter ∼1.2 mm; teeth size ∼0.2mm) was fabricated from the hard PZT material. The results clearly demonstrate that the proposed FLM system is a viable and feasible technique for the rapid prototyping of PZT based 3D microcomponents and devices.