Chemical etching composition for the preparation of 3-D nano-structures
A method of using a chemical compound as an etchant for the removal of unmodified areas of a chalcogenide-based glass, while leaving the imagewise modified areas un-removed, wherein the compound contains a secondary amine, R1 R2 NH, with R1 and/or R2 having a sterically bulky group with more than 5 atoms.
1. A method of using a chemical compound as an etchant for a chalcogenide-based glass, comprising the steps of:
removing unmodified areas of the chalcogenide-based glass by etching with N-(4-methoxybenzyl)-(pyren-1-yl-methyl)amine or N-(benzyl)-(pyren-1-ylmethyl)amine; and,
leaving imagewise modified areas of the glass un-removed.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass composition contains S, Se and Te.
3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising making the modified areas via imagewise exposure.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass composition is a photo-patterned photo-resist.
5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising generating photoinduced changes in the chalcogenide glasses by 3-D dimensional direct laser writing.
6. A method of fabricating 3-D nano-structures consisting of chalcogenide glass, comprising the steps of:
three-dimensionally photo-patterning the glass via 3-D DLW; and,
removing unmodified areas thereafter by using N-(4-methoxybenzyl)-(pyren-1-yl-methyl)amine or N-(benzyl)-(pyren-1-ylmethyl)amine as an etching agent.