• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.3 s.180
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• pp.156-162
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• 2006

Direct fabrication of nano patterns has been studied employing a nano-stereolithography (NSL) process. The needs of nano patterning techniques have been intensively increased for diverse applications for nano/micro-devices; micro-fluidic channels, micro-molds. and other novel micro-objects. For fabrication of high-aspect-ratio (HAR) patterns, a thick spin coating of SU-8 process is generally used in the conventional photolithography, however, additional processes such as pre- and post-baking processes and expansive precise photomasks are inevitably required. In this work, direct fabrication of HAR patterns with a high spatial resolution is tried employing two-photon polymerization in the NSL process. The precision and aspect ratio of patterns can be controlled using process parameters of laser power, exposure time, and numerical aperture of objective lens. It is also feasible to control the aspect ratio of patterns by truncation amounts of patterns, and a layer-by-layer piling up technique is attempted to achieve HAR patterns. Through the fabrication of several patterns using the NSL process, the possibility of effective patterning technique fer various N/MEMS applications has been demonstrated.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.265-270
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• 2016

Recently, many studies have been conducted on the nano-scale fabrication technology using twophoton- absorbed polymerization induced by a femtosecond laser. The nano-stereolithography process has many advantages as a technique for direct fabrication of true three-dimensional shapes in the range over several microns with sub-100 nm resolution, which might be difficult to obtain by using general nano/microscale fabrication technologies. Therefore, two-photon induced nano-stereolithography has been recently recognized as a promising candidate technology to fabricate arbitrary 3D structures with sub-100 nm resolution. Many research works for fabricating novel 3D nano/micro devices using the two-photon nano-stereolithography process, which can be utilized in the NT/BT/IT fields, are rapidly advancing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.180-187
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• 2004

The miniaturization technologies are perceived as potential key technologies of the future. They will bring about completely different ways in which people and machines interact with the physical world. However, at the present time, the primary technologies used fur miniaturization are dependent on the microelectronic fabrication techniques. The principal shortcomings associated with such techniques are related to the inability of to produce arbitrary three-dimensional features not only in electronics but also in a wide range of metallic materials. In this paper, a ultramicro-stereolithography system assisted with a femto-second laser was developed to fabricate the arbitrary three-dimensional nano/micro-scaled features. In the developed process, a femto-second laser is projected according to CAD data on a photosensitive monomer resin, it induces polymerization of the liquid resin. After the polymerization, a droplet of ethanol is dropped to remove the liquid resin and then the polymerized nano-scaled features only remain. By a newly developed process, miniature devices for an extremely wide range of applications would become a technologically feasible reality. Some of nano/micro-scaled features as examples were fabricated to prove the usefulness of this study at the fundamental stage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.35-46
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• 2009

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.93-99
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• 2010

A nano-stereolithography is the direct patterning process with a nanoscale resolution using twophoton absorption induced by a femtosecond laser. However, in the majority of the works, the fabrication of 3D microstructures have been done only onto transparent glass due to the use of an oil immersion objective lens for achieving a high resolution. In this work, the coaxial illumination and the auto-focusing system are proposed for the direct patterning of nano-precision patterns on an opaque substrate such as a silicon wafer and a metal substrate. Through this work, 3D polymer structures and metallic patterns are fabricated on a silicon wafer using the developed process.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.63-69
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• 2007

The two-photon stereolithography (TPS) process is a promising technique for the fabrication of real three-dimensional (3D) nano/micro-structures via application of a femto-second laser, In TPS, when a near-infrared ultrashort-pulsed laser is closely focused onto a confined volume of photocurable resin, only the local area at the center of the focus is cured. Therefore, real 3D microstructures with resolution under the diffraction limit can be fabricated through a layer-by-layer accumulative technique, This process provides opportunities to develop neo-conceptive nano/micro devices in IT/BT industries, However, a number of issues, including development of effective fabrication methods, highly sensitive and functional materials, and neo-conceptive devices using TPS, must be addressed for the realization of industrial application of TPS. In this review article, we discuss our efforts related to TPS: effective fabrication methods, diverse two-photon curable materials for high functional devices, and applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.10 s.175
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• pp.17-25
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.264-267
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• 2005

A subregional slicing method (SSM) is proposed to increase the nanofabrication efficiency of a nano-stereolithography (NSL) process based on two-photon polymerization (TPP). The NSL process can be used to fabricate 3D microstructures via the accumulation of layers of uniform thickness; hence, the precision of the final 3D microstructure depends on the layer thickness. The use of a uniform layer thickness means that, to fabricate a precise microstructure, a large number of thin slices is inevitably required. leading to long processing times. In the SSM proposed here, however, the 3D microstructure is divided into several subregions on the basis of the geometric slope, and then each of these subregions is uniformly sliced with a layer thickness determined by the geometric slope characteristics of each subregion. Subregions with gentle slopes are sliced with thin layer thicknesses, whereas subregions with steep slopes are sliced with thick layer thicknesses. Here, we describe the procedure of the SSM based on TPP, and discuss the fabrication efficiency of the method through the fabrication of a 3D microstructure.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2006

A nano-stereolithography (NSL) process has been developed for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) micro-devices with high spatital resolution of approximately 100 nm. In the NSL process, a complicated 3D structure can be created by stacking layer-by-layer, so it does not require any sacrificial layer or any supporting structure. A laminated layer was fabricated by means of solidifying liquid-state monomers using two-photon absorption (TPA) which was induced by a femtosecond laser. When the fabrication of a 3D stacked structure was finished, unsolidified liquid resins were rinsed by ethanol to develop the fabricated structures; then, the polymerized structure was only left on the glass substrate. Through this work, several 3D microstructures such as a micro-channel, shell structures, and photonic crystals were fabricated to evaluate the possibility of the developed system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1365-1368
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• 2004

A scheme to control the laser power and the exposure time was studied to fabricate precise microstructures using the nanostereolithography (nSL) process. Some recent works have shown that a three-dimensional (3D) microstructure can be fabricated by the photopolymerizing process which is induced by two-photon absorption (TPA) with a femtosecond pulse laser. TPA provides the ability to confine photochemical and physical reactions within the order of laser wavelength, so neardiffraction limit features can be produced. In the nSL process, voxels are continuously generated to form a layer and then another layer is stacked in the normal direction of a plane to construct a 3D structure. Thus, fabrication of a voxel with low aspect ratio and small diameter is one of the most important parameters for fabricating precise 3D microstructures. In this work, the mechanism of a voxel formation is studied and a scheme on the control of laser power and exposure for minimizing aspect ratio of a voxel is proposed.