Microstructure Fabrication on Negative Tone SiO_2/ZrO_2 Gel Film

The SiO2-ZrO2 gel films were formed on silica or K9 glass substrate from the sols that were derived from Zr-butoxide modified chemically with benzoylacetone and then mixed with tetraethyl orthosilicate via sol-gel process. The obtained gel film shows a characteristic absorption band, at around 334nm. The Si-O-Zr, Zr-O bands were detected by FTIR. The negative tone gel film was irradiated with high pressure mercury lamp through the mask and then leached in ethyl alcohol. The above process gave uniform surface-relief gratings of different patterns with different masks. The present study has proved that the photosensitive gel films are versatile in fabrication of micro optical devices.