Picosecond Laser Ablation of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

Picosecond laser ablation of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been studied experimentally. The measurements show that laser ablation rate per pulse increases with laser fluence and pulse number. The laser-drilled hole diameter increases with pulse number, and it saturates above certain pulse number for low fluence. The study shows that picosecond laser ablation may provide a good solution for micromachining PDMS, which is more flexible and versatile than the replica molding technique.