Laser fabrication of vibrating microcavities on silicon: Formation dynamics and frequency tunability
Abstract
Laser processing of silicon has long since become a standard method for wafer dicing, surface texturing, re-crystallization after ion implantation, as well as surface amorphization, to name a few examples. Here, we introduce a novel concept, the fabrication of vibrating microcavities in a commercial platform, Si wafers covered by a thick SiO2 layer, acting as a membrane. We demonstrate that by exposing our material system to single ultrashort laser pulses above the evaporation threshold of Si, a controlled delamination of the cover layer without fracture can be achieved, leading to the formation of a microcavity accompanied by a surface bulging up to 1.5 micrometer. The formation dynamics of the microcavities has been investigated by time-resolved optical probe techniques. Ultrafast pump-probe microscopy resolves the initial stages of substrate melting, the onset of layer expansion followed by relaxation. Real-time reflectivity measurements with nanosecond resolution resolve the long lived, highly complex oscillation process of the membrane, extending over tens of microseconds. The formed cavities can be re-excited at low fluence without damage or degradation, featuring vibrations at single frequencies with high Q factors. The frequencies can be tuned continuously from 8 MHz up to 19 MHz by adjusting the fabrication fluence. A simple classical model is found to well describe the behavior of the membranes. Our results pave the way for applications in micro- and nanooptics and acoustics, in great part due to the commercial availability of the Si-SiO2 platform and the simplicity of the fabrication method. An extension to the field of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) of this technology is proposed.
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BibTeX
@misc{valiente2026laser,
title = {{Laser fabrication of vibrating microcavities on silicon: Formation dynamics and frequency tunability}},
author = {Belen Valiente and Gonzalo Gomez-Munoz and Mario Garcia-Lechuga and Irene Solana and Fernando Agulló-Rueda and David Grojo and Angel Rodriguez-Fernandez and Javier Solis and Jan Siegel},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07742},
eprint = {2611.07742},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07742},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Laser fabrication of vibrating microcavities on silicon: Formation dynamics and frequency tunability
AU - Belen Valiente
AU - Gonzalo Gomez-Munoz
AU - Mario Garcia-Lechuga
AU - Irene Solana
AU - Fernando Agulló-Rueda
AU - David Grojo
AU - Angel Rodriguez-Fernandez
AU - Javier Solis
AU - Jan Siegel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07742
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07742
AB - Laser processing of silicon has long since become a standard method for wafer dicing, surface texturing, re-crystallization after ion implantation, as well as surface amorphization, to name a few examples. Here, we introduce a novel concept, the fabrication of vibrating microcavities in a commercial platform, Si wafers covered by a thick SiO2 layer, acting as a membrane. We demonstrate that by exposing our material system to single ultrashort laser pulses above the evaporation threshold of Si, a controlled delamination of the cover layer without fracture can be achieved, leading to the formation of a microcavity accompanied by a surface bulging up to 1.5 micrometer. The formation dynamics of the microcavities has been investigated by time-resolved optical probe techniques. Ultrafast pump-probe microscopy resolves the initial stages of substrate melting, the onset of layer expansion followed by relaxation. Real-time reflectivity measurements with nanosecond resolution resolve the long lived, highly complex oscillation process of the membrane, extending over tens of microseconds. The formed cavities can be re-excited at low fluence without damage or degradation, featuring vibrations at single frequencies with high Q factors. The frequencies can be tuned continuously from 8 MHz up to 19 MHz by adjusting the fabrication fluence. A simple classical model is found to well describe the behavior of the membranes. Our results pave the way for applications in micro- and nanooptics and acoustics, in great part due to the commercial availability of the Si-SiO2 platform and the simplicity of the fabrication method. An extension to the field of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) of this technology is proposed.
ER -