Formation of Through-Glass-Via (TGV) by Photo-Chemical Etching with High Selectivity

In this work, we utilize a photo-chemical etching (PCE) method to form through-glass-via (TGV). The PCE is a low cost, damage-free and potentially large-area method for TGV formation. An ultra-violet (355 nm) pulse laser was used to illuminate the glass surface. The illuminated region will crystallize after thermal annealing in a furnace. The crystallized glass shows much faster etching rate than the amorphous region in HF solution. For a relatively thick (600 nm) glass, a via-hole with diameter of around 60 μm was demonstrated in laser energy of 11 J/cm2. No laser damages were observed. In comparison, at least 10 times higher energy was required to drill a glass directly. Micro-cracks were form around the glass-via. In addition, a 40 selectivity was achieved to the crystallized and amorphous region. This simple and useful method paves a straight road for 3-D integration.