Direct micromachining of quartz glass plates using pulsed laser plasma soft x-rays

We have investigated direct micromachining of quartz glass, using pulsed laser plasma soft x-rays (LPSXs) having a potential capability of nanomachining because the diffraction limit is ∼ 10 nm . The LPSX's were generated by irradiation of a Ta target with 532 nm laser light from a conventional Q switched Nd : YAG laser at 700 mJ ∕ pulse . In order to achieve a sufficient power density of LPSX's beyond the ablation threshold, we developed an ellipsoidal mirror to obtain efficient focusing of LPSXs at around 10 nm . It was found that quartz glass plates are smoothly ablated at 45 nm ∕ shot using the focused and pulsed LPSX's.