Forming micro structures on inert and rugged materials such as glass, quartz with electric arc discharge method

Plasma is the fourth state of matter and stars are the best examples to this state. Plasma has many application areas in industry such as plasma televisions and welding machines. In addition to these fields of use in the industry, with the development of nanotechnology, plasma has taken its place in this field as well. Thin film coating, nanomaterials and carbon nanotube production are the main application fields of plasma in nanotechnology. Micro-processing technologies have progressed in parallel with the development of micro-sensors. Although there are many micro processing techniques, the most commonly used ones can be counted as photolithography, ion beam lithography, laser, electrochemical and mechanical techniques. In this study, by using plasma it is aimed to form micro structures on materials such as glass, pyrex and quartz which are physically and chemically resistant but very difficult to process. As the first step, microstructures were produced on glass by using high voltage plasma arc machine. A digital control system and current detection algorithm were developed to control the system parameters via computer. Almost perfectly shaped micro holes were formed on glass, pyrex and quartz materials. Afterwards, studies were carried out on the factors affecting the hole profile and drilling time. These studies include the current detection algorithm, the distance between probes, frequency-duty ratio and the angle between probes. Once the drilling is achieved, the setup was integrated into a single-axis motion system. Thanks to the emerging micro stepping technologies, micro holes with a diameter of 150 micrometers were formed at approximately 340 micrometer intervals. At the end of the study, by optimizing the system, micro channel study was performed on the pyrex material.