Fabrication of 250-nm-hole arrays in glass and fused silica by UV laser ablation

Parallel nanohole drilling in glass using an ArF excimer laser (193 nm) is demonstrated. For the first time, hole arrays with 500 nm pitch and individual holes with 250 nm diameter and more than 100 nm depth are fabricated by phase mask imaging using a Schwarzschild objective. Holes in soda lime glass are drilled by direct ablation; fused silica is processed by depositing a SiOx-film on SiO2, patterning the SiOx by ablation, and finally oxidizing the remaining SiOx to SiO2. Thermally induced ordered dewetting of noble metal films deposited on such templates may be used for the fabrication of plasmonic devices.