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Printing mask used by printing industry can go to high resolution. We attempt to use this mask in fabrication of V-groove on glass.

We have got a printing mask from a local printing company with finest lines drawn on it. We have determined that the line is about 10µm width and separation between 2 lines is 30µm. There are clear field and dark field mask. Clear field (dark line) is found to give better quality.
We determined that it is less suitable for fabrication of waveguide, but would be appropriate for mask of V-groove.
We would use a clear field mask with a ~120µm dark line. We would spin coat a glass with HD4000. Shining it through UV light source, exposed HD4000 will be hardened, while the 'line' will remains soft. This soft part would be etched away later on using the acetat we have, leaving a deep cut channel on the substrate. The glass is then dip in HF 50% for 3 hour, with etch rate about 20µm/hour. HF etch is anisotropic, so at 3 hour we suppose to get a V-groove suitable for SMF fiber alignment. The hardened HD4000 can be etched using sulfuric acid.

After several attempts, it is found that upon dipping into HF, the polymer strip off. The solution would be to use hydrophobic enhancer like PDMS, or control the post baking process. Both are tedious, and i chose to discontinue.

I am as happy as i want to be