<title>Laser micromachining: a promise of cost-effective solutions in microelectronic manufacturing</title>

Abstract

Lasers have been used in industiy for well over 20 years and are currently found in many application areas including welding, cutting, drilling, surface modifying and material removal. The general industry trend has been toward high power lasers for macro applications, frequently involving metal working. More recently a major shift in emphasis has been made by some manufacturers to more fully investigate the feasibility of using lasers for the purposes ofwhat we describe as 'micromachining'. In general this involves working with material oflimited bulk and thickness (< 1 mm ) and where feature sizes are also on the order of several mm maximum. This talk will briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of severn! laser types and the components ofturn-key, laser based microinachimng systems. Many successful applications will be presented and discussed including material processing ofceramics, CVD, diamond, plastics and thin metals, used in industries such as micromedical devices and microelectronic manufacturing.Lasers are increasingly being accepted into the industrial workplace in many new and interesting application areas. Desirable properties of the laser such as monochromaticity, directionality, intensity and coherence are taken advantage of in the manufacturing processes resulting in potential benefits such as non-contact processing, selective material removal, flexibility and elimination of multi-step processes. There are at least three essential elements to the successful use of lasers in manufacturing: choice ofthe correct laser (photon source); integration of the laser into an industrialized 'workstation' including beam delivery, motion control, computer control, part handling, integrated and ergonomic support structure, and accessory integration; and empirical knowledge of the material interaction with respect to the actual requirements of the process at hand.It is first necessaiy to select the appropriate laser for the job at hand and to try to match available wavelength, energy, pulse length, beam profile and pulse repetition rate to the production requirements. Having made the appropriate selection, it is then necessary to design and construct an appropriate tool that best utilizes the technology for cost effective manufacturing. Each major subsystem of the total microprocessing system has its own sub-set of considerations as well considerations involving integration of the whole.It is also very important to understand the photon/material interaction and address all of the considerations involved with processing different materials. While the broad range of available lasers allows processing of most materials under some conditions, some of the most common materials used in the production of microelectronic devices are C\TD diamond, ceramics, metals and polymers. Each of these materials is discussed in some detail.Finally, as an illustration of the current and future utility of lasers in the manufacturing process, three interesting application fields will be discussed in some detail: processing o...

The Global Market for Industrial Laser Processing

“…Microprocessing takes up the slack Many within the laser industry speculate on the rise of USP lasers as a widespread microfabrication tool. Increasing cost-effective applications lends credence to this and numerous USP laser and system suppliers now offer equipment at cost-justifiable selling prices that have led to substantive double digit revenue growth [4], It will not be easy, as evidenced by the introduction of industrial femtosecond laser micromachining in 1997 and the lengthy acceptance curve which began exponential growth 15 years later [5]. Expansion of USP laser suppliers leads to more cost-justifiable equipment which leads to new markets with multiple customers.…”

“…Expansion of USP laser suppliers leads to more cost-justifiable equipment which leads to new markets with multiple customers. Among these are a fairly large number of OEMs and most importantly a growing number of contract manufacturers' providing the process certification necessary to broaden the markets [6].…”