<title>Micromachining with copper vapor lasers</title>

Abstract

When high quality laser beams are combined with suitable imaging optics and manipulation systems, laser micro machining offers excellent solutions to industrial needs. In this context the presented work was performed to demonstrate the potential of the Copper Vapour Laser (CVL) for upcomming applications. Therefore, a systematic series oflaser beam cutting, drilling and milling experiments were carried out using copper sheets ofthickness between 0.01 mm and 0.250 mm. In a first step zero-dimensional (holes), onedimensional (slits) and two-dimensional (contour cuts) structures were generated with depth/width-ratios varying from 1 : 1 00 to I 0: 1 using different processing strategies (focussed percussion drilling, mask projection and trepanning). The results have been characterized in terms of the minimal geometrical deviations (quality) and processing speeds achievable.