Product Code: ICAL06_M403

Laser Drilling of Single Crystal Silicon Carbide Substrates
Authors:
Aravinda Kar, CREOL, University of Central Florida; Orlando FL USA
Chong Zhang, CREOL, University of Central Florida; Orlando FL USA
Nathaniel Quick, AppliCote Associates LLC; Sanford FL USA
Presented at ICALEO 2006

SiC is widely used in high temperature and high power microelectronic devices because of its unique thermophysical and electronic properties such as high strength, resistance to chemical degradation and wear resistance at high operating temperatures. These properties also give rise to the difficulties to process SiC with conventional machining methods. Q-switch pulsed Nd: YAG laser (1.06 μm) is used in this paper to drill micro holes in SiC substrate. To describe the interaction between laser and SiC, a transient analytical thermal model is constructed. Volumetric heating is considered to account for the semi-transparent optical property of SiC at the wavelength of 1.06 μm. Based on the model, laser parameters are chosen to perform the drilling experiment. The drilling speed, hole size (diameter and depth) and the taper of the hole are studied under different laser parameters.