Product Code: ICAL08_408

Micromachining with High Power Picosecond Lasers (Invited Presentation)
Authors:
Thomas Herrmann, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Hatim Haloui, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Ralf Knappe, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Bernhard Henrich, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Achim Nebel, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Alexander Weis, Lumera Laser GmbH; Kaiserslautern Germany
Presented at ICALEO 2008

During the current decade, picosecond lasers has become a versatile tool to micro-machine virtually any material with high precision and minimal thermal side effects. Perhaps the most important limitation of using picosecond lasers in industrial production lines was that the removal rates often not met the economical requirements of potential applications. The situation changed with the development of high power picosecond lasers. Novel picosecond lasers with 50W average power were recently launched into the market for industrial micromachining applications that require high throughput and cost efficiency. An overview of picosecond lasers with various output power levels will be presented to discuss the benefit of the different laser systems in specific applications. Picosecond lasers with 2W average power deliver sufficient pulse energy to surpass the ablation threshold, even at their highest pulse repetition frequencies of 1MHz. The low power system will be used when low fluence removal is indicated for best quality requirements, e.g. at material removal of sensitive materials. Picosecond laser systems with 10W average power combines high throughput with highest quality. Removal rates of typically 1 cubic mm per minute have been demonstrated in various micromachining applications. Finally, picosecond lasers with 50W average power offers a new level of industrially available ultrafast laser systems. The throughput in micromachining systems can be boosted to double-digit cubic mm per minute removal rates, which opens new avenues in the field of precise laser micromachining Application examples from the different laser systems will be presented. Laser machining results and removal rates of various materials such as metals, silicon, glass etc., will be discussed.