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Sapphire Micromachining with UV Nanosecond Lasers

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Sapphire Micromachining with UV Nanosecond Lasers

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CO2 lasers have long been the laser of choice for processing applications due to their power/cost ratio. CO2 lasers in sapphire create a classic melt pool, which can be blown out to achieve a full cut. However, the cut is often too crude for semiconductor applications. Pulsed UV lasers enable machining with much finer detail and their lack of excess heat adds another benefit: each pulse removes a small amount of material but the high repetition rate turns it into a fast process. This paper reports how pulsed 355 nm Q-switched UV nanosecond Nd:YAG lasers with powers up to 22 W and 1.2 mJ pulse energy can successfully micromachine sapphire substrates with high accuracy and edge smoothness.

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