Laser Drilling

Laser drilling is a well-established industrial laser application that can produce both blind and through holes in metals and non-metals. Laser drilling involves heating up the material to its melting point or vaporization temperature and may or may not require assist gas to blow away the molten material or vapor.

We have capability to drill precision holes with diameter between 10 µm and 500 µm in thin foils (down to 10 um thickness) as well as thin plates (up to several mm thickness). We use high peak power pulsed lasers with suitable wavelength (UV, Vis, IR), pulse lengths (millisecond-nanosecond) and drill heads (fixed optic, scanner optic and combination). Depending on hole requirement, single pulse, percussion or trepanning drilling approaches can be selected.

We have developed unique laser drilling processes for very high speed drilling (upto 15,000 holes/sec in silicon), high aspect ratio (>40:1) and high open fraction area (>50%).

Advantages

• Non-contact, no mechanical force
• High aspect ratio holes
• Drilling of difficult to drill materials ( such as diamonds)
• Drilling at shallow angles
• Robust, flexible, fast and accurate process

• Precision hole drilling
• Perforating
• High aspect ratio holes
• Surface pitting and dimpling

• Medical devices
• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Solar cells

• Stainless steel
• Tantalum
• Diamond
• Silicon

• R. Patwa, H. Herfurth, R. Flaig, M. Christophersen, B. F. Phlips, “Laser drilling for high aspect ratio holes and a high open area fraction for space applications”, ICALEO, FL, Oct 18-23, 2014.

• R. Patwa, G. Mueller, H. Herfurth, K. Bui, “Laser drilling up to 15,000 holes/sec in silicon wafer for PV solar cells”, SPIE Optics + Photonics, San Diego, CA, Aug 26-29, 2013