In recent years, ultrashort pulse lasers have emerged as a game-changing technology, offering new possibilities for applications and improving traditional processes. Femtosecond lasers have played a crucial role in speeding up the transformation of these industries. Their unique capabilities have led to pioneering applications in surface treatment and thermal resistance domains. These applications have widely spread to the automotive and aeronautic sectors, underscoring the significance of ultrashort pulse lasers in these industries.

Understanding Ultrashort Lasers

Ultrashort pulse lasers (USP), especially femtosecond lasers, constitute a high-precision tool, delivering high-energy pulses to a localized area on a very short timescale. These characteristics set them apart from conventional laser systems as the interaction occurs at the microscopic level, enabling precise modification of the material and demonstrating that USP lasers are particularly well suited for high-precision applications.

Surface Treatment in Automotive and Aeronautic Industries

Surface treatment

Femtosecond lasers are now being used more and more to enhance performance in surface functionalization for instance lubricant properties control and aerodynamic properties. Not only does it extend the longevity of components, it also eliminates the necessity for chemical additives, thereby aligning with sustainability objectives.

Blind Hole Drilling

In aeronautics, the practice of blind hole drilling in wings is transformative as it improves air penetration, revolutionizing aerodynamics and leads to improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. Moreover, the micro-perforation capabilities of ultrashort pulse lasers opens new opportunities for aerodynamic enhancement, as they help reduce part of the turbulent airflow by creating a more stable flow.

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Laser Cutting: Precision and Efficiency Redefined

A precision manufacturing process utilizing a focused light beam is instrumental in shaping materials such as plastics, metals, and ceramics. It is a versatile and efficient alternative to traditional cutting methods like mechanical saws and drills. Notable advantages of laser cutting include:

• High Precision: Laser technology allows cuts with minimal material waste.
• Clean Edges: Laser cuts deliver smooth, refined edges without additional finishing.
• Minimal Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ): Laser cutting mitigates excessive material heating, minimizing warping or distortion.

Laser Welding: Precision Joining for Superior Strength

A focused light beam to melt and fuse materials presents a precise and reliable alternative to traditional welding techniques. Its advantages include:

• Precision and Strength: creates robust and durable weld joints with precise control over geometry.
• Reduced Heat Input: safeguarding delicate electronic components and material properties.
• Material Versatility: This technique combines various materials, including metals, plastics, glass and ceramics.

Laser Marking: Enduring and Customizable Identification

Laser marking, which is the use of a focused light beam to create lasting marks on materials, serves to embed serial numbers, barcodes, and other markings on consumer electronic devices. Notable advantages encompass:

• Reflectivity and Durability: Laser markings allow for high visibility offering resilience against wear and tear.
• Precision and Customization: The technology enables intricate and precise markings, permitting customization of consumer electronic devices.
• Broad Material Applicability: Laser marking is needed across diverse materials like metals, plastics, and ceramics.
• Efficient processes : Femtosecond lasers used in laser marking provide a cleaner alternative by eliminating the need for chemical processes, contributing to reduced chemical waste in consumer electronics manufacturing.

Emerging Frontiers in Laser Technology for Consumer Electronics

The applications of laser technology continue to expand with technological advancements and increased consumer demand for innovative devices. Some emerging applications include:

• 3D Printing: Lasers facilitate the creation of intricate components for consumer electronic devices using 3D printing.
• Display Technology: Laser technology produces high-resolution displays like OLED and LCD panels.
• Biomedical Sensors: Laser systems aids in developing wearable biomedical sensors for real-time health monitoring.

Femtosecond lasers have profoundly impacted consumer electronics, and will continue to do so for years to come. Continued advancements in laser technology will broaden the scope of possible applications, facilitating the creation of even smaller, more effective, and more adaptable consumer electronic devices.

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Femtosecond laser technology is an excellent alternative to more traditional laser technologies and is often the only available solution on the market. 

Advantages of Laser Technology in Flat Panel Displays

The adoption of laser technology in flat panel display manufacturing brings forth a multitude of benefits:

• Unmatched Precision: Femtosecond lasers allow tight focusing with excellent beam quality, enabling microscopic precision for accurate cutting, drilling, and selective ablation. 
• High Quality: Femtosecond laser/matter interaction allows an ablation with limited thermal effects (Heat Affected Zone – HAZ). As a result, cutting, drilling, or selective ablation processes are performed with unrivalled quality.
• Excellent Productivity: Femtosecond lasers are now capable of reaching high power levels, which enables high-speed processing.

What can we do with Ultrashort Pulse lasers in Display manufacturing?

OLED Repair

Array Repair

Display panels are made of a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) array. This TFT array is made of multiple thin film layers of various types of materials. During the manufacturing process, the arrays of pixels are often exposed to possible contamination (dust) or defects. Thanks to femtosecond lasers, we can now fix such abnormalities furing manufacturing, to optimize the quality of the display, thus boosting production yield.

Cell Repair

Other than Array repair, a new application has emerged over the past few years – Cell Repair. The cell process comes later in the manufacturing chain, where contamination and defects can also occur. Femtosecond lasers can address such issues, increasing the production yield for panel makers.  

OLED Cutting

Over the past years, one of the main trends in display production has been to improve the “Display Area” ratio vs. “Device Area.” Consequently, features like “Bezel-less,” “Notch,” “HIAA” (Hole in Active Area), and “UPC” (Under Panel Camera) have been developed to achieve this goal. Femtosecond lasers are one of the major tools that has allowed such features to exist. 

Today, femtosecond lasers are used for the two following groups of cutting applications:

Shape Cutting

High-power UV femtosecond lasers are used in mass production to perform such cuts. Thanks to its unique cutting precision, excellent cutting quality, and high productivity, the high-power UV femtosecond laser has replaced the high-power UV picosecond laser in the field. 

Hole Cutting

Making a hole in the active part of an OLED panel intrinsically requires high precision and a limited affected zone. Again, UV femtosecond lasers are an ideal tool for all related applications. 

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The integration of laser technology presents several advantages in crafting luxury items:

• Precision and Customization: Lasers provide high-end precision, facilitating the creation of intricate designs and personalized patterns.
• Improved Efficiency and Reduced Material Waste: Laser processes reduce waste, bringing down production costs while maintaining meticulous craftsmanship.

Fundamental Applications of Laser Technology in Luxury Craftsmanship

Laser technology can be used for different applications when creating bespoke luxury items.

Luxury craftsmanship inherently involves high-end products requiring high precision and reliability. Ultrafast lasers have become the key to addressing these needs. Femtosecond lasers greatly enhance cutting and engraving quality, improving overall aesthetics combined with the versatility to treat every material from metals to fabrics and precious stones.

Surface Structuring / Patterning

Ultrashort pulsed lasers are used to modify material surfaces and properties to respond to the ever-more sophisticated demands on design and textured appearance.

Engraving

Laser technology is also used for engraving transparent QR codes onto delicate perfume bottles and glasses.

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This technology presents a distinct advantage in microprocessing due to its versatility in working with various materials using a single tool. Unlike traditional manufacturing methods that often require multiple tools for different materials, lasers can effectively process a wide range of materials, including metals, plastics, ceramics, and even composites, with high precision and efficiency. Coupled with customization and efficiency, integrating lasers and, in particular, femtosecond lasers, offers a real competitive advantage.

Fundamental Applications of Laser Technology in Microprocessing

Laser technology plays a pivotal role in various aspects of microprocessing:

General Micro-Machining

& Engraving

The high manufacturing precision obtained with ultrashort pulse lasers on various materials allows for precise and elaborate micro components and precise engraving for traceability.

Surface Structuring

& Texturing

Laser-based surface treatments create unique textures (variations in surface smoothness, roughness, or patterns) and structures (physical shapes or configurations produced on the material such as microchannels, pillars, or grooves) at a micro-scale, modifying or enhancing micro-scale products’ surface functionalities and aesthetics.

Laser technology significantly impacts critical applications in microprocessing:

•                   Microelectronics and Micro Devices: In microelectronics manufacturing, lasers aid in precise micro-machining, allowing for the creation of micro-scale circuits and miniature components.

•                   Biomedical Micro Devices: Ultrashort pulse lasers play a crucial role in the medical field as well as the biomedical sector, rendering accessible the manufacture of micro-scale sensors, microfluidic chips and devices for biology analysis, microsurgical instruments, catheters, and micro-implants.

Laser technology transforms the field of microprocessing, driving precision engineering and advancements in large-scale manufacturing. Continued research and innovation in laser technology promise a future characterized by sophisticated micro-scale devices and pioneering technological applications.

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Over the past decade, ultrafast lasers have been used for an increasing number of applications, and have become essential for carrying out a variety of high-precision processes on very fine structures. Ultrafast technology has accelerated manufacturing processes, enhanced performance, and unlocked unprecedented opportunities for device miniaturization.

Ultrafast laser technology plays a major role in the following applications:

Wafer Slicing

Using the multiphoton absorption phenomenon, ultrafast laser can perform material modifications within the bulk material. This allows a precise crack creation in Si, SiC, and other substrates that pave the way to a controlled and clean separation.

Wafer Dicing

Taking advantage of the non-thermal behavior of the ablation process with ultrafast lasers, chip manufacturers can selectively scribe low-k material and perform wafer dicing with limited heat-affected zone and delamination.

Probe Card Drilling

Thanks to their high peak power, ultrafast lasers are considered the Swiss army knife for material processing, allowing the drilling of soft polymers, hard ceramics, and metals. The lasers are used with 5-axis scanners to drill 0° taper holes with complex shapes in rigid probe card substrates at high speed.

Through Glass Via

Used in combination with chemicals, ultrafast lasers are the ideal tools to drill or etch holes in glass, accurate down to micrometer diameters, with a controlled taper over the full substrate thickness.

The introduction of GHz has also unlocked the possibility of drilling the substrate directly without requiring chemical etching, completely changing the manufacturing process.

EUV Generation

Post-compression devices such our Compress, create pulses of only a few femtoseconds. Such peak power can be used for High Harmonics Generation, allowing the generation of a few nm / XUV wavelength beams.

EUV light is a powerful light source for Soft X-ray metrology, unveiling nanometer-scale patterns.

Thin Film Metrology

The picosecond acoustic technique is widely used for thickness metrology of thin films during the chip manufacturing process. It uses short pulses to pump and probe thin layer stacks in a non-destructive way, allowing see-through or opaque/metallic layers.

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