Planar Light Valve Optical Head for High Throughput 10µm Feature Size Laser Processing.

A high-throughput laser micro-machining system has been developed using a programmable multi-spot modulated line beam capable of >30x throughput enhancement over a single-spot system. While commercially available lasers have been rapidly growing in output energy and power, single-spot scanning systems cannot take full advantage of these advancements. This system provides high throughput, high resolution micro-processing on a variety of surfaces (stainless steel, aluminum, and polymer). This high productivity system is enabled by a high-power MEMS spatial light modulator called the Planar Light Valve (PLVTM). The PLV is a 1088-pixel device in a linear configuration capable of 10-bit, 100 kHz amplitude modulation. The PLV supports pulse energies of ~1 mJ (1064 nm, 10 ps) and has been used at pulse widths down to 300 femtoseconds. The system can resolve features as small as 10 µm with an edge placement resolution of 2.5 µm. Large area processing is done by scanning and stitching this line beam across the media using X-Y stages and a unique relay galvo scanner has been incorporated into the system to allow for faster scanning over a 15 x 15 mm area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]