Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.

Jeff Howerton

Mehmet Emin Alpay

Brian C Johansen

David Childers

Mark Alan Unrath

Glenn Simenson

Weisheng Lei

Ling Wen

An improved method and apparatus for drilling tapered holes in workpieces with laser pulses is presented which uses defocused laser pulses to machine the holes with specified taper and surface finish while maintaining specified exit diameters and improved system throughput. A system is described which can also drill holes with the desired taper and surface finish without requiring defocused laser pulses.

Method and apparatus for laser drilling holes with Gaussian pulses

To better address these problems, one or more characteristics are measured from a work piece (). The measurement information is used to select a preferred predetermined laser processing recipe from a lookup table. The laser processing recipe is then used to process the work piece (). The lookup table of laser processing recipes can be established from theoretical calculations, from trial an error by an operator, from an automated systematic recipe variation process with post process testing, or from some combination of these or other methods. An automated process can also reduce operator errors and may store measurement values for convenient tracking of work piece characteristics.

Automatic recipe management for laser processing a work piece

Laser pulse energy adjustments are motivated by an understanding of the effect of laser pulse width variations among different lasers on satisfying a quality metric associated with a laser-processed target. In a preferred embodiment, the adjustments normalize this effect among different lasers drilling vias in a target specimen. The number of pulses delivered to the target specimen to form each via can be modified, based on the pulse energy applied to the via location, to control different via quality metrics.

Method of providing consistent quality of target material removal by lasers having different output performance characteristics

A method of forming an isolated electrically conductive contact through a metal substrate by creating at least one via through the substrate. The at least one sidewall of the via is cleaned and coated with a non-conductive layer. In one example, the non-conductive layer is formed by anodizing the sidewall(s) of the via. In another example, the non-conductive layer may be formed by thin film deposition of a dielectric on the sidewall(s). An electrically conductive filler is then placed into the via. In the examples disclosed, the filler may be a conductive ink or a conductive epoxy.

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Jeff Howerton