Abstract

The applications of lasers in manufacturing range from the micron-scale features in electronics and photonics, to sheet metal welding, cutting in the automotive industry, and deep penetration welding in shipbuilding. New laser capabilities have enabled new micro-machining capabilities. Femtosecond lasers provide high precision, ablative material removal of metals and insulators with essentially zero damage to the parent material. This leads to new micro-machining capabilities for via drilling, 3-D nano-processing of photonic components, biochemical IC chips, and for microfluidic mixers and vasculatures. Ultraviolet and deep UV lasers enable precision machining for a wide variety of materials. Laser annealing is being successfully applied to poly-silicon TFT for FPD applications. The demand for product identification has let to rapid expansion of the laser marking market. Macro-machining applications continue to expand through new laser technology, and through growing acceptance by manufacturing industries, especially automotive. Recent advancements in wallplug efficiency and improved reliability offered by fiber lasers, disk lasers, and direct diode lasers are having a major impact in the manufacturing arena.

© 2004 Optical Society of America