Recently, the laser matter interaction research group of the Institute of Intense Laser and Applications (CELIA) of the University of Bordeaux, France, announced that they had developed a new method of glass micro drilling using femtosecond lasers working in the state of gigahertz (GHz) pulses. This method can create tapered, slender holes on glass, with smooth inner walls and no cracks in the glass.
In general, the standard single femtosecond pulse laser is used to drill holes in glass, which will form tapered holes with limited length and rough inner surface. This new laser matter interaction mechanism can directly drill holes with high aspect ratio in one step without any chemical etching.
The selection of laser pulse parameters is very important for obtaining good micro machining quality. Femtosecond laser gigahertz (GHz) pulse mode may pave the way for new applications such as microelectronics, in which silicon intermediates are likely to be replaced by glass intermediates.
The femtosecond laser works in a state of gigahertz pulse rather than repeated single pulse, which combines the interaction with glass materials with two advantages: the laser energy deposition in the material is distributed for a longer time, thus forming an efficient and controllable accumulation state, while the excellent micro processing quality of femtosecond laser pulse is conserved. The resulting top-down percussion drill can obtain a tapered, slender, crack free hole with smooth inner wall.
About CELIA
The research direction of the Centre for Intense Lasers and Applications (CELIA) includes the development of lasers, ultra short intense laser matter interactions and their applications, from heat dense plasma physics to laser molecule and laser atom interactions. CELIA provides external users with nine fully equipped special terminal stations, which are provided by three most advanced and reliable laser systems, including Ti: Sa AURORE (20 mJ, 1 kHz, 25 fs), Ti: Sa ECLIPSE (150 mJ, 10 Hz, 35 fs) and unique Yb: fiber BLASTBEAT (2 * 50W 130 fs, 0.66 － 2 MHz).
Source: OFweek Laser Network
