Black Marking of Metals for Consumer Electronics & Medical Devices

Short picosecond pulses are ideal for creating high contrast “black” marks or barcodes on metals such as stainless steel and aluminum. Due to the ultrashort pulse lengths these marks are non-thermal in nature, and therefore more resistant to corrosion or fading during extended use or after repeated cleaning or autoclaving making them ideal for unique identifier marks on surgical or medical devices.

Sapphire LED Wafer Scribing and Dicing

Sapphire wafers used as the substrate material for high brightness LEDs can be scribed using picosecond lasers. The images below show grooves machined in sapphire on edge of wafer to show profile and depth (using YLPP psec laser.) 

Thin Film Ablation for Solar/PV/FPD

Short picosecond lasers are ideal for ablating the thin conductive oxide, anti-reflection /nitride or metal films used in thin film or silicon solar cells.

Surface Micro-structuring & Texturing

YLPP picosecond and femtosecond lasers are ideal for creating microstructures on the surface of metals and various alloys. These micro structures can be in the form of trenches, ridges, posts or dimples according to the pitch spot size and scanning patterns of ablation. Below are two examples of micro-structured patterns in a Platinum Iridium alloy sample that were ablated using IPG’s YLPF 10uJ/pulse sub 500 femtosecond pulse width laser.

Micro-structuring of Posts & Lines in Platinum Iridium samples, using YLPF fs laser.

Polymer and Thermoplastic Film Cutting

Precise cutting and feature patterning of polymer films with exceptional edge quality, repeatability and accuracy can be done using YLPF femtosecond lasers. The images above show a 380 micron diameter circular and rectangular cuts in a polyimide film.

Battery and Thin Metal Foil Cutting 

YLPP picosecond and femtosecond Lasers are ideal for cutting thin metal foils such as those used in the manufacturing of batteries. The two images above show side view and cross sections of a PdAgCu thin metal foil cut with excellent edge quality using a YLPF femtosecond laser. 

Precise Marking of Glass, Sapphire and Ceramics 

High contrast “white” surface marks with good readability can be made on Glass or Sapphire surfaces using short picosecond pulses from IPG’s YLPP laser. These surface marks have no noticeable micro cracking which could compromise the substrate integrity. 

Micromachining of Ceramic, Sapphire and Glass

YLPF femtosecond lasers are ideal for fast machining of very precise features in brittle materials such as sapphire or glass. The images above show 70 micron deep pocket trenches milled in sapphire with the YLPF laser. Process time was 8.5 seconds for a 1.2mm square feature.