Laser machining method and apparatus

Abstract

A laser machining method and apparatus that allow accurate and fine scribing without the need of a large-scale dust collector and a large quantity of cleaning fluid when a thin film on a substrate is scribed by a laser beam. A laser beam from a laser beam source is focused by a lens, introduced into a window of piping and propagated through cleaning fluid, and the thin film is illuminated with the laser beam from the nozzle. Concurrently with this beam illumination, a jet of the cleaning fluid supplied using a fluid flow controller is discharged from the nozzle that is disposed about substantially the optical axis of the focused laser beam and sized in inside diameter such that the focused laser beam does not make a contact with the nozzle. By these processes, laser-scribing is performed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.