Systems and Methods for Improved Laser Manufacturing
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorsTakuto Takemoto, Wan Qin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The problem of plasma shielding in pulsed laser manufacturing processes is addressed by systems and methods that break a pulsed laser scan line into subsets of irradiation positions. The subsets are generally offset along the scan line from one another. Within each subset, the irradiation positions are separated from one another by a predetermined separation distance. Thus, the irradiation positions contained in a given subset are interspersed with irradiation positions contained in other subsets. The predetermined separation distance is chosen at least in part to minimize the plasma shielding effect.
Claims31
1-36. (canceled)
A system comprising:
- a pulsed laser source configured to emit pulsed laser light;
- an optical scanner configured to receive the pulsed laser light and to scan the pulsed laser light along a line of a surface of an object, the line comprising a plurality of irradiation positions;
- and
- a controller coupled to the optical scanner,
- the controller configured to:
- direct the optical scanner to scan the pulsed laser light along the line at a first predetermined scanning rate to a first subset of the plurality of irradiation positions, each irradiation position of the first subset separated from another by a first predetermined interval;
- direct the optical scanner to scan the pulsed laser light along the line at a second predetermined scanning rate to a second subset, which is different from the first subset, of the plurality of irradiation positions, each irradiation position of the second subset separated from another by a second predetermined interval;
- and
- remove a part of the object by irradiating the pulsed laser light to the plurality of irradiation positions,
- wherein each of the plurality of irradiation positions of the second subset is located between the plurality of irradiation positions of the first subset.
A system comprising:
- a pulsed laser source configured to emit pulsed laser light;
- an optical scanner configured to receive the pulsed laser light and to scan the pulsed laser light along a line of a surface, the line comprising a plurality of irradiation positions;
- and
- a controller coupled to the optical scanner and configured to direct the optical scanner,
- wherein the optical scanner comprises a planer mirror and a rotating polygon mirror, the planer mirror is located on an optical path of the pulsed laser light and is rotated by the controller, the rotating polygon mirror is located on the optical path of the pulsed laser light.
A system comprising:
- a pulsed laser source configured to emit pulsed laser light;
- an optical scanner configured to receive the pulsed laser light and to scan the pulsed laser light along a line of a surface, the line comprising a plurality of irradiation positions;
- and
- a controller coupled to the optical scanner, the controller configured to:
- direct the optical scanner to scan the pulsed laser light along the line at a first predetermined scanning rate to a first subset of the plurality of irradiation positions, each irradiation position of the first subset separated from another irradiation position of the first subset by a first predetermined separation distance;
- and
- direct the optical scanner to scan the pulsed laser light along the line at a second predetermined scanning rate to a second subset of the plurality of irradiation positions, each irradiation position of the second subset separated from another irradiation position of the second subset by a second predetermined separation distance;
- wherein the first subset is different from the second subset.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.