Mobius Photonics has demonstrated a fibre laser tailored for precision materials processing. The laser produces high-quality, micron-scale cuts, scribes and holes for applications such as 50µm silicon wafer dicing (for memory), scribing glass substrates and polyamide hole drilling.
While diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers have been evaluated for thin wafer dicing, their use has been hampered due to die strength; typically, 50µm wafers diced with DPSS ultraviolet lasers have produced dies with significantly lower break strength than those prepared using conventional mechanical methods. The company claims that its new laser is able to produce a high-quality cut comparable to those of conventional mechanical methods, but at a higher speed and with a reduction in the chipping common with mechanical systems.
The laser produces smooth, continuous scribe lines in glass substrates and generates 1µm diameter, uniform through holes in 25µm thick polyimide. The laser is based on an all-fibre-amplifier, master-oscillator, power amplifier (MOPA) architecture. This versatile, nanosecond source can produce several wavelengths and supports various pulse repetition frequencies and pulse widths.