Table of Contents
Role of micromachining in modern manufacturing
The process of fine details micromachining plays a very important role in high-volume manufacturing in various fields of laser application, such as consumer electronics, medical devices, and the automotive industry. Highly accurate laser systems allow for the production of tiny holes, fine cuts, and narrow scribes. For example, the production of a usual smartphone that has thousands of details requires making millions of drilled holes and accurately cutting parts with fiber lasers.
Accuracy and quality, high throughput, and a low cost per unit are required for micromachining these fine details. Although mechanical methods, for example, drilling, milling, sawing, and sandblasting, can be suitable in quality and offer minimal heat damage, there are some limits on the size and consistency of details.
Compared to mechanical and other methods, laser technology provides higher accuracy, smaller details, and improved consistency with no laser system wear. The achievement of the mentioned characteristics required great advances in laser technology that were achieved just in recent years.
Purposes of micromachining with fiber lasers
One of the purposes of micromachining by the laser system is considered to be the removal of only the required material, generally through the method of localized heating. At the same time, the fiber laser minimizes heating and damage. To achieve the required result, it is necessary to deliver high-quality irradiation from a near-perfect laser beam accurately to the target region.
High throughput
Shorter wavelengths and shorter pulse widths are important in achieving the results. Moreover, the second purpose of the micromachining process made by the laser system is the opportunity to reach high machining throughput. It should be noted that the increase of average output power in the fiber laser results in higher ablation rates, however, with certain limitations.
Solutions through pulse tailoring
A possible solution to the current problem is tailoring the pulse sequence produced by a laser beam, with pulse bursts and pulse shapes. The energy-time profile from the laser beam is able to be tailored and optimized for a certain material and its interaction with the fiber laser system light so that the incident energy can be employed almost entirely for material removal and not excess heating.
Cost considerations in micromachining
The laser system cost is considered to be a key factor for the micromachining industry. The cost increase from the fiber laser process for each manufactured detail is the most crucial figure that contains such parameters as amortization of the upfront laser system cost, cost of operation, lost productivity from downtime, and process yield.