Laser-based material processing methods and systems

• US 8,785,813 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2012
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Shah, Lawrence, Cho, Gyu Cheon, Xu, Jingzhou
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdelaziez, Yasser A
• Application Number:
  US13/421,372
• Publication Number:
  US 20120196454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 859 Days
• US Class Current: 219/121.69
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2101/40 Semiconductor devices
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/50 Inorganic material, e.g. metals, not provided for in B23K2103/02 – B23K2103/26
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0624 using ultrashort pulses, i.e. pulses of 1ns or less
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/064 by means of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors or prisms
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0643 comprising mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0648 comprising lenses
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/082 Scanning systems, i.e. devices involving movement of the laser beam relative to the laser head
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/083 Devices involving movement of the workpiece in at least one axial direction
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/364 for making a groove or trench, e.g. for scribing a break initiation groove
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/38 by boring or cutting
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/40 taking account of the properties of the material involved
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/268 using electromagnetic radiation, e.g. laser radiation

Abstract

Various embodiments may be used for laser-based modification of target material of a workpiece while advantageously achieving improvements in processing throughput and/or quality. Embodiments of a method of processing may include focusing and directing laser pulses to a region of the workpiece at a pulse repetition rate sufficiently high so that material is efficiently removed from the region and a quantity of unwanted material within the region, proximate to the region, or both is reduced relative to a quantity obtainable at a lower repetition rate. Embodiments of an ultrashort pulse laser system may include a fiber amplifier or fiber laser. Various embodiments are suitable for at least one of dicing, cutting, scribing, and forming features on or within a semiconductor substrate. Workpiece materials may include metals, inorganic or organic dielectrics, or any material to be micromachined with femtosecond, picosecond, and/or nanosecond pulses.

Claims

1. A laser-based system for scribing, dicing, cutting, or processing of a multi-material workpiece comprising a semiconductor material and a pattern while limiting accumulation of redeposited material, the pattern comprising at least one of a dielectric material and a metal material, the system comprising:

at least one source of optical pulses, said at least one source of optical pulses configured to generate long pulses having long pulse widths up to about 10 nanoseconds and ultrashort pulses having ultrashort pulse widths in a range from ten femtoseconds to about 500 picoseconds, said long pulse widths longer than said ultrashort pulse widths;

an optical amplification system configured to amplify a pulse from the at least one source and to generate output pulses having at least one pulse width in a range from tens of femtoseconds to about 500 picoseconds;

a modulation system, including at least one optical modulator, configured to provide a repetition rate of the output optical pulses to be in a range from at least about five hundred kHz to less than about five MHz;

a beam delivery system configured to focus and deliver pulsed laser beams to the workpiece, wherein a pulsed beam is focused into a spot size (1/e²) of at least about 5 microns; and

a positioning system configured to position said beams in multiple passes relative to the one or more materials of the workpiece, the positioning system configured to position said beams at a rate that is in a range of about 0.1 m/sec to about 10 m/sec that produces a spot overlap on or within the one or more materials of the workpiece, the spot overlap at least about 95% at said repetition rate and said spot size, wherein the spot overlap for removal of the material from at least a portion of the pattern is at least about ten times greater than the spot overlap for removal of the material from at least a portion of the semiconductor material, and wherein said laser-based system is configured such that;

said long pulses are delivered to said pattern and said ultrashort pulses are delivered to said semiconductor material, and

a depthwise extent of a heat affected zone (HAZ) generated during removal of the portion of the pattern by said long pulses is larger than a depthwise extent of HAZ generated during removal of the portion of the semiconductor material by said ultrashort pulses.

2. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein the pattern comprises the dielectric material and the metal material.

3. The laser-based system of claim 2, wherein heat accumulation within at least a portion of the pattern is sufficiently high to avoid delamination of the dielectric material from the metal material.

4. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein the spot overlap exceeds about 99%.

5. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein at least some of said output pulses have a pulse energy of at least about 100 nJ.

6. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein at least some of said output pulses have a pulse energy in a range from about 1 μ

J to about 20 μ

J.

7. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein said source and amplification system are configured as an all-fiber design.

8. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein said amplification system comprises a fiber-based chirped pulse amplifier comprising a pulse stretcher and compressor configured for chirped pulse amplification.

9. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein said amplification system comprises at least one large-mode fiber amplifier.

10. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein said positioning system comprises a beam deflector.

11. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein said optical amplification system is configured to amplify a pulse from the source to an energy of at least about 1 μ

J and to generate ultrashort output pulses having at least one pulse width in a range of about 100 fs to about 10 ps, said optical amplification system comprising at least one large-mode fiber amplifier, said at least one large-mode fiber amplifier comprising at least one of a doped large-core leakage channel fiber amplifier, a photonic crystal fiber, and a photonic bandgap fiber, wherein at least one fiber amplifier is configured such that said laser-based system emits nearly diffraction limited pulsed output beams; and

wherein said laser-based system is configured to be adjustable to generate said pulsed output beams at a repetition rate in a range from about one hundred kHz to about 10 MHz.

12. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein at least some of said output pulses provide a fluence in a range from about 0.25 J/cm² to about 30 J/cm².

13. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein at least some of said output pulses provide a fluence in a range from above an ablation threshold of at least one material of the workpiece to about 20 times the ablation threshold of said at least one material.

14. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor material has a thickness, and the thickness of the semiconductor material is cut by said ultrashort pulses.

15. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein heat accumulation within at least a portion of the pattern is sufficiently high to avoid delamination of the portion of the pattern from the semiconductor material.

16. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein accumulation of redeposited material that occurs at said repetition rate of the output optical pulses is sufficiently low so as to eliminate a subsequent processing operation to remove redeposited material of a larger quantity.

17. The laser-based system of claim 1, wherein a quantity of redeposited material is sufficiently low such that an ultrasonic cleaning system is capable of removing redeposited material without requiring a substrate coating or chemical etching.