Method and device for the removal of material by means of laser pulses
First Claim
1. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,characterized in that a pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than a laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the irradiated area is spatially overlapped by two consecutive laser pulses of the sequence of laser pulses to an extent of less than 50%, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses. Methods of this kind are used to cut a number of different materials. One problem with this method is that thermal or mechanical damage occurs in the surroundings of the area being machined and causes impairment of areas of material that are not being machined. The invention solves this problem by the pulse energy of a single pulse in the sequence of laser pulses being lower than the laser pulse energy required to produce material removal using an isolated laser pulse in the region irradiated with the single laser pulse of the sequence of laser pulses.
26 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,
characterized in that a pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than a laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the irradiated area is spatially overlapped by two consecutive laser pulses of the sequence of laser pulses to an extent of less than 50%, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz.
-
16. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,
characterized in that the pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than the laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz; - and
wherein the laser pulses of the sequence of laser pulses are generated by the same laser. - View Dependent Claims (17)
- and
-
18. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,
characterized in that the pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than the laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz, and wherein the removal of material is effected by photo disruption.
-
20. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,
characterized in that the pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than the laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz, and wherein the sequence of laser pulse comprises more than two laser pulses applied at a constant laser pulse repetition rate.
-
22. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses,
characterized in that the pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than the laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, and wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz, and wherein each two adjacent laser pulses in the sequence of laser pulses have a constant percentage of overlap.
Specification