News Release

Laser drills elongated and crack-free micro-holes in glass

Peer-Reviewed Publication

International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing

Top-down percussion drilling in glass by a femtosecond laser in GHz-burst mode

video: The operating regime of the femtosecond laser in GHz-bursts instead of repetitive single pulses enables interaction with the glass material combining two advantages: the laser energy deposition in the material is distributed over a longer time resulting in a highly efficient, controlled cumulative regime, whereas the outstanding micromachining quality of femtosecond laser pulses is conserved. The resulting top-down percussion drilling gives taper-free, elongated, and crack-free holes with glossy inner walls. view more 

Credit: By Pierre Balage, John Lopez, Guillaume Bonamis, Clemens Hönninger and Inka Manek-Hönninger

The research group of laser-matter interaction at the Institute of Intense Lasers and Applications (CELIA) at the University of Bordeaux, France, has explored a new glass micro-drilling method using a femtosecond laser in GHz-burst mode.

Publishing in the journal International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, the research team used a femtosecond laser from Amplitude operating in the GHz-burst regime to study a new glass micromachining method which allows for drilling taper-free, elongated holes with smooth inner walls without any cracks in the glass. Usually, laser drilling with standard single femtosecond pulses results in tapered holes of strongly limited length and rough inner surface.

This new laser-matter interaction regime permits to directly drill holes of high aspect ratio in one single step without any chemical etching. The choice of the laser-burst parameters reveals to be very important in order to achieve an outstanding micromachining quality of the machined structures. The femtosecond laser GHz-burst mode could pave the way for new applications such as microelectronics where silicon interposers are likely to be replaced by glass interposers.

About IJEM:

International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (IF: 10.036) is a new multidisciplinary, double-anonymous peer-reviewed and diamond open-access without article processing charge journal uniquely covering the areas related to extreme manufacturing. The journal is devoted to publishing original articles and reviews of the highest quality and impact in the areas related to extreme manufacturing, ranging from fundamentals to process, measurement and systems, as well as materials, structures and devices with extreme functionalities.

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