Width of Laser-Machined Trenches in Green-State LTCC

摘要

Laser processing is used at different stages of the LTCC manufacturing process. Typical applications include sheet cutting and via milling. A less typical application is using a laser to selectively ablate unfired conductor material, therefore producing a desired conductor pattern. This process is characterized by precision exceeding traditional screen-printing. Also, it is useful for rapid prototyping applications, because the time consuming process of preparing a dedicated screen for each device is eliminated; instead, standard conductor fields are printed and laser etched into a desired shape. The process is performed using a pulsed Nd: YAG (355nm) laser. The laser operation regime is defined by three parameters: output power, pulse frequency and movement speed. Since width and depth of the etched trench varies widely depending on laser settings, we present a systematic investigation of the relationship between laser parameters and width of the produced trench. The aim of this work is to determine laser parameters resulting in optimal combination of processing speed and precision.