High peak power DUV laser processing

Deep ultra-violet (DUV) laser and short pulse lasers are used for laser processing, because they can decrease the heat effect for process materials. We are developing a hybrid ArF excimer laser that is consists of a solid-state laser, multi wavelength conversion and ArF excimer amplifier. This laser can generate DUV light of 193 nm wavelength short pulse width. In this research, we demonstrated laser drilling on ultra-high temperature structural material that is silicon carbide ceramic matrix composites (SiC-CMC) using high peak power DUV laser. The removal rate was 150 nm/shot with 460 ps pulse. This rate was more than 4 times higher than ArF excimer laser (20 ns pulse width). The HAZ was also reduced by using high peak power DUV light source.