Advantages of picosecond laser machining for cutting-edge technologies

The demand to reduce the size, weight and material cost of modern electronic devices results in a requirement for precision micromachining to aid product development. Examples include making smaller and more powerful smartphones with brighter displays, eliminating the requirement for post-process cleaning and machining the latest bioabsorbable medical stents. The pace of innovation in high-tech industries has led to ultrafast (picosecond) industrial lasers becoming an important tool for many applications and the high repetition rates now available help to meet industrial throughput levels. This is due to the unique operating regime (megawatts of peak power) enabling clean cutting and patterning of sensitive materials and thin films used in a number of novel devices and allows micromachining of wide such as glass. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the German Scientific Laser Society (WLT e.V.)