Krailling, Germany - InnoLas Systems has released the ILS 500X and ILS 500XX systems, which use an ultra short pulse laser for the cutting, drilling and dicing of ceramics and PCBs.
As a leading manufacturer of laser machining systems for glass and crystalline solar cells, InnoLas Systems has experience in laser processing of brittle materials. The company now applies this know-how to ceramics for electronics and other high-tech applications.
Many advanced electronic components are based on ceramic, which offers a number of advantages as a substrate material. However, being a brittle material, ceramic is difficult to cut or drill. Conventional laser cutting or scribing is based on rapid heating, leading to vaporization or melting of the material. This process is not only slow, but also has an inherent risk of micro-cracks and chip-outs that can lead to a low yield. InnoLas laser cutting employs ultra short pulse (picoseconds) lasers to cut brittle materials. This technique has demonstrated perfect yield at very high quality, and it allows cutting features, holes, chamfers, and more, in ceramics.
The ILS 500X/500XX platform can be equipped with fixed or flying scanner optics to guarantee highest positioning accuracy. 355, 532 and 1064 nm laser wavelengths and beam shaping are available to fine-tune the system to given application requirements. In addition, the workstation can also be combined with CO2 lasers for conventional scribing. For high volume production lines, the ILS 500X/500XX laser station can be fitted with InnoLas Systems or third party handling systems for automatic loading/unloading of the work pieces.