Bold Laser Automation (Bedford, NH) has developed a process for laser drilling atomizing nozzles with exit hole diameters down to ~1.0 µm using a production-rated ultraviolet (UV) diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser. These nozzles are used for atomizing various fluids, including pharmaceuticals for pulmonary drug delivery, diagnostic reagent devices, water, and colognes/perfume.
"The formation of a 1.0-µm-diameter hole is not as spectacular as how it was accomplished," says Todd Lizotte, CEO of Bold Laser Automation. "Using a UV DPSS laser, beam shaping, and a lens developed by Sill Optics allows us to achieve excellent hole quality. The 1.0 µm diameter was produced within a 25-µm-thick polyimide film, with a grain structure that allowed the exit hole to be resolved."
The company has tested its process and found that it produces these nozzles to the same quality and production consistency when compared to excimer-based processes. The use of a UV DPSS laser provides opportunities to deploy the technology for new disposable consumer goods, especially in the packaging marketplace.
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The company is a laser systems integration group that provides both standardized and customized laser systems and associated automation specifically configured for job shops, pilot production, and high-volume production customers. Company leaders Lizotte and Orest Ohar are industry veterans who were previously with NanoVia, which targeted high-speed microvia drilling and was acquired by Hitachi in Japan in 2003. While at Hitachi for over a decade, the duo worked with their Japanese colleagues to create high-speed laser processes that dominated the marketplace of microelectronics packaging.
Now, Bold Laser Automation is focusing its efforts on providing industrial laser solutions that meet the quality, cost, and throughput targets, as well as the highest levels of health and safety of its customers' employees who operate such machines.
For more information, please visit boldlaserautomation.com.