Product Code: ICA12_202

Development of an Azimuthally Polarized All-in-One Pulsed CO2 Laser for Microdrilling
Authors:
Masamori Endo, Department of Physics, Tokai Univ.; Hiratsuka Japan
Motoi Sasaki, Research & Development Dept., SBY Group Production & Information Division, Shibuya Kogyo Co., Ltd.; Kanazawa Japan
Ryoji Koseki, Research & Development Dept., SBY Group Production & Information Division, Shibuya Kogyo Co., Ltd.; Kanazawa Japan
Presented at ICALEO 2012

Applications of cylindrically polarized laser beams are of interest since they are believed to have superior machining characteristics. For drilling, it has been proven that azimuthally polarized beam can drill at faster rate and the drilled hole has larger aspect ratio with smaller diameter compared to the cylindrically polarized beam. We are developing an azimuthally polarized, Q-switched CO2 laser aiming at the drilling application of printed circuit boards (PCBs). Requirements for smaller drilling by the information appliances industry forces the laser source to switch from CO2 lasers to solid-state based UV lasers. However, power level of the UV source does not reach the requirement of the industry so far. We believe our proposal can be applied for the next generation, 30 mm diameter holes. We use our 2kW-class commercial product, SOL-20 type as a platform. Actively Q-switched master oscillator is surrounded by 11-pass power amplifier cylindrically and is built into the 65 mm bore of the SOL-20. Azimuthal polarization is generated by triple-axicon optical resonator. The goal of this project is drilling 30 mm holes on the PCB at five-times faster rate than todays commercial products.