UV laser with superior performance gradually becomes the new market trend
UV laser is a kind of laser that features 355nm wavelength.Because of its short wavelength and narrow pulse width, UV laser can produce very small focal spot and maintain smallest heat-affecting zone. Therefore, it is also called “cold processing”. These features make UV laser can perform very precise processing while avoiding deformation of the materials.
Nowadays, since industrial applications are quite demanding on the laser processing efficiency, 10W+ nanosecond UV laser is being selected by more and more people. Therefore, for UV laser manufacturers, developing high power, narrow pulse, high repetition frequency medium-high power nanosecond UV laser will become the main goal to compete in the market.
UV laser realizes processing by directly destroying the chemical bonds that connect the matter’s atom components. This process won’t heat up the surroundings, so it is a kind of “cold” process. In addition, most of the materials can absorb ultraviolet light, so UV laser can process materials that infrared or other visible laser sources can’t process. High power UV laser is mainly used in high-end markets that requires high precision processing, including drilling/cutting of FPCB and PCB, drilling/scribing of ceramics materials, cutting of glass/sapphire, scribing of wafer cutting of special glass and laser marking.
Since 2016, the domestic UV laser market has been growing rapidly. Trumf, Coherent,Spectra-Physics and other foreign companies still take up the high-end market. As for domestic brands, Huaray, Bellin, Inngu, RFH, Inno, Gain Laser account for 90% of the market share in the domestic UV laser market.
5G communication brings opportunity to laser application
The major countries in the world are all searching for the most advanced technology as the new development point. And China has the leading 5G technology that can compete with European countries, U.S. and Japan. 2019 was the year for the domestic pre-commercialization of 5G technology and this year 5G technology has already brought so much energy to the consumer electronics.
Nowadays, China has more than 1 billion mobile phone users and has entered the smart phone era. Looking back the development of smart phone in China, the fastest growing period is 2010-2015. In this period, the communication signal developed from 2G to 3G and 4G and now 5G and the demand of smart phones, tablets, wearable products was increasing, which brought a great opportunity to the laser processing industry. Meanwhile, the demand of UV laser and ultra-fast laser is also increasing.
Ultra-short pulsed UV laser might be the future trend
By spectrum, laser can be classified into infrared laser, green laser, UV laser and blue laser. By pulse time, laser can be classified into microsecond laser, nanosecond laser, picosecond laser and femtosecond laser. UV laser is achieved through the third harmonic generation of infrared laser, so it is more costly and more complicated. Nowadays, the nanosecond UV laser technology of domestic laser manufacturers are already mature and 2-20W nanosecond UV laser market is totally taken up by domestic manufacturers. In the past two years, the UV laser market has been quite competitive, so the price becomes lower, which makes more people to realize the advantages of UV laser processing. Same as infrared laser, UV laser as the heat source of high precision processing has two development trends: higher power and shorter pulse.
UV laser posts new requirement to the water cooling system
In actual production, the power stability and pulse stability of the UV laser are quite demanding. Therefore, it is a MUST to equip with a very reliable water cooling system. For the time being, most of the 3W+ UV lasers are equipped with water cooling systems to ensure the UV laser has the precise temperature control. Since the nanosecond UV laser is still the major player in the UV laser market, the demand of water cooling system will continue to grow.
As a laser cooling solution provider, S&A Teyu promoted the water cooling chillers that are specifically designed for UV laser a few years ago and takes up the biggest market share in the refrigeration application of nanosecond UV laser. The RUMP, CWUL and CWUP series recirculating UV laser chillers are well recognized by users from all over the world.
