Precision machining is an important part of laser manufacturing. It has developed from early solid nanosecond green/ultraviolet lasers to picosecond and femtosecond lasers, and now ultrafast lasers are the mainstream. What will be the future development trend of ultrafast precision machining? The way out for ultrafast lasers is to increase power and develop more application scenarios.
Precision machining is an important part of laser manufacturing. It has developed from early solid nanosecond green/ultraviolet lasers to picosecond and femtosecond lasers, and now ultrafast lasers are the mainstream. What will be the future development trend of ultrafast precision machining?
Ultrafast lasers were the first to follow the solid-state laser technology route. Solid-state lasers have the characteristics of high output power, high stability and good control. They are the upgrade continuation of nanosecond/sub-nanosecond solid-state lasers, so picosecond femtosecond solid-state lasers replace nanoseconds solid-state lasers are logical. Fiber lasers are popular, ultrafast lasers have also moved towards the direction of fiber lasers, and picosecond/femtosecond fiber lasers have emerged rapidly, competing with solid ultrafast lasers.
An important feature of ultrafast lasers is the upgrade from infrared to ultraviolet. Infrared picosecond laser processing has an almost perfect effect in glass cutting and drilling, ceramic substrates, wafer cutting, etc. However, the ultraviolet light under the blessing of ultra-short pulses can achieve "cold processing" to the extreme, and the punching and cutting on the material have almost no scorch marks, achieving perfect processing.
The technological expansion trend of ultra-short pulse laser is to increase the power, from 3 watts and 5 watts in the early days to the current 100 watt level. At present, precision processing in the market generally uses 20 watts to 50 watts of power. And a German institution has started to tackle the problem of kilowatt-level ultrafast lasers. S&A ultrafast laser chiller series can meet the cooling needs of most ultrafast lasers on the market, and enrich S&A chiller product line according to market changes.
Affected by factors such as COVID-19 and the uncertain economic environment, the demand for consumer electronics such as watches and tablets will be sluggish in 2022, and the demand for ultrafast lasers in PCB (printed circuit board), display panels and LED will decline. Only the circle and chip fields have been driven, and ultrafast laser precision machining has encountered growth challenges.
The way out for ultrafast lasers is to increase power and develop more application scenarios. Hundred-watt picoseconds will become standard in the future. High repetition rate and high pulse energy lasers enable even greater processing capabilities, such as cutting and drilling of glass up to 8 mm thick. The UV picosecond laser has almost no thermal stress and is suitable for processing highly sensitive materials, such as cutting stents and other highly sensitive medical products.
In electronic product assembly and manufacturing, aerospace, biomedical, semiconductor wafer and other industries, there will be a large number of precision machining requirements for parts, and non-contact laser processing will be the best choice. When the economic environment picks up, the application of ultrafast lasers will inevitably return to the track of high growth.
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