This paper describes a novel excimer laser beam delivery method for surface sculpting using a binary mask approach. This technique is useful for profiling a surface into arbitrary shapes and geometries with a high laser energy delivery efficiency. The binary mask technique is particularly attractive for deliver of a pulsed laser such as excimer lasers which are normally operated at a relatively low repetition rate but their output energies per pulse are high. This paper discusses the principle and the method of using the binary masks to regulate the laser energy distribution. An example is given in which a set of 8 binary masks each has 1 00 by 1 00 pixels over an area of 5mm in diameter is used for flattening the curvature of a spherical surface.

Date Published: 1 March 1991
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 1377, Excimer Laser Materials Processing and Beam Delivery Systems, (1 March 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.25034

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1377:
Excimer Laser Materials Processing and Beam Delivery Systems
Bernhard P. Piwczyk, Editor(s)