Using a 1.06 μm wavelength YAG laser, we have produced holes in glass-foam substrates. We have used three types of glass-foam made from 1-mm-thick quartz. The first type, called S1, contains 5% foam ranging in size from 2.0-50 μm. The second type, called S2, contains foam ranging in size from 0.1-0.5 μm. The third type, called S3, contains 12% foam ranging in size from 100-200 μm. We have drilled holes in these three types of glass-foam at pulse widths of 0.5-1.2msec and power of 0.5-3.0J. Only the S1 substrate is capable of creating a through hole at a power up to 0.8J. The height of the pile-up increases 15-40 μm with increasing power. The S1 substrate has better machinability than S2 and S3. The S1 substrate is suitable for laser beam machining.

Date Published: 19 February 2003
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 4830, Third International Symposium on Laser Precision Microfabrication, (19 February 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.486558

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4830:
Third International Symposium on Laser Precision Microfabrication
Isamu Miyamoto; Kojiro F. Kobayashi; Koji Sugioka; Reinhart Poprawe; Henry Helvajian, Editor(s)