The speed of cutting millimeter-thick glass is increased a hundredfold

2023-02-25

 One application of ultrashort pulse lasers in the electronics industry is to separate transparent materials. Using Trumpf's newly developed TOP Cleave optical accessory, these materials can be cut at speeds of up to 1m/s. Combined with the new high performance TruMicro 5080 ultra short pulse laser can cut glass up to 1mm thick.

The material is transparent, so using light to process glass is not a mundane innovation. The beam produced by a solid-state laser, generally in the infrared light range, can easily pass through a glass plate. However, this is not the case for ultrashort pulsed laser beams in the picosecond or femtosecond range. The energy density of photons input in space and time by huge pulses can change the absorption mechanism of glass, making it possible to fabricate artificial sapphire and glass materials with laser beams.

 TOP Cleave optical accessories are applied in glass material modified turbochargers

TOP Cleave is the latest sophisticated technology developed to cut thin toughened glass materials, such as smartphone displays, instead of ablating the cut glass. Material modification is the key.

The ultra-short pulsed laser beam mainly acts on the inside of the glass material, adjusting a narrow area along the set cutting line. This creates an internal pressure that causes the glass material to split in a controlled manner. The composite, whether straight or curved, has a smooth surface and is accurate to 1/100mm.

At the Munich Laser Show last June, Trumpf unveiled its latest TOP Cleave optical accessory, which speeds up processing a hundredfold. The TOP Cleave distributes the laser beam evenly along its axis. Thus, the focus is on the extension length, and the laser beam becomes the focal line.

Instead of scanning the glass layer by layer, the laser pulse creates a material modification on the entire internal separation surface in a single sweep. Depending on the pulse energy, it can be used for glass materials up to 700μm thick.

TOP Cleave's high-performance TruMicro laser processes materials of this thickness, cutting up to 1m/s, hundreds of times faster than before.

TruMicro 5080 separates 1mm thick glass material

The TruMicro 5080 is the latest flagship of the TruMicro laser. Its operating frequency is up to 1MHz and 500μJ. This is the highest energy pulse in the field of ultrashort pulses used in industry. The laser produces an average of more than 150 watts of energy, making it extremely powerful in any field.

The TruMicro 5080 produces short pulses of high energy, and the TOP Cleave is able to take full advantage of this energy by drawing the focus along the direction the beam is focused, evenly dispersing the high energy across a line of focus that covers the entire thickness of the glass.

The TruMicro 5080 also includes the femtosecond series. It was the first industrial laser to produce femtosecond pulses in the green spectrum, making it the best of both worlds. Despite the high peak, femtosecond pulses inject even less heat energy into the workpiece than picosecond pulses.

The TruMicro 5080 is especially suitable for precision machining of metal or heat-sensitive materials such as special sheets. Green light can focus on a very small point. Green radiation has a longer Rayleigh length and therefore a longer focal depth than infrared light. This makes the TruMicro 5080 more suitable for precise drilling, such as holes in fuel injectors.

A further advantage of the TruMicro 5080 is that it is easier to work with industrial machines and can be maintained even when inside the device. This reduces the hassle of moving and beam path adjustment, which is a completely new manufacturing concept.

All the relevant parts for maintenance and exchange, such as power cables, cooling lines, electronic and optical fields can be easily accessed from the single side of the laser. This greatly reduces the downtime of machines and improves economic benefits to a considerable extent. Trumpf also publicly displayed the TruMicro 5080 at the Munich Laser Show.

Application of high power ultraviolet laser in flexible display

Laser peeling of thin film used in flexible display is the main application of high power ultraviolet laser. Its curved and flexible displays are the latest trend, especially for so-called wearable smart devices-such as glasses or wristbands.

To make these flexible displays, a glass plate is first coated with polyimides. Polyimides are the main substrate material for flexible displays, which are then made by plating organic light-emitting (OLED) and display elements on polyimides and then peeling the polyimides off the glass plate. The stripping process is done with lasers. The laser shines through the glass plate from the north side of the glass, heating and breaking the bond between the polyimide and the glass, causing the two materials to separate. Throughout the process, the sensitive OLED is unaffected by the power of the laser.