Industrial aspects of Nd-YAG laser microprocessing

For the last decade processing application with the Nd-YAG laser operating in the uv, visible and ir region has taken a new dynamic turn in the microtechnology. It has covered a wide range of applications in microelectronics, semiconductors and screen printing as well as in the medical industries. From laser ablation to marking and from precision cutting to microwelding, it has opened a new horizon of industrial needs in microtechnology. Of these, processing with the ultraviolet radiations have a unique characteristics of ablation and allow the production of small um order microstructures, but their industrial application has yet to be established. On contrary, processing with the infra-red radiations usually considered as thermal processing covers mainly precision cutting, of stencil mask for screen printing technology, microprocessing of metallic stents for medical therapy and various other microstructuring applications. In all these processes, due to different scale length of the beam interaction time with the material, various physical phenomenon are encountered that ultimately affects the quality of the end product. The present paper elaborate a few of these basic processes and explore the possibilities of current and new application areas.