David A Lord

US Patent:

20120160814, Jun 28, 2012

Filed:

Dec 28, 2010

Appl. No.:

12/980131

Inventors:

Yasu Osako - Lake Oswego OR, US
Kelly J. Bruland - Portland OR, US
Andrew Hooper - Portland OR, US
Jim Dumestre - Tigard OR, US
David Lord - Portland OR, US

Assignee:

ELECTRO SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIES, INC. - Portland OR

International Classification:

B23K 26/00

US Classification:

21912161

Abstract:

Systems and methods ablate electrically conductive links using laser pulses with optimized temporal power profiles and/or polarizations. In certain embodiments, the polarization property of a laser beam is set such that coupling between the laser beam and an electrically conductive link reduces the pulse energy required to ablate the electrically conductive link. In one such embodiment, the polarization is selected based on a depth of a target link structure. In another embodiment, the polarization changes as deeper material is removed from a target location. In addition, or in other embodiments, a first portion of a temporal power profile of a laser beam includes a rapid rise time to heat an upper portion of an electrically conductive link so as to form cracks in a passivation layer over upper corners of the electrically conductive link, without forming cracks at lower corners of the electrically conductive link.