Glass forms micro-cracks in the focal plane of a high peak power laser beam giving the glass a frosted appearance in the exposed areas. This effect can be used to create sub-surface marks at selected depths inside the bulk material without altering the outer surfaces of the glass. This sub-surface engraving technique can also be used to engrave 3D patterns.

Thin films of various types are used for photovoltaic solar devices, displays, and many other applications. Short-pulse lasers with high repetition rates like AdValue Photonics’ EVEREST lasers are ideally suited to pattern these coatings with high precision and speed by selectively ablating the coatings without damaging the substrate.

IR laser pulses, with pulse durations in the picosecond range like AdValue Photonics’ EVERESTpico™, can produce permanent high contrast marks on stainless steel surfaces that withstand sterilization processes like repeated autoclaving commonly used for medical devices. Depending on the chosen process parameters, black marks with maximum contrast or marks with a variety of colors can be achieved.

Many clear plastics have strong absorption of laser emission in the 2 µm wavelength range, making AdValue Photonics’ 2 µm fiber lasers the perfect tool for clear on clear plastic laser welding. While most clear plastics are transparent to visible and near IR wavelengths around 1 µm, and opaque to UV and CO2 wavelengths, 2 µm emission has the perfect mix of absorption and transmission to allow just enough heating at the interface of the parts to create an excellent weld without additional chemicals or additives.

2 µm fiber lasers can add barcodes, serialization, customized logos, and other marks in many clear plastics and organic materials that cannot be marked well with a 1 µm fiber laser. AdValue Photonics’ 2 µm fiber lasers can also mark most common industrial materials, including metals, making it a very versatile tool for customers dealing with multiple material types.

Many transparent conductive oxides (‘TCOs’) have strong absorption in the 2 µm wavelength range. Indium-tin-oxide (‘ITO’) is a TCO widely used on touch screen displays and solar panels. Selective removal of ITO coated on glass or silicon substrates is frequently performed using a cumbersome etching process. However, since glass and silicon are transparent to lower intensities of 2 µm laser emission, selective ablation of the ITO can be easily achieved using AdValue Photonics’ fiber lasers.

At low intensities silicon is transparent at wavelengths near 2 µm, as the intensity increases, silicon starts to absorb the 2 µm emission due to 2 photon absorption. This unique property enables multiple processing techniques, for example, selective removal of organics, ablation of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), 3D etching and scribing, backside processing, etc.