Everything You Need To Know About Polymer Laser Micromachining

High-end manufacturing often utilizes polymers and their polyimide subsets since they are mechanically reliable, excellent electrical insulators, and are inert. As a result, polymer laser micromachining is fairly common in manufacturing processes. Polymers are commonly used as:

●      Substrates for electronics or optical components

●      Printed circuit boards (PCBs)

●      Chemically inert laminates

●      Electrical or thermal insulation tape

Polyimides also offer manufacturers many advantages. They are low-cost, flexible, and can support copper traces in the electronics industry. Manufacturing lightweight and miniaturized PCBs in multiple layers of polyimides help minimize mobile devices' size. They can also be used in the food and medical sectors because they are not reactive. Polymer laser micromachining, for example, cutting and drilling, is required in nearly all cases.

Enhancing the Quality of Polymer Machining

For polymer machining- Lasers are the right choice because of their high precision and comprehensive process capabilities. Micro-drilling and high accuracy cutting are examples of these operations.

Laser-initiated ablation is a polyimide and polymer processing technique that uses very short pulse durations with high power pulses. This easily vaporizes material below the focused laser spot in high accuracy, which prevents heat from being diffused into the edge of the spot due to its short length.

Polymer Laser Micromachining with Laserod Technologies

Femtosecond laser micromachining removes HAZ and any potential component degradation. The use of femtosecond pulses is unique because these short pulses trigger the optical absorption and consequent material breakdown. This also happens in the infrared and electrostatically ablates substance without the use of thermal ablation.

Common applications of femtosecond laser micromachining of polymer and polyimide structuring include:

●      Miniaturized hearing aids

●      Flexible, ultra-thin PCBs for miniaturized mobile devices

●      Panels for flexible light-emitting diode (OLED) displays

●      Flexible solar cells

●      Perforated filters for food and medical applications

Laserod Technologies is one of the world’s leading specialists in laser micromachining of polymers and other substrates for microscale-applications. Our high pulse femtosecond laser micromachining is uniquely suited for microscale-polymer machining for a broad range of applications. Contact Laserod Technologies today at 1-310-340-1343 / 1-888-991-9916 for projects and inquiries!