Processing of metals and dielectric materials with ps-laserpulses: results, strategies, limitations and needs

Ultra short (ps, fs) laser pulses are used, when high requirements concerning accuracy, surface roughness, heat affected zone etc. are demanded for surface structuring. Ps-laser systems that are suited to be operated in industrial environments are of great interest for many practical applications. Here results in the field of 3-d structuring (metals and transparent materials), induced processes and structuring of flexible solar cells will be presented. Beside the pulse duration, which is given by the laser system, the user has a wide variety of optimization parameters such as fluence, repetition rate and wavelength. Based on a simple model it will be shown, that there exist optimum laser parameters to achieve maximum volume ablation rates at a given average power. To take benefit of these optimum parameters and to prevent harmful effects like plasma shielding and surface melting, adapted structuring strategies, depending on the requirements, have to be used. Today's ultra short pulsed systems have average powers from a few W up to a few 10W at high repetition rates. The actual available beam guiding systems are limited and can often not fulfill the requirements needed for high throughput structuring with optimized parameters. Based on the achieved results, the needs for future beam guiding systems will be discussed.