Advanced 3D micromachining techniques using UV laser sources

Laser systems have been widely applied in the last 20 years in semiconductor industry in microfabrication process development, the current availability of new excimer and diode pumped solid state lasers (DPSS) sources are broadening the applications fields of laser microprocessing. Nowadays MEMs, fluidic devices, advanced sensors and biomedical devices and instruments are among the most promising developments of this technology. In this work we present the main features and potential applications of a fully automated 3D laser micromachining workstation based on the main concept of geometrical flexibility. This system integrates two UV laser sources, excimer and DPSS in ns pulse regime, and an advanced positioning system (with six degrees of freedom) for complex parts machining. Different process developments, ranging from pure planar applications to fully 3D parts machining, are also presented.