Laser Drilling Applications in the PCB Industry

Two kinds of laser technique can be used in laser drilling of PCB. CO2 laser
wavelength is within far ultrared-ray waveband and ultraviolet laser wavelength is
within UV band. CO2 laser is widely used in micro-vias production of printed circuit
board, requiring micro-vias diameter greater than 100m (Raman, 2001) . It has high
productivity in large-size hole manufacturing since it needs very short time to finish
punching by CO2 laser. UV laser technique is widely applied in micro-vias
production, with diameter less than 100m even 50m. It has very high output when
produce holes with diameter less than 80m. Therefore, more and more manufacturers
have brought in double-ended laser hole-drilling system in order to meet the
increasing demand of micro-vias production.

Below are the three main types of double-ended laser hole-drilling system in current
market:
1) double-ended UV drilling system;
2) double-ended CO2 laser drilling system;
3) mixed laser drilling system (with both CO2 and UV) .
Each type has its merit and demerit. Laser drilling system includes double-ended
single wavelength system and double-ended dual-wavelength system. Two parts
influence the drilling quality:
1) laser power / pulse energy;
2) beam positioning system.

Laser pulse energy and transmission efficiency of beam decide the drilling time,
which means the period of time needed to drill a micro-via by laser drilling machine.
Beam positioning system decides the speed of movement between two holes. The
speed of laser drilling machine is determined by all the factors together.
Double-ended UV drilling system is ideally suited to drilling less than 90m in
integrated circuit, with high aspect ratio.
Double-ended CO2 laser drilling system makes use of Q-switch RF-excited CO2 laser.
Its principle advantages include high repetition rate (which reaches to 100kHz), short
drilling time and wide interface.

In the HDI manufacturing process, mixed laser drilling system is the most popular
system composed of UV laser head and CO2 laser head. The comprehensive
application of mixed laser drilling methods allows both copper and dielectric medium
drilling occur at the same time. Ultraviolet radiation drill the copper to form a
particular size and shape, and CO2 laser drill the uncovered dielectric adjacently. The
drilling process is to drill a 2inX2in area, which is called domain.
CO2 laser can remove dielectric effectively, even the non-uniform glass-reinforced
dielectric. However, it is unable to drill hole less than 75m and remove copper, with
an exception of pre-treated thin copper foil (lustino, 2002) less than 5m. UV laser
can drill very small holes and erase every ordinary copper (3-36m, 1oz, even electro
copper foil). It can also erase dielectric material by itself but it is quite slow. And the
result is not good on non-uniform materials like glass-reinforced FR-4. It is because

that only when the energy density is improved to some extent, the glass can be
successfully removed but bonding pad will be destroyed in the meantime. Since
mixed laser drilling system contains both CO2 and UV laser, it can achieve the best
result in the two fields, with UV laser in copper foil and small hole and with CO2
laser in fast drilling on dielectric.
At present, the distance between the two heads is fixed in most double-ended laser
hole-drilling system, with stepping-repeat beam positioning technology.
Stepping-repeat laser remote controller has large regulating range, reaching to 50X50
m. Its disadvantage is that the laser remote controller has to move in the fixed area,
and the separation distance between the two heads is fixed as well. Typical separation
distance between the two heads is about 150m. It is impossible to get the optimum
allocation operation like programmable head when it comes to different panel sizes.
Nowadays, there are various specification of performance for double-ended laser
hole-drilling system, which can apply to small printed circuit board manufacture as
well as mass production.

Ceramic aluminum oxide is used in printed circuit board manufacture for its high
dielectric constant. But it is frangible and the mechanical pressure in drilling need to
reduce to the minimum, which is an advantage for laser drilling. Rangel had proved in
1997 that Q-switch Nd YAG laser drilling can be applied in aluminum oxide
baseboard and aluminum oxide baseboard covered with gold and anchor. Laser with

short pulse, low energy and high-peak power can protect sample from mechanical
pressure and make high quality hole less than 100m.