Rapid Hole Array Drilling Using Laser and Mechanical Processes

"An innovative solution is proposed for production of precise hole arrays in metals and other materials. To create arrays of holes on the order of 0.1 to 0.5 mm diameter and 0.5 to 5 mm deep, DSM proposes a combination of high peak-power lasers and veryprecise and accurate part manipulation. "Pico and femto-second" lasers with very short pulse duration and very high rep-rates produce streams of high intensity energy pulses that excel at micro-drilling of metals. A critical requirement for precisedrilling and cutting is the avoidance of heat dissipation and the loss of concentrated energy at the ablation site. With the ability to deposit the energy at very short intervals and high rep-rates, heat dissipation can be minimized. By attempting theprecise drilling of sample materials with a number of laser sources, an effective combination of laser wavelength, pulse duration and rep-rate will be determined. A novel part handling and precision manipulation platform will be used to achieve precisedrilling control and correct for any laser beam quality errors (taper and/or non-circularity errors). Finally, Phase I will demonstrate the ability to rapidly position and process the part to achieve desired hole production throughput. Precisionmicro-machining and micro-processing of materials is an increasingly important tool for the production of MEMS, biomedical devices, photonics components, and precision apertures. The ability to accurate