Methods and systems for thermal-based laser processing a multi-material device Number:7,394,476 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent A method and system for locally processing a predetermined microstructure formed on a substrate without causing undesirable changes in electrical or physical characteristics of the substrate or other structures formed on the substrate are provided. The method includes providing information based on a model of laser pulse interactions with the predetermined microstructure, the substrate and the other structures. At least one characteristic of at least one pulse is determined based on the information. A pulsed laser beam is generated including the at least one pulse. The method further includes irradiating the at least one pulse having the at least one determined characteristic into a spot on the predetermined microstructure. The at least one determined characteristic and other characteristics of the at least one pulse are sufficient to locally process the predetermined microstructure without causing the undesirable changes.<H processing, material, Methods, and, sys, 7394476.html, Patent, pto, 7394476

Title: Methods and systems for thermal-based laser processing a multi-material device

Abstract: A method and system for locally processing a predetermined microstructure formed on a substrate without causing undesirable changes in electrical or physical characteristics of the substrate or other structures formed on the substrate are provided. The method includes providing information based on a model of laser pulse interactions with the predetermined microstructure, the substrate and the other structures. At least one characteristic of at least one pulse is determined based on the information. A pulsed laser beam is generated including the at least one pulse. The method further includes irradiating the at least one pulse having the at least one determined characteristic into a spot on the predetermined microstructure. The at least one determined characteristic and other characteristics of the at least one pulse are sufficient to locally process the predetermined microstructure without causing the undesirable changes.

Patent Number: 7,394,476 Issued on 07/01/2008 to Cordingley, et al.

Inventors: Cordingley; James J. (Littleton, MA), Ehrmann; Jonathan S. (Sudbury, MA), Griffiths; Joseph J. (Winthrop, MA), Johnson; Shepard D. (Andover, MA), Lee; Joohan (Andover, MA), Smart; Donald V. (Boston, MA), Svetkoff; Donald J. (Ann Arbor, MI)
Assignee: GSI Group Corporation (Billerica, MA)

Appl. No.: 11/415,547

Filed: May 2, 2006

Related U.S. Patent Documents


Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
10107890	Mar., 2002
60279644	Mar., 2001

Current U.S. Class: 347/224 ; 219/121.6

Current International Class: B41J 2/435 (20060101); B23K 26/00 (20060101)

Field of Search: 129/121.6 347/224-225 219/121.6-121.62,121.67-121.69

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Primary Examiner: Pham; Hai C
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PATENT

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/107,890 filed on Mar. 27, 2002 entitled Methods And Systems For Thermal-Based Laser Processing A Multi-Material Device which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/279,644, filed Mar. 29, 2001, entitled "Method and System for Severing Highly Conductive Micro-Structures." This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,177.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of laser processing a 1D or 2D array of conductive links to remove one or more designated links of the array without damaging a substrate, adjacent non-designated links, or one or more functional layers or levels disposed between the conductive links and the substrate, the processing of the one or more designated links to occur with one or more laser pulses in a single pass operation controlled with a positioning subsystem of a laser-based, memory repair system, the positioning subsystem causing relative motion between the conductive links and one or more laser beam spots, the method comprising: obtaining information to identify the one or more designated links of the array and to identify one or more alignment targets about the one or more designated links, each of the one or more alignment targets having a predetermined location relative to the one or more designated links; scanning a measurement beam to obtain one or more signals representative of the locations of the one or more alignment targets and processing the one or more signals to determine the locations of the one or more alignment targets; predicting the locations of the one or more designated links relative to the one or more alignment targets, the step of predicting comprising relating the locations of the one or more alignment targets to the locations of the one or more designated links based on at least the pre-determined locations of the one or more alignment targets; planning and generating a trajectory to position the one or more laser beam spots relative to the one or more designated links so that the one or more designated links and the one or more laser beam spots substantially coincide at locations along centerlines of one or more pulsed laser beams, and also so that the one or more designated links and the one or more laser beam spots coincide at a time when the one or more laser pulses impinge the one or more designated links, the step of planning and generating comprising: producing a first motion profile corresponding to a first trajectory segment, the profile representative of approximately constant velocity of relative motion of the one or more designated links and the one or more laser beam spots generally along a row or column of the array, the motion occurring during a first specified time interval, or over a first specified distance, at which the one or more designated links are to be processed with the one or more laser pulses, and producing a second motion profile corresponding to a second trajectory segment, the second motion profile representative of an acceleration or deceleration during a second specified time interval, or over a second specified distance, at which the relative motion of the one or more designated links and the one or more laser beam spots is accelerated to achieve a predetermined velocity for processing with the one or more laser pulses; moving the one or more designated links relative to the one or more laser beam spots in accordance with the generated trajectory; generating the one or more laser pulses having at least one predetermined characteristic including a pulse width; selecting at least one frequency from an available range of frequencies so as to control at least one of a pulse location, number of pulses, and spatial spacing of the one or more pulses that are to impinge the one or more designated links, the, one or more designated links being within a region of the array and along at least one of one or more rows and one or more columns of the array; applying, during overlapping time periods, the at least one frequency to a multi-frequency deflector to produce as an output of the deflector the one or more pulsed laser beams having controlled deflection; focusing the one or more pulsed laser beams to form the one or more laser beam spots at the one or more designated link locations, wherein the step of focusing provides that the one or more laser beam spots are approximately diffraction limited, the steps of planning and generating a trajectory, selecting, applying, and focusing thereby precisely positioning the one or more laser beam spots at the one or more designated link locations; and irradiating the one or more designated links with the one or more laser beam spots wherein the one or more laser beam spots and the one or more designated links substantially coincide, the step of irradiating with the one or more laser beam spots providing for processing the one or more designated links during the single pass.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of applying splits the one or more pulsed laser beams into a plurality of offset beams to irradiate the one or more designated links.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the centerlines and the one or more laser beam spots of the one or more pulsed laser beams define an approximate plane of incidence of the one or more pulsed laser beams, and wherein the method further comprises, prior to the step of generating, orienting the plane to cause the one or more pulsed laser beams to impinge the one or more designated links of the array along a pre-determined first direction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of orienting is carried out with a beam rotator comprising a prism.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of orienting causes the plane of incidence to be switched between a row and column of the array prior to the step of moving the one or more designated links relative to the one or more laser beam spots.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of orienting switches the plane of incidence between rows and columns of the array, and wherein the rows and columns are oriented along two orthogonal directions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of focusing the one or more pulsed laser beams and irradiating are carried out with a single objective lens system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the deflector is a single-axis acousto-optic deflector having a center frequency, and wherein the step of selecting and applying is carried out over a frequency range that is a small fraction of the center frequency of the acousto-optic deflector.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the frequency range is sufficiently large to process adjacent links along at least one of the one or more rows and the one or more columns.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the center frequency is about 80 MHZ and wherein the frequency range is about +-2.5 MHZ.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein exactly two laser beam spots remove adjacent links of a row or column of the 1D or 2D array.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining three-dimensional information using data acquired at an at least one of an alignment target and other location of the device having a surface suitable for optical measurement, and using the data to compute at least one reference surface that substantially coincides with three dimensional coordinates of the one or more designated links.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the three-dimensional information includes both height and X, Y information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of planning and generating a trajectory produces profiles based on the three-dimensional coordinates, and wherein motion during processing a trajectory segment is three dimensional relative motion along a plane that is tilted and non-orthogonal with respect to the centerlines of the one or more pulsed laser beams.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the steps of processing the one or more signals and computing the reference surface comprises least square fitting