Link processing with high speed beam deflection
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to the field of laser processing methods and systems, and specifically, to laser processing methods and systems for laser processing multi-material devices. Systems and methods may utilize high speed deflectors to improve processing energy window and/or improve processing speed. In some embodiments, a deflector is used for non-orthogonal scanning of beam spots. In some embodiment, a deflector is used to implement non-synchronous processing of target structures.
1. A method for laser processing a multi-material device including a substrate and at least one target structure, the method comprising:
receiving data corresponding to coordinates of target microstructures to be processed;
determining a processing trajectory segment including a plurality of target microstructures in an array of microstructures;
generating a pulsed laser output comprising a sequence of pulses, pulse groups, combined pulses, or pulse bursts, wherein the sequence is at least partially unsynchronized with respect to the trajectory;
determining a relative displacement between each target microstructure and at least one laser pulse in the sequence;
generating a deflection command sequence corresponding to the relative displacements;
deflecting the pulsed laser output according to the deflection command sequence during relative motion between the substrate and a beam positioning subsystem to synchronize the target microstructures with a set of laser pulses; and
irradiating each target microstructure with at least a portion of the pulsed laser output.
2. The method of claim 1 , comprising producing relative motion in a first direction between the beam positioning subsystem and the substrate having at least one target structure thereon.
3. The method of claim 2 , comprising deflecting a portion of the laser output in a second direction.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second direction is non-parallel to the first direction.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the non-parallel direction comprises a perpendicular direction.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a semiconductor memory comprising a silicon substrate, wherein the at least one target structure comprises a metal link of the semiconductor memory, and wherein the metal link is separated from the silicon substrate by at least one insulator layer.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the target microstructures comprises a conductive link.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein deflecting the pulsed laser output comprises deflecting the laser output with a high-speed deflector.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the high-speed deflector comprises an acousto-optic deflector.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the high-speed deflector comprises two deflectors oriented substantially orthogonally.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the high-speed deflector comprises a two-axis deflector.