Drilling Thin Materials

Laser Hole Drilling

Micro Via Laser Hole Drilling in Thin Materials
For both our shop service and our system integration:

Drilling holes small to large by the percussion and trepanning methods of laser drilling.

(Percussion is laser punching in a momentarily fixed position whereas trepanning is swinging the beam in a circle.)

For an informative 30 second clip on laser drilling view this Laser Drilling by Trepanning video.

Using high power lasers and precision optics we are able to drill holes down to 5 microns in nearly any material including: stainless steel, ceramic, plastics, diamond, silicon carbide, copper, aluminum, and rubber. In the following examples we show first small holes and next, large holes. The small ones are by the percussion method and the large by trepanning.

Laser hole drilling in thin Stainless Steel(SS)

Drilling Small Holes and Vias
10 micron diameter holes machined in silicon wafer
Example of percussion drilling, basically a laser punching operation. Can go up to about a 50 micron diameter in almost any material. Much larger holes are drilled using the trepanning method.

Dense hole drilling with close spacing is easily done. However, the part becomes frail like lace.

We offer two drilling methods: percussion and trepanning. In percussion the laser beam punches a hole; whereas in trepanning the beam is swung in a circle to hollow out a hole. Percussion is fast, and is therefore good for quickly drilling hundreds to thousands of small holes. How small? 10 micron diameter using a UV laser and 30um using an IR one. Smaller is possible, ask us.

Laserod’s Capabilities and Guidelines for Hole Drilling:

• accurate, repeatable small holes
• any material except glass
• to 1 mm max depth (.040″)
• the thinner the material, the better the results . . . and the faster
• two methods of drilling: trepanning and percussion
• aspect ratio of depth to diameter is about 10:1. Please note this applies to percussion holes ONLY.

More Laser Drilling Capabilities:

Here are some more guidelines for laser hole drilling:

• Max Hole or Via Depth: 3mm
• Max Material Thickness: 3mm
• Min Thickness: none
• Max Diameter of Trepanned Hole or Via: 12″ (300mm)
• Range of Percussion Hole Diameters: 10-125 microns depending on thickness
• Min Diameter of Percussion Hole or Via: 10 microns
• RE: “taper”: ask us. (We can control taper.) Taper for a 50um percussion hole in 300um thick silicon would be 50um eentrancediameter with 40um exit as a typical example.

Large hole laser trepanned in silicon wafer.

Laser Drilling Large Holes in Silicon
3mm Diameter (can be larger)
Example of trepanned hole. Laser beam is swung in a circle. This was laser machined in silicon to a diameter of 0.125″ (3mm). Si thickness is 7 mils (125 micron).

Drilling diamond means we can drill anything!

Laser Drilled Holes in CVD Diamond 30-200 Microns in Size

Laser Hole Drilling in CVD Diamond
Holes drilled in synthetic (CVD) diamond.
Gemstones are drilled also to enable enhancement by removal of inclusions.

Narrow slots can be machined in any thin material including rubber and plastic.

Laser Slotting in Plastics and Rubber
This valve bleed slot is cut in rubber of 0.125mm thickness. The slot has dimensions of 0.175 x 0.325mm (7×13 mils). Notice the slot is at the bottom of a blind hole.