Laser etching apparatus and laser etching method using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11786990-B2
Application number	US-202016747490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2020
Priority date	Jan 21, 2019
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

A laser etching apparatus includes a light source to emit a first laser beam having a first energy profile; and a scanner to radiate a second laser beam upon an object along a circular path, the second laser beam having a second energy profile different from the first energy profile.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser etching apparatus comprising:
a light source to emit a first laser beam having a first energy profile;
a beam expander to expand the first laser beam to have a Gaussian-profile;
a diffraction optical device to convert the expanded first laser beam having the Gaussian-profile to a second laser beam having a linear beam profile; and
a scanner to radiate the second laser beam upon an object along a circular path,
wherein the Gaussian profile has a strength of the beam concentrated at a center of the expanded first laser beam, and the linear beam profile has a strength of a beam which is substantially even and planarized overall of the second laser beam.

2. The laser etching apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the diffraction optical device is arranged between the light source and the scanner.

3. The laser etching apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second laser beam emanates from the diffraction optical device and is rotatable in the circular path defined by the scanner.

4. The laser etching apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the second laser beam is rotatable along the circular path in a direction generally parallel with a radius of the circular trace.

5. The laser etching apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second laser beam has a rectangular shaped cross section.

6. The laser etching apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second laser beam has a trapezoidal shaped cross section.

7. The laser etching apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circular path comprises an annular shape.

8. The laser etching apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scanner comprises a light-transmitting lens, and
a size of the laser beam varies with a numerical aperture of the light-transmitting lens.

9. The laser etching apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scanner comprises a pair of wedge lenses configured to rotate in a path of the laser beam and define the circular path.

10. The laser etching apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the object comprises a display area of the display panel.

11. A laser etching method comprising the steps of:
preparing and drilling a hole in a display panel,
wherein the drilling of a hole comprises:
emitting a first laser beam having a first enemy profile from a light source;
expanding the first laser beam to have a Gaussian-profile;
converting the expanded first laser beam having the Gaussian-profile to a second laser beam having a linear beam profile; and
radiating the second laser beam upon the display panel along a circular path by a scanner,
wherein the Gaussian profile has a strength of the beam concentrated at a center of the expanded first laser beam, and the linear beam profile has a strength of a beam which is substantially even and planarized overall of the second laser beam.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second laser beam, the second laser beam has the linear beam profile defined by a diffraction optical device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the second laser beam is rotated in the circular path defined by the scanner.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second laser beam is rotated along the circular path in a direction substantially parallel with a radius of the circular path.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the second laser beam has a rectangular shape cross section.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the second laser beam has a trapezoidal shape cross section.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the circular path comprises an annular path.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the scanner comprises a light-transmitting lens, and the size of the laser beam is adjusted by using a numerical aperture of the light-transmitting lens.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the scanner comprises a pair of wedge lenses configured to rotate in a path of the laser beam, and the circular path is defined by rotating the pair of wedge lenses.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hole is drilled in a display area of the display panel.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ahn Jooseob
• Oh Taekil
• Han Gyoowan
• Ko Yeonghwan
• Bae Yoongyeong

Classifications

• B23K26/0604 Primary

  by a combination of beams · CPC title

• B23K26/0648

  comprising lenses · CPC title

• B23K26/0732

  into a rectangular shape · CPC title

• B23K26/082

  Scanning systems, i.e. devices involving movement of the laser beam relative to the laser head · CPC title

• B23K26/362

  Laser etching · CPC title