Laser processing apparatus and laser processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022055147-A1
Application number	US-202117378815-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 19, 2021
Priority date	Aug 19, 2020
Publication date	Feb 24, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A laser processing apparatus includes a laser oscillator that oscillates processing laser light to be incident on a processing point on a processing surface of a workpiece, a coupling mirror that deflects or transmits the processing laser light and measurement light to be incident on the processing point toward the processing point, a measurement light deflection unit that changes an incident angle of the measurement light on the coupling mirror, a lens that concentrates the processing laser light and the measurement light on the processing point, a controller that controls the laser oscillator and the measurement light deflection unit, a measurement processor that measures a depth of a keyhole generated at the processing point by the processing laser light by using an optical interference signal based on an interference generated by an optical path difference between the measurement light reflected at the processing point and reference light, and a beam position measurement unit that measures positions of the processing laser light and the measurement light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A laser processing apparatus comprising:
a laser oscillator configured to oscillate processing laser light to be incident on a processing point on a processing surface of a workpiece; a coupling mirror configured to deflect or transmit the processing laser light and measurement light to be incident on the processing point toward the processing point; a measurement light deflection unit configured to change an incident angle of the measurement light on the coupling mirror; a lens configured to concentrate the processing laser light and the measurement light on the processing point; a controller configured to control the laser oscillator and the measurement light deflection unit; a measurement processor configured to measure a depth of a keyhole generated at the processing point by the processing laser light by using an optical interference signal based on an interference generated by an optical path difference between the measurement light reflected at the processing point and reference light; and a beam position measurement unit configured to measure positions of the processing laser light and the measurement light.

2 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first mirror configured to change a travel direction of the processing laser light and the measurement light, wherein the controller further controls the first mirror based on processing data.

3 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the processing data includes a first instruction value indicating an operation amount of the first mirror and a second instruction value indicating an operation amount of the measurement light deflection unit, the beam position measurement unit includes
a position measurement mirror that reflects the processing laser light and the measurement light each passing through the lens, and
a two-dimensional imaging element that measures the positions of the processing laser light and the measurement light each reflected by the position measurement mirror, and
the controller sets a target position on the processing surface, sets the first instruction value to cause the processing laser light to be incident on the target position, and calculates the second instruction value based on the positions measured by the two-dimensional imaging element.

4 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the position measurement mirror is set to have a reflectance at a wavelength of the processing laser light, the reflectance causing power allowing the processing laser light to be enter the two-dimensional imaging element, and the two-dimensional imaging element is located at a position where an optical path length from the lens to the two-dimensional imaging element matches an optical path length from the lens to the processing point.

5 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the position measurement mirror is composed of a plurality of mirrors.

6 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
in the position measurement mirror, a reflectance of a wavelength of the processing laser light is 0.1% or less.

7 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the controller sets a grid shape pattern on the processing surface and sets a grid point of the grid shape pattern to the target position.

8 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the beam position measurement unit derives a relative position of an optical axis of the measurement light with respect to an optical axis of the processing laser light, and the controller controls the coupling mirror having an angle adjusting function or the measurement light deflection unit based on the relative position derived by the beam position measurement unit.

9 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein
the lens is disposed between the coupling mirror and the workpiece, and the beam position measurement unit is disposed between the coupling mirror and the lens.

10 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein
the beam position measurement unit includes
a reflector that reflects the processing laser light and the measurement light in a direction other than a direction toward the workpiece, and
a light receptor that receives the processing laser light and the measurement light each reflected by the reflector, and
the beam position measurement unit derives the relative position based on an irradiation position of the processing laser light and an irradiation position of the measurement light in the light receptor.

11 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein
a reflectance of the processing laser light of the reflector is set to be less than or equal to a predetermined value.

12 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein
the beam position measurement unit includes a plurality of reflectors each being the reflector.

13 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein
the controller controls the coupling mirror or the measurement light deflection unit such that an optical path of at least one of the processing laser light and the measurement light is changed to align an irradiation position of the processing laser light and an irradiation position of the measurement light on the workpiece with each other, and such that an optical path of at least one of the processing laser light and the measurement light is changed based on the relative position derived by the beam position measurement unit when the irradiation position of the processing laser light and the irradiation position of the measurement light on the workpiece are aligned with each other.

14 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
the measurement processor is an interferometer that measures a length of an optical path of the measurement light based on a waveform generated by the interference.

15 . The laser processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the controller
causes the coupling mirror or the measurement light deflection unit to align an irradiation position of the processing laser light and an irradiation position of the measurement light on the workpiece with each other, stores the relative position derived by the beam position measurement unit when the irradiation position of the processing laser light and the irradiation position of the measurement light on the workpiece are aligned with each other, and controls the coupling mirror or the measurement light deflection unit such that a relative position between the irradiation position of the processing laser light and the irradiation position of the measurement light on the beam position measurement unit is aligned with the stored relative position.

16 . A laser processing method performed by a laser processing apparatus including a laser light emitting unit that emits laser light to a workpiece and a measurement light emitting unit that emits measurement light for measuring an irradiation position of the laser light on the workpiece, the method comprising:
matching an irradiation position of the laser light and an irradiation position of the measurement light on the workpiece each other.

17 . The laser processing method of claim 16 , further comprising:
deriving a relative position of an optical axis of the measurement light with respect to an optical axis of the laser light to be incident on the workpiece; and changing an optical path of at least one of the laser light and the measurement light based on the derived relative position.

18 . The laser processing method of

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yokoyama Jun
• Urashima Takashi
• Takechi Yohei

Classifications

• B23K26/705

  Beam measuring devices · CPC title

• B23K26/0643 Primary

  comprising mirrors · CPC title

• G02B26/105

  with one or more pivoting mirrors or galvano-mirrors (G02B26/101 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01B11/22

  for measuring depth · CPC title

• B23K26/0648

  comprising lenses · CPC title