Laser processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9643280-B2
Application number	US-201314085280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2013
Priority date	Nov 20, 2012
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A laser processing apparatus includes: a laser generator that generates a laser beam, a diffractive optical element that divides the laser beam generated by the laser generator into a plurality of sub-laser beams, and a beam gap adjustor that adjusts a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams. Therefore, by installing a diffractive optical element that divides a laser beam that is generated by the laser generator into the plurality of sub-laser beams and a beam gap adjustor to adjust a gap between a plurality of sub-laser beams, the laser processing apparatus can form a processing pattern of various resolutions in a shadow mask while improving a processing speed of the shadow mask.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser processing apparatus, comprising:
a laser generator that generates a laser beam;
a diffractive optical element (DOE) that divides the laser beam that is generated by the laser generator into a plurality of sub-laser beams; and
a beam gap adjustor that adjusts a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams that are spaced-apart from each other, wherein the beam gap adjustor comprises:
an anamorphic optical system that changes a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams in only one direction that is perpendicular to a propagation direction of the sub-beams; and
a zoom optical system that changes a gap between neighboring ones the plurality of sub-laser beams in two different intersecting directions that are both perpendicular to the propagation direction of the sub-beams, wherein the sub-laser beams output from the anamorphic optical system are incident onto the zoom optical system.

2. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the anamorphic optical system comprises a pair of prism lenses.

3. The laser processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the anamorphic optical system further comprises:
a rotation unit that adjusts a tilt angle of ones of the pair of prism lenses by rotating ones of the pair of prism lenses; and
a controller that controls an operation of the rotation unit.

4. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an aberration correction optical system that corrects an aberration according to a relative position between ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams.

5. The laser processing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the aberration correction optical system comprises:
a first aberration correction optical system arranged between the anamorphic optical system and the zoom optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams; and
a second aberration correction optical system arranged at the rear side of the zoom optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams.

6. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DOE is adapted to produce different sized gaps between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams based on different directions taken perpendicular to a propagation direction of the sub-laser beams.

7. The laser processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the beam gap adjustor comprises a zoom optical system that changes gaps between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams in all directions perpendicular to the propagation direction of the sub-laser beams.

8. The laser processing apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising an aberration correction optical system that corrects an aberration according to a relative position between the plurality of sub-laser beams.

9. The laser processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the aberration correction optical system comprises:
a first aberration correction optical system arranged at the front side of the zoom optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams; and
a second aberration correction optical system arranged at the rear side of the zoom optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams.

10. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a high order beam block mask to remove a high order sub-laser beam of the plurality of sub-laser beams.

11. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a beam expander arranged at the front side of the DOE to inject a laser beam of uniform intensity into the DOE.

12. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of sub-laser beams propagate in a direction that is parallel to one another.

13. The laser processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first and second aberration correction optical systems are spaced apart from each other by the zoom optical system, each of the first and second aberration correction optical systems are comprised only of lenses.

14. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprised of the beam gap adjustor disposed to increase a size of a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams.

15. The laser processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the anamorphic optical system and the zoom optical system serve to increase a size of a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams.

16. A laser processing apparatus, comprising:
a laser generator that generates a laser beam;
a diffractive optical element (DOE) that divides the laser beam that is generated by the laser generator into a plurality of sub-laser beams; and
a beam gap adjustor that adjusts a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams that are spaced-apart from each other, wherein the beam gap adjustor comprises:
a first anamorphic optical system that changes a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams in one direction perpendicular to a propagation direction of the sub-laser beams; and
a second anamorphic optical system that changes a gap between the plurality of sub-laser beams, having passed through the first anamorphic optical system, in a second direction intersecting the one direction and perpendicular to the propagation direction of the sub-laser beams.

17. The laser processing apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the first anamorphic optical system comprises a pair of first prism lenses, the second anamorphic optical system comprises a pair of second prism lenses, and the first prism lenses and the second prism lenses are orthogonal to each other.

18. The laser processing apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising an aberration correction optical system that corrects an aberration according to a relative position between the plurality of sub-laser beams.

19. The laser processing apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the aberration correction optical system comprises:
a first aberration correction optical system arranged at the rear side of the second anamorphic optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams; and
a second aberration correction optical system arranged at the rear side of the first aberration correction optical system and in propagating paths of the sub-laser beams.

20. The laser processing apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the second direction is perpendicular to both the one direction and the propagation direction.

21. A laser processing apparatus, comprising:
a laser generator that generates a laser beam;
a diffractive optical element (DOE) that divides the laser beam that is generated by the laser generator into a plurality of sub-laser beams; and
a beam gap adjustor that adjusts a gap between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams that are spaced-apart from each other, wherein the DOE is adapted to produce different sized gaps between neighboring ones of the plurality of sub-laser beams in a first direction perpendicular to a propagation direction of the sub-laser beams than in a second direction that is perpendicular to both the first direction and the propagation direction.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd
• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung E V

Inventors

• Lee Doh-Hyoung
• Lee Choong-Ho
• Yun Sung-Sik
• Park Tong-Jin
• Gillner Arnold
• Hambach Nelli
• Eifel Stephan
• Holtkamp Jens
• Büsing Lasse
• Gatej Alexander

Classifications

• B23K26/0648

  comprising lenses · CPC title

• G02B26/0816

  by means of one or more reflecting elements · CPC title

• G02B27/0911

  Anamorphotic systems · CPC title

• G02B26/0808

  by means of one or more diffracting elements · CPC title

• B23K26/38

  by boring or cutting · CPC title