Archive for August, 2011

Many laser systems have beams propagating through several stages before the final beam is directed to its target. Monitoring laser performance of these systems is important but may be difficult.

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A short wavelength excimer laser, which produces light in the ultra violet spectrum,   has unique characteristics that set it apart from other lasers. These characteristics enable its use in applications that would be challenging for other lasers, but also introduce unique issues when it comes to measuring its beam.

193nm Excimer lasers are often used in certain applications involving laser ablation of materials in which there is a need for very high precision and minimal heating. The ablation mechanism of these short wavelength beams does not involve heating, but rather dissociation of the target material; therefore the material can be cut or similarly processed without significant thermal effects. For example, excimer lasers are used for Lasik surgery, where a laser has to be targeted at a small location in the eye, without causing residual heat damage to surrounding tissue. Excimer lasers are also used for the production of microchips, where a very fine pattern has to be generated by the laser on semiconductor wafers; the short wavelengths enable the beam to image a very fine pattern from a mask which in turn enables the photolithographic process to create smaller features on the wafer. This is very important as advancing technology requires constantly increasing density of devices on a chip.

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Ophir’s most recent version of StarLab, software that converts a PC to a multi-channel laser power/energy measurement station, incorporates Microsoft® COM Object technology. This technology allows software developers to integrate Ophir laser measurement objects into their software without knowing how laser measurement objects are built.

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