Abstract:
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for micromachining a conical surface. In one embodiment, such a system may include a rotating platform for receiving a long line of laser illumination, a mask having a predetermined pattern comprising a sector of a planar ring, the mask being positioned on the rotating platform, a workpiece stage having a rotational axis for rotating a removably-affixed workpiece comprising a conical surface, wherein the sector comprises the planar image of the conical surface, an excimer laser for producing a laser beam, a homogenizer for homogenizing the laser beam in at least a single direction, at least one condenser lens, a turning mirror and at least one projection lens.

Description:
CLAIM TO PRIORITY  
       [0001]     The present applications claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U. S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/632,745, filed Dec. 2, 2004, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods, devices and/or systems in the field of micromachining, and more particularly in the field of laser micromachining.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Laser micromachining is a method by which material is removed from an object (workpiece) to produce a product, utilizing the laser light energy. The laser light energy enables the material of the workpiece to be ablated via either or both of thermal or chemical action.  
         [0004]     Ablating a particular pattern in a workpiece may be accomplished using mask-projection. In mask-projection, laser light is directed upon a mask and the image of it then projected onto the workpiece, irradiating the surface with laser light energy according to the pattern of the mask. The pattern is reproduced on the surface of the workpiece.  
         [0005]     Although it may be possible to micromachine non-planar surfaces (e.g., curved surfaces, and the like), such micromachining is difficult to accomplish at higher speeds/throughputs. Generally, only planar surfaces are capable of being micromachined quickly using, for example, a mask-projection system. Thus, it would be an improvement in the existing laser micromachining systems and methods to be able to laser-micromachine conical surfaces (for example) in a high speed and efficient manner.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     Embodiments of the present invention are directed to laser micromachining apparatuses/systems and/or methods thereof. Specifically, some embodiments of the invention include a laser micromachining apparatus for copying an image of a planar mask onto a surface of a conical workpiece. In one embodiment of the invention, this may be accomplished by rotating the mask and the cone synchronously.  
         [0007]     Some embodiments of the present invention enable high-speed machining by projecting a long-line of illumination along a conical surface all at once with a large-field imaging lens.  
         [0008]     Accordingly, in one embodiment of the invention, a system for micromachining a conical surface is provided and may include a rotating platform for receiving a long line of electromagnetic radiation, a mask having a predetermined pattern comprising a sector of a planar ring, the mask being positioned on the rotating platform and a workpiece stage having a rotational axis for rotating a removably-affixed workpiece. The workpiece may include a conical surface, and the sector comprises the planar image of the conical surface.  
         [0009]     In another embodiment of the invention, a method for imaging a conical surface of a workpiece may be provided and may include directing an irradiating beam of electromagnetic radiation at a mask. The mask may include a planar surface of a sector of a ring and a predetermined pattern thereon and the ring sector may correspond to an unwrapped area of a conical surface of a workpiece. The method may further include producing, as a result of the irradiating beam interacting with the mask, an image field for projection on the conical surface of the workpiece, projecting the image field onto the conical surface of the workpiece, rotating the mask about an axis, wherein the axis comprises the center of the ring, and synchronously rotating the conical surface of the workpiece about a second axis, the second axis being the axis of the conical surface.  
         [0010]     Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for micromachining a conical surface. In one embodiment, such a system may include a rotating platform for receiving a long line of laser illumination, a mask having a predetermined pattern comprising a sector of a planar ring, the mask being positioned on the rotating platform, a workpiece stage having a rotational axis for rotating a removably-affixed workpiece comprising a conical surface, wherein the sector comprises the planar image of the conical surface, an excimer laser for producing a laser beam, a homogenizer for homogenizing the laser beam in at least a single direction, at least one condenser lens, a turning mirror and at least one projection lens.  
         [0011]     Still other embodiments of the invention may include computer application programs and computer readable media having an application program and/or computer instructions provided thereon for controlling some of the embodiments of the invention for micromachining a conical surface.  
         [0012]     These and other embodiments, advantages and objects of the invention will be more apparent with reference with the following detailed description and attached drawings, a brief description of which is set out below.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an optical system for imaging on a conical surface according to some embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a schematic of the relationship between a planar mask and a conical workpiece according to some embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a laser micromachining system according to some of the embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a system  100  according to the present invention for imaging on a conical surface. As shown, a laser source  101  directs a laser beam  102  into a beam expander  103 . After the beam expander, the resultant beam may be sent through a homogenizer and/or condenser lens(es)  104 . The homogenizer may comprise those homogenizers as disclosed in co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application publication No. 20040223330, entitled, “Methods and Apparatuses for Homogenizing Light”, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.  
         [0017]     A field lens  105  receives the homogenized/condensed beam, which collects the light for illuminating the mask  107 . The mask pattern is preferably a representation of the unwrapped image  202  of a cone, which corresponds to a conical surface  204  of a cone  206  of a workpiece to be machined. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the unwrapped image  202  may be a planar surface that forms a sector  208  a ring.  
         [0018]     While the present invention is illustrated with the use of a laser, other devices for generating a beam of electromagnetic energy (e.g., x-ray) may also be used with embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0019]     The mask  107  is preferably positioned in an open aperture, motorized rotary device. The open aperture, motorized rotary device rotates mask  107  about a center of rotation  210  as shown in  FIG. 2  (i.e., center of ring). As shown in  FIG. 2 , a laser field generated by optics of the system (i.e., beam expander  103 , condenser lens  104  and field lens  105 ) may be projected onto the mask  107 . The laser field is preferably a long-line field (i.e., a rectangular field), having short and long axes, but may comprise other shapes (e.g., elliptical, square, triangular, and other polygonal shapes). In long-line field embodiments, upon the long line field encountering the surface for machining, a short axis of the long-line field may be oriented substantially perpendicular (preferably perpendicular) to the conical workpiece axis (i.e., the vertex of the cone  206 ).  
         [0020]     The long-line field projected onto the mask produces a long-line laser image field which is then directed, via turning mirror  108 , onto projection lens  109 . The projection lens then projects the long-line image field onto the workpiece, the focusing of which may be accomplished using adjuster device  110  (e.g., along a “Z” axis). In some embodiments, the turning mirror may be connected to at least one motor or other actuator(s) (e.g., piezo-based actuator) familiar to those of skill in the art, which may enable the mirror to pivot about one or more axes, to impart other directional control onto the beam. In other embodiments, the tuning mirror (as well as other components of the optical system) may not include motor(s)/actuator(s), and may be rigidly affixed in a single position after setup.  
         [0021]     The focusing adjuster device  110  may comprise a motor (rotary or linear) (or other actuator device), which may move lens  109  along a single (preferably) axis (e.g., Z axis). Movement may be established via a rack and pinion gear arrangement, when using, for example, a rotary electric motor, or via direct connection of the lens or lens frame to the forcer or platen of a linear motor.  
         [0022]     The laser image field produced by the projection of the laser light onto the mask, is then focused on the workpiece  112 . Adjuster stages  113  and  114  may be provided (e.g., “X” and “Y” adjuster stages), and may be initially configured so that the laser image field is projected on the corresponding area of the workpiece prior to machining. One of skill of the art will appreciate that in some embodiments of the invention, the positions of adjusters  113  and  114  need not be adjusted once their positions are established during an initial setup. In such embodiments, the conical workpiece need only be rotated about an axis. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the axis of rotation of the conical workpiece (for example) is axis  112   a.    
         [0023]      FIG. 3  illustrates a block diagram of some of the embodiments of the present invention. As shown, a controller may be used to at least one of, setup, initiate, control and complete the laser micromachining of a workpiece. The controller may be an analog or digital control device, and is preferably a computer (e.g., personal computer operating an application program for controlling one or more of the components of system  100 ). For example, the controller may be connected (through either wireless or wired connection) to at least one of and preferably several of: the laser/beam source (e.g., power, intensity), and motors/actuators for: controlling beam expansion or consolidation devices (e.g., beam expander  103 , homogenizer  104 , condenser lenses, and the like), the open aperture-motorized rotary mask stage, the turning mirror  108 , the focusing “Z” adjuster  110 , the “X” adjuster stage  113 , the “Y” adjuster stage  114  and the motorized rotary workpiece stage  111 . In addition, position sensors may be positioned on all components and fed into the controller to provide (preferably) real-time feedback on the positions and/or status of the components of the system.  
         [0024]     Accordingly, the system may be operable for micromachining a workpiece upon performing at least several (and preferably all) of the following:  
         [0025]     setup of a workpiece in the motorized workpiece stage  111 ;  
         [0026]     alignment of the adjuster stages  113 ,  114 ;  
         [0027]     positioning of turning mirror  108 ;  
         [0028]     positioning of the mask  107  with the open aperture-motorized rotary stage  106 ;  
         [0029]     positioning of on or more of: the laser beam  101 , the beam expander  103 , the homogenizer  104 , condenser lenses and field lens(es); and  
         [0030]     focusing of the laser image field via focusing adjuster  110  such that the laser image field is projected onto a substantially correct corresponding portion of the conical surface of the workpiece for machining.  
         [0031]     Accordingly, after initial setup, and after the light source is switched on, the mask may be rotated around axis  210  while synchronously rotating the conical workpiece around axis  212 . By synchronously rotating the mask from one side of the ring sector to the other and rotating the cone around its axis  212 , for a full rotation, the entire pattern of the mask may be imaged to the conical surface of the workpiece.  
         [0032]     In some embodiments, the mask and the workpiece may be rotated in opposite directions since, in some embodiments, the projection lens inverts the image of the mask. Thus, if the mask is rotated clockwise, the conical workpiece is rotated counterclockwise (and visa-versa).  
         [0033]     The homogenizer  104  may include a long line homogenizer to achieve uniform illumination (see U.S. published patent No. 20040223330). Although in some embodiments, the depth of focus of the imaging system and the curvature of the cone may limit the width of the line.  
         [0034]     In some embodiments, the mask pattern may be purposely distorted with astigmatic distortion—i.e., different magnification in the X and Y directions along the conical axis to account for the variable radius along the conical surface. Alternatively, instead of creating the purposeful distortion on the mask, the optical/projection system may also create a similar astigmatic distortion to achieve the same result.  
         [0035]     To that end, with regard to the above-noted embodiments, it is preferable that the long line of illumination include a narrow line --- if the illumination line is too wide (according to some embodiments), the astigmatic distortion intentionally created by the mask or by the optics may blur the image on the workpiece. Thus, illuminating only a sufficiently narrow line effectively eliminates the effect of the astigmatism. For example, when machining a conical workpiece of about 25 mm in size, having conical surface of about 20 mm in length and having diameters of about 2 mm and about 10 mm, a width of a narrow line may be about 1 mm.  
         [0036]     However, the mask and the workpiece in some embodiments may be imaged without astigmatism distortion. In such embodiments, the magnification values are preferably the same in both the X and Y directions. Therefore, when both the mask and the workpiece are rotated, the illumination line may be wider, and the illumination width is only limited by depth of focus on the curved surface. Thus, the process for these embodiments may be faster by rotating both the mask and the workpiece.  
         [0037]     Having now described a few embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting, and it should be understood that numerous changes in creating and operating such systems and methods may be introduced without departing from the true spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.