Patent ID: 7838794

Claim:
A laser-based method of removing a target link structure of a circuit fabricated on a substrate without causing undesirable damage to the substrate, any dielectric layers between the target link structure and the substrate, or link structures adjacent the target link structure, the target link structure being in a set of link structures, at least some link structures in the set of link structures being separated by a pitch of less than 2 μm, the method comprising: generating a sequence of laser pulses at a repetition rate of greater than about 1 MHz utilizing a seed laser having a first predetermined wavelength; optically amplifying at least a portion of the sequence of laser pulses to obtain an amplified sequence of output pulses; and delivering and focusing pulses of the amplified sequence of output pulses onto the target link structure during relative motion of the substrate, substantially all output pulses of the amplified sequence of output pulses having a pulse duration less than about 100 picoseconds, corresponding pulse power densities in the range of at least about 10 9 W/cm 2 to less than about 10 12 W/cm 2 at the target link structure, and a wavelength of about 1.2 microns or less, the power density of the focused pulses being low enough to avoid the undesirable damage, the total energy of all of the focused pulses being high enough to remove the target link structure while also avoiding the undesirable damage to other link structures in the set of link structures, the focused pulses providing for a relative energy process window of 30% or greater for link pitches in a range of about 1 micron to about 2 microns.