Patent ID: 8158493

Claim:
A method of scribing, dicing, cutting, or processing to remove material from a region of a multi-material workpiece, said method comprising: directing laser pulses toward at least one material of a multi-material workpiece, the laser pulses having a pulse width in a range from tens of femtoseconds to about 500 picoseconds and a pulse repetition rate of a few hundred kHz to about 10 MHz, the workpiece comprising both a pattern and a semiconductor wafer, said pattern comprising at least one of a dielectric material and a metal material; focusing said laser pulses into laser spots having spot sizes in a range from a few microns to about 50 μm (1/e 2 ); and positioning said laser spots relative to said at least one material at a scan speed such that an overlap between adjacent focused spots for removal of material from at least a portion of the pattern is substantially greater than an overlap between adjacent focused spots for removal of material from at least a portion of the semiconductor wafer, wherein said method controls heat accumulation within one or more materials of said workpiece, while limiting accumulation of redeposited material about the region, wherein at least one laser pulse has a pulse energy of at least about 100 nJ, wherein said pattern comprises said metal material and said dielectric material, and wherein heat accumulation within said at least a portion of said pattern is sufficiently high to avoid delamination of said dielectric material from said metal material.