Patent ID: 6951995

Claim:
A system for high-speed, laser-based, precise laser trimming at least one electrical element having at least one measurable property, the at least one element being supported on a substrate, the system comprising: a laser subsystem to generate a pulsed laser output having one or more laser pulses at a repetition rate, each laser pulse having a pulse energy, a visible laser wavelength, and a pulse duration; a beam delivery subsystem that accepts the pulsed laser output and includes: at least one beam deflector to position the one or more laser pulses relative to the at least one element to be trimmed; and an optical subsystem to focus the one or more laser pulses having the visible laser wavelength into at least one spot within a field of the optical subsystem; the at least one spot having a non-uniform intensity profile along a direction and a spot diameter as small as about 6 microns to about 15 microns; and a controller coupled to the beam delivery and laser subsystems to control the beam delivery and laser subsystems to selectively irradiate the at least one element such that the one or more laser output pulses having the visible laser wavelength, the pulse duration, the pulse energy and the spot diameter selectively remove material from the at least one element and laser trim the at least one element while avoiding substantial microcracking within the at least one element.