Patent ID: 7244906

Claim:
A method of providing information regarding features micromachined into a workpiece using laser beam pulses controlled by a programmable controller, the features characterized by one or more specifications; the workpiece including one or more layers, each layer characterized by a material type and thickness; the laser beam pulses characterized by one or more preassigned parameters and optically associated with one or more detectors operatively connected to the programmable controller; the programmable controller operatively connected to a processor to process data including one or more of the preassigned laser beam pulse parameters, preassigned feature specifications, and preassigned workpiece characteristics; and the programmable controller operable to modify the laser beam pulse parameters based on information acquired from the one or more detectors and information acquired from the processor, comprising: acquiring with a detector operatively associated with the laser beam pulses data corresponding to one of the laser beam pulse parameters used during micromachining of a particular feature of and at a particular location on the workpiece; storing the laser beam pulse parameter data acquired during the micromachining of the particular feature; associating the stored laser beam pulse parameter data acquired with a corresponding one of the preassigned laser beam pulse parameters, the preassigned feature specifications, and the preassigned workpiece characteristics of the particular feature micromachined; and determining from the association whether there has occurred an operational change in the laser beam pulses that would impact a specified quality of the feature.