Patent ID: 7563695

Claim:
A method of 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 method comprising: generating a pulsed laser output with a laser, the output having one or more laser pulses at a repetition rate, each laser pulse has a pulse energy, a laser wavelength within a range of laser wavelengths, and a pulse duration; and selectively irradiating the at least one electrical element with the one or more laser pulses focused into at least one spot having a non-uniform intensity profile along a direction and a spot diameter less than about 15 microns so as to cause the one or more laser pulses having the wavelength, energy, pulse duration and the spot diameter to selectively remove material from the at least one element and laser trim the at least one element along a trim path while avoiding substantial microcracking within the at least one element, the wavelength being short enough to produce desired short-wavelength benefits of small spot size, tight tolerance, high absorption and reduced or eliminated heat-affected zone (HAZ) along the trim path, but not so short so as to cause microcracking.