Patent ID: 6887804

Claim:
A method of selectively removing a passivation material overlying electrically conductive redundant memory or integrated circuit links having associated link structures, each link having a link width and being positioned between an associated pair of electrically conductive contacts in a circuit fabricated on either a substrate or an optional underlying passivation layer between the electrically conductive link and the substrate, the substrate and any optional underlying passivation layer as associated with the link structures being characterized by respective laser damage thresholds, comprising: providing to a beam positioner beam positioning data representing one or more locations of electrically conductive links, the beam positioner in response to the beam positioning data imparting relative movement of a laser spot position to the substrate; generating for each selected link structure a set of two or more time-displaced laser output pulses, each of the laser output pulses in the set characterized by a laser spot at its associated laser spot position, each laser spot having a spot size and energy characteristics including approximately the same energy and approximately the same peak power, the spot size being larger than the link width and the energy characteristics being below the respective laser damage thresholds of any underlying passivation layer and the substrate and insufficient to sever the link; and coordinating laser output pulse generation and the relative movement imparted by the beam positioner such that the relative movement is substantially continuous while the laser output pulses in the set sequentially strike the overlying passivation layer above the selected link structure so that the laser spot of each laser output pulse in the set encompasses the link width and the set removes the overlying passivation layer above the electrically conductive link without causing damage to any underlying passivation layer and the substrate.