LPKF has begun production in its newly built clean-room fab for manufacturing glass components at the company's headquarters in Garbsen.
In the LIDE fab, thin-glass components are manufactured for electronics and semiconductor industry applications. With the company’s laser-induced deep etching (LIDE) technology, it is possible to process thin glass quickly, precisely, and without any surface damage such as micro cracks, so that the physical stability of the glass remains fully intact. This technology enables the use of glass as a material for manufacturing microsystems, sensors, display components, and microchips.
LIDE technology is a two-step process characterized by the ability to create deep structures in thin glass with a high aspect ratio in the range of >1:10 at a highly-economical processing speed not seen before. Structures as small as <5 μm can be created.
In the first step, the glass is locally modified by laser pulses according to the desired layout. In LIDE, a single laser pulse is sufficient to modify glass substrates through their entire thickness, making it compatible with high-volume production.
In the second process step, the modified areas of the glass are removed by wet chemical etching much more rapidly than the unmodified material is.
The new clean-room glass fab enables easy access to our technology for a broad set of customers across industries, who now have access to structured thin-glass components from LPKF for their high-volume applications.
More information about LPKF’s precision glass processing service and new clean-room fab is available at www.vitrion com.
LPKF Laser & Electronics N.A., www.lpkfusa.com