JPH0899185A - Laser processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a laser processing apparatus which can perform processing of a relatively large and smooth taper angle accurately in a short time and has excellent mass productivity. A laser beam 102 oscillated by a laser oscillator 101 is focused by a mask and laser beam transmitting portion deforming mechanism 180 to be a laser beam 108 having a desired arbitrary shape at a processing point. This mask and the laser beam transmitting portion deforming mechanism 180 is composed of two masks 1.
81, 182 are overlapped to form one laser beam transmitting portion 200.
And one or both masks 181,
By moving 182, the shape is continuously changed to control the shape of the laser beam 108, and a tapered hole is formed. Further, the taper angle can be freely set by changing the moving speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus for processing a workpiece with a laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a fine hole is drilled in a workpiece with a laser beam, a mask having an opening similar to a desired shape is used, and a laser beam oscillated from a laser oscillator is used to open the opening of the mask. The workpiece is processed by irradiating the workpiece through the section. Therefore, when a plurality of shapes are processed by one laser processing apparatus, a plurality of openings having different shapes are required and a plurality of masks are required.

[0003]

However, in order to carry out processing with a relatively large taper angle by such a laser processing apparatus, the mask had to be replaced a plurality of times during the processing. In the mask replacement, the center of the opening of each mask has to be aligned with the position of the laser beam, which is very time-consuming and time-consuming. Also, when replacing this mask,
If the center of the opening of the mask deviates, there is a problem that the processed shape does not become a tapered shape. In addition, since this method originally forms the taper by processing it in a stepwise manner, it was not possible to form a continuous and smooth taper.

In order to solve the above problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-
Japanese Patent No. 108056 describes a method of forming nozzles of an ink ejecting apparatus that ejects ink. It has
A method of forming a tapered nozzle by performing a relative wobbling motion between a plate on which the nozzle is formed and a laser beam is disclosed. This makes it possible to form a nozzle having a relatively large taper angle.

However, in the nozzle forming method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-108056, processing can be performed faster than the method of exchanging the mask a plurality of times, but it is possible to perform relative processing between the plate and the laser beam. Since such a wobbling motion is performed, it is difficult to efficiently transfer the energy of the beam to the plate, and it takes a long time to process the plate. Generally, the laser processing apparatus has a high running cost, and it is necessary to increase the speed in order to reduce the production cost. All of the above methods lack mass productivity.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a laser processing apparatus capable of accurately and easily processing a relatively large taper angle and shortening the processing time. To aim.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, a laser processing apparatus of the present invention provides a laser oscillator that oscillates a laser beam with respect to a workpiece and a laser beam that is oscillated from the laser oscillator. And a mask having a predetermined pattern to be transmitted, wherein the two masks are arranged in an overlapping manner to form one laser beam transmitting portion whose shape can be changed by overlapping of the patterns with each other, A diaphragm means for narrowing the laser beam oscillated from the laser oscillator to a desired size through the laser beam transmitting portion is provided.

The shape of the laser beam transmitting portion may be continuously changed by relatively moving the two masks in a predetermined direction.

The shape of the laser beam transmitting portion may be changed during the laser beam irradiation of the laser oscillator.

The shape of the laser beam transmitting portion formed by the two masks may be symmetrically variable.

The two masks may each be provided with an oval-shaped beam transmission pattern.

[0012]

In the laser processing apparatus having the above-mentioned structure according to claim 1 of the present invention, two masks are superposed and arranged, and a predetermined pattern through which a laser beam can pass is used in a superposed state. A laser beam transmitting portion is formed. Then, the size of the laser beam with which the workpiece is irradiated is arbitrarily changed according to the change of the laser beam transmitting portion formed by the pattern.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a laser processing apparatus for processing a nozzle array of an inkjet head will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the configuration of a laser processing apparatus 100 of this embodiment.

The excimer laser beam 102 oscillated by the laser oscillator 101 is attenuated to a desired energy density by the attenuator 120. The laser beam 103 whose energy density is attenuated is transmitted to the bend mirror 11
It is reflected at 0, and the beam expander 140 expands the beam size. Expanded laser beam 104
Is cut into a suitable size by the aperture 155, and the laser beam 105 is emitted from the beam homogenizer 1
Laser beam 10 having a uniform energy density by 60
It becomes 6. The uniform laser beam 106 is reflected again by the bend mirror 110, and is focused by the mask and laser beam transmitting portion deforming mechanism 180 into a shape similar to a desired shape. The laser beam 107 whose shape has been narrowed down is temporarily condensed by the field lens 111, reflected again by the bend mirror 110, and applied to the processing point of the processing sheet 114 installed on the processing table 113 by the coupling optical system 112. It is imaged. This imaged laser beam 108
Thus, the processed sheet 114 is processed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of the mask and laser beam transmitting portion deforming mechanism 180. Glass mask 18
As shown in FIG. 3, reference numerals 1 and 182 denote glass plates on which a light-shielding portion is printed by using a pigment or the like that does not transmit light (laser beam).
So-called oval-shaped beam transmission patterns 181a and 182a having a width of 3 mm and a width of 2 mm and semicircular ends are formed. And, the glass masks 181 and 182 are
The linear motion guides 183 and 183 are positioned so that the patterns 181a and 182a are located at the center of the inflowing laser beam 106.
They are respectively fixed to 184, and the surfaces on which the patterns are printed face each other.
Then, a portion where the two patterns 181a and 182a are combined is one where the laser beam 106 can pass.
One laser beam transmitting portion 200 (FIG. 4) is formed.

The linear guides 183 and 184 are fixed to the base 185 so as to be parallel to each other and perpendicular to the laser beam 106. The motor 186 and the pulley 187 are fixed to the base 185, and a belt 188 is stretched between them. The belt 188 is fixed to the linear guide 183 in the laser incident side direction and is fixed to the linear guide 184 on the opposite side. Motor 186
When is rotated clockwise, the belt 188 moves clockwise, the linear guide 183 moves in the + direction of the Y axis, and the linear guide 184 moves in the-direction of the Y axis. That is, the mask 181 is in the + direction of the Y axis, and the mask 182 is in the − direction of the Y axis.
Move in the direction (the direction in which the masks overlap). At this time, 1
Since both masks 181 and 182 are moved by the belt 188 of the book, the movement amounts of the masks are equal to each other. If the motor 186 rotates counterclockwise, both masks 181, 1
The movement of 82 is also reversed (both masks are opened). Also,
The motor 186 is connected to a control device (not shown),
It is possible to control the movement of both masks.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing how the laser beam transmitting portion 200 is deformed. When the motor 186 is rotated from the state of FIG. 4A to move the mask in the opening direction described above, the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion 200 is continuously changed by the movement of the two masks 181 and 182. Four
After the state as shown in (b), the laser beam transmitting portion 200 finally disappears completely. As can be seen from the mechanism described above, in this embodiment, two masks 181 and 182 are used.
The center of the laser beam transmitting portion 200 formed by is always fixed.

The laser beam transmitting section 2 is constructed by the above mechanism.
When laser beam 102 is emitted from laser oscillator 101 while deforming 00, laser beam 107 is continuously emitted.
The shape of the laser beam 10
Since the shape of No. 8 is also changed, the processing sheet 114 is processed to have a smooth surface and a relatively large taper angle.
Allows you to do above.

The drive speed of the motor 186 can be arbitrarily set, and various taper angles can be processed according to the setting. In addition, the motor 1
If the driving speed of 86 is adjusted continuously or stepwise,
It is also possible to carry out processing in which the taper angle is changed continuously or stepwise.

In the present embodiment, the masks 181, 18
Reference numeral 2 denotes a plate in which predetermined beam transmission patterns 181a and 182a are formed by printing on a glass plate, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and a plate made of a material that does not transmit a laser beam ( Alternatively, a beam transmission pattern may be formed by forming an opening hole of a desired shape in a flat plate that has been surface-treated so as not to transmit the laser beam.

Further, the shapes of the beam transmission patterns 181a and 182a provided on the masks 181 and 182 are not limited to the above examples, and, for example, masks having mutually rectangular patterns are used to perform processing in a rectangular shape. It is also possible. Further, if two masks having an arcuate pattern extending in the moving direction are overlapped and used so that the laser beam transmitting portion has an elliptical shape, the mask can be processed with a beam shape equivalent to that of this embodiment. You can do it.

Further, in this embodiment, the two masks 18 are used.
Although the patterns 181a and 182a of 1 and 182 are the same, they do not necessarily have to be the same.

Regarding the movement of the two masks 181, 182, both of them are moved at the same time in the embodiment, but they may be moved by independent driving systems or only one of them may be moved.

Next, a method of manufacturing the ink jet head 1 (FIG. 6) using the above laser processing apparatus 100 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the ink jet head 1 includes a piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and a cover plate 3.
And a nozzle plate 31 and a substrate 41.

As a manufacturing method, first, a piezoelectric ceramic sheet is molded by using a piezoelectric ceramic powder by a sheet molding method, an extrusion molding method, or the like, and cut into a predetermined size to form a piezoelectric ceramic plate. Then, the piezoelectric ceramic plate is sintered at a predetermined temperature to obtain a piezoelectric ceramic sintered body. Here, in order to make the flatness of the surface of the piezoelectric ceramic plate constant, the surface of the piezoelectric ceramic plate is ground. Next, the piezoelectric ceramic sintered body is subjected to polarization treatment to form a piezoelectric ceramic element. Then, the piezoelectric ceramics element is processed into a plurality of grooves 8 by a thin disk-shaped diamond blade or the like to form the piezoelectric ceramics plate 2.

The side wall 11 which is the side surface of the groove 8 is
It is polarized in the direction of arrow 5. The grooves 8 have the same depth and are parallel to each other. The depths of the grooves 8 gradually become shallower as they approach the one end face 15 of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2, and a shallow groove 16 is formed near the one end face 15. Then, on the inner surface of the groove 8, metal electrodes 13 are formed on the upper halves of both side surfaces by sputtering or the like. The metal electrode 9 is formed on the inner surface of the shallow groove 16 on the side surface and the bottom surface by sputtering or the like. As a result, the metal electrodes 13 formed on both sides of the groove 8 are electrically connected by the metal electrodes 9 formed in the shallow groove 16.

Next, the cover plate 3 has an ink inlet 21 and a manifold 22 made of a ceramic material such as alumina ceramics, zirconia ceramics, piezoelectric ceramics, a glass material, a resin material or the like. Then, the groove 8 of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2
The surface on the processing side and the surface on the processing side of the manifold 22 of the cover plate 3 are adhered by an epoxy adhesive or the like. Therefore, the ink jet head 1 has a plurality of ink flow paths 12 which are covered with the upper surfaces of the grooves 8 and are spaced from each other in the lateral direction.
(FIG. 8) is configured. The ink flow path 12 has an elongated shape with a rectangular cross section, and the ink flow path 12 is filled with ink.

Next, the laser processing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment.
A method of forming the nozzles 32 on a polyimide film having a thickness of 100 μm will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the laser oscillator 101 is set so that the excimer laser energy density at the processing point is 850 mj / cm ² and the repetition frequency is 200 Hz. Then, the initial shape of the laser beam transmitting portion 200 is set to a so-called oval hole shape having a length of 0.3 mm and a width of 2 mm as shown in FIG. Then, the motor 186 is rotated at the same time as the excimer laser irradiation to rotate both masks 18
1, 182 are moved at a constant speed, and the masks move by 0.85 mm in 1 second.
The shape of 0 is set to be a circle with a diameter of 0.3 mm, and then the control of the control device is set such that the movement of the mask is stopped and the aperture is kept at φ0.3 mm for 1 second.

When the laser beam 102 is oscillated and the masks 181 and 182 are controlled as set forth above, the nozzle 32 having a smooth tapered surface and a relatively large taper angle as shown in FIG. Made in a short time. Here, since the size of the laser beam 108 at the processing point is set by the field lens 111 and the imaging optical form 112 so as to be ⅕ of the beam size at the positions of the mask 181 and the mask 182, the nozzle 32. The laser beam 108 incidence side is 6
The oval hole is 0 μm wide and 400 μm wide. Further, in the polyimide drilling by the excimer laser, a taper of about 8 degrees is naturally attached, so that the emitting side becomes an ellipse of 32 μm in length and 46 μm in width.

Nozzle plate 31 thus formed
Are bonded to the end faces 4 of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the cover plate 3 so that the nozzles 32 are arranged at the positions corresponding to the positions of the ink flow paths 12.

A substrate 41 is adhered to the surface of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 opposite to the processed side of the groove 8 with an epoxy adhesive or the like. The board 4
1, a conductive layer pattern 42 is formed at a position corresponding to the position of each ink flow path 12. The pattern 42 of the conductive layer and the metal electrode 9 on the bottom surface of the shallow groove 16 are connected by a conductive wire 43 by known wire bonding.

Next, the structure of the control unit will be described with reference to FIG. 7, which is an explanatory view of the control unit of the ink jet head 1.
The conductive layer patterns 42 formed on the substrate 41 are individually connected to the LSI chip 51. The clock line 52, the data line 53, the voltage line 54, and the ground line 55 are also connected to the LSI chip 51.
The LSI chip 51 uses the data line 5 based on the continuous clock pulses supplied from the clock line 52.
3. Which nozzle 32 should eject the ink droplet is determined according to the data appearing above. And L
The SI chip 51 applies the voltage V of the voltage line 54 to the pattern 42 of the conductive layer that is electrically connected to the metal electrode 13 in the driven ink flow path 12. In addition, the LSI chip 51 is
The voltage 0 of the ground line 55 is applied to the pattern 42 of the conductive layer which is electrically connected to the metal electrode 13 other than the ink flow path 12.

Next, the operation of the ink jet head 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. It is determined that the LSI chip 51 ejects ink from the ink flow path 12b of the inkjet head 1 according to desired print data.
Then, the positive drive voltage V is applied to the metal electrodes 13e and 13f, and the metal electrodes 13d and 13g are grounded. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, a driving electric field in the direction of arrow 14b is generated on the side wall 11b, and a driving electric field in the direction of arrow 14c is generated on the side wall 11c. Driving electric field directions 14b and 14
Since c is orthogonal to the polarization direction 5, side walls 11b and 1
1c is the ink flow path 12b due to the piezoelectric thickness sliding effect.
It deforms rapidly inward. Due to this deformation, the volume of the ink flow path 12b is reduced, the ink pressure in the ink flow path 12b is rapidly increased, and a pressure wave is generated, so that the ink flow path 1 is generated.
Ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle 32 (FIG. 6) communicating with 2b.

When the application of the drive voltage is stopped, the side walls 11b and 11c return to the positions before the deformation (see FIG. 8), and the ink pressure in the ink flow path 12b decreases. Then, from the ink supply port 21 (see FIG. 6) to the manifold 2
Ink is supplied into the ink flow path 12b through 2 (FIG. 6).

In such an ink jet head 1,
Since it is not possible to eject ink droplets simultaneously from the two nozzles 32 communicating with two adjacent ink channels 12, for example, after ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles 32 communicating with the odd-numbered ink channels 12 from the left end. , Ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 32 communicating with the even-numbered ink passages 12, and then ink droplets are ejected again from the odd-numbered ink passages 12, so that the ink passages 12 and the nozzles 32 are divided into a plurality of groups. Then, ink droplets are ejected.

However, the above operation is only a basic operation, and when it is embodied as a product, first, a drive voltage is applied in a direction in which the volume increases, and ink is first supplied to the ink flow path 12b. After that, the application of the drive voltage may be stopped and the ink may be ejected in the original state (see FIG. 8).

When an ink jet test was conducted with the ink jet head 1 having the above-mentioned structure, the nozzle 32
Has a relatively large taper angle, the nozzle 3
The frequency of intrusion of air from No. 2 was low, and even once intruded air was easily discharged, and good ink ejection was performed.

As described above, in the laser processing apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion 200 can be continuously changed by adjusting the overlapping degree of the two masks 181 and 182. Therefore, with a simple mechanism and easy control, the nozzle 32 having a relatively large taper angle can be processed accurately, easily in a short time.
It excels in mass productivity.

[0042]

As is apparent from the above description, in the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the laser beam transmitting portion of the mask can be arbitrarily changed, so that processing of a relatively large taper angle is accurate and easy. In addition, it is performed in a short time and has an excellent effect on mass productivity. Further, since the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion can be changed by adjusting the superposition of the two masks, it is possible to provide a laser processing apparatus having a simple configuration and easy control.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a mask and a laser beam transmitting portion deforming mechanism of the laser processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a mask of the laser processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are explanatory views of deformation of the laser beam transmitting portion.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head in which nozzles are formed by using the laser processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the inkjet head.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a control unit of the inkjet head.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the inkjet head.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the inkjet head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Laser Processing Device 101 Laser Oscillator 102 Laser Beam 180 Mask and Laser Beam Transmission Part Deformation Mechanism 114 Processing Sheet 181 Mask 181a Beam Transmission Pattern 182 Mask 182a Beam Transmission Pattern 200 Laser Beam Transmission Portion

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location B41J 2/44 2/16 G02B 27/09 G02B 27/00 E

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing apparatus comprising: a laser oscillator that oscillates a laser beam toward a workpiece; and a mask having a predetermined pattern that transmits the laser beam oscillated from the laser oscillator. The masks are overlapped with each other to form one laser beam transmitting portion whose shape can be changed by overlapping the patterns with each other, and the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator is transmitted through the laser beam transmitting portion to a desired size. A laser processing apparatus comprising a diaphragm means for narrowing down the height. 2. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion is continuously changed by relatively moving the two masks in a predetermined direction. 3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion is changed during the laser beam irradiation of the laser oscillator. 4. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shape of the laser beam transmitting portion formed by the two masks is symmetrically variable. 5. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the two masks is provided with an oval-shaped beam transmission pattern. 6. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle of the ink jet recording apparatus is formed.