The secret to achieving very high precision in mass production

The latest Coherent HyperRapid NXT 532-100 is an industrial ultra-short pulse (USP) laser that provides an unmatched combination of high power (100W) green output and consistently excellent beam quality. This enables it to support demanding, high-precision materials processing applications that also require high throughput.

For high-performance precision applications

One of the main applications of the Coherent HyperRapid NXT is the grooving and slotting of next-generation solar cells made from thin-film materials such as perovskite or innovative technologies such as interdigital back-contact panels. Other applications include patterning thin film solar cells, cutting battery films, grooving silicon wafers and many more. High-performance, green and ultra-short pulses are required to provide the necessary accuracy and required material removal rate (and thus overall throughput) for this process. But it's not just about performance; it's about enabling manufacturers to scale up production while ensuring impeccable quality and cost-effectiveness. A key factor in achieving this is the quality of the laser beam.

The reason beam quality plays such a critical role in this application is the use of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) for laser beam transformation. DOEs can split the input laser beam into multiple beams, allowing several different areas on the solar cell to be processed simultaneously. This parallel processing greatly increases the overall system performance. In other processes, DOEs are used to transform a round laser beam with a Gaussian intensity profile into a square beam with uniform intensity to optimize the ablation process itself.

The problem is that the DOE requires a completely circular input beam for its optimal function. In addition, the beam characteristics must be stable over time. If they are not, the optical layout of the system will change, causing inconsistency in the process. However, obtaining a high-quality beam that remains completely stable over time is difficult with a high-power green USP laser. This is because these solid-state lasers use nonlinear crystals to transform the infrared output into the green spectrum. However, the high pulse energy of a high-power USP laser can damage or affect the crystal in a way that reduces the quality of the output beam.

Coherent manufactures its own nonlinear crystals and has extensive experience in high-volume production for both green and high-power ultraviolet lasers. Simply put, we produce higher quality crystals that can withstand the extreme operating environment of a high power green USP laser and do not distort the beam shape. This is a key element in achieving the HyperRapid NXT laser's excellent long-term output stability.

Advanced features for advanced applications

The HyperRapid NXTgreen USP laser is not just about high power. With stable power modulation, on-demand pulses and variable repetition rate, it is designed to provide the finesse and control needed for ultra-precise processing tasks.

Coherent has long supported ultra-precision materials processing applications with a range of products. These include USP lasers such as the Coherent HyperRapid and Monaco, our extensive line of excimer lasers, and industrial lasers with nanosecond pulse widths such as the AVIA LX and AVIA NX.