High-speed singulation of electronic packages using a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser in a water jet and realization of a 200-W green laser

Each electronic chip is packaged in order to connect the integrated circuit and the printed circuit board. In consequence high-speed singulation of packages is an important step in the manufacturing process of electronic devices. The widely used technique of abrasive sawing encounters problems due to the combination of different materials used in packages such as copper and mold compound. The sawing blade rapidly blunts because of the copper adhering to the saw blade and covering the diamonds. In fact, the abrasive saw, well adapted to silicon wafer sawing, has problems to adapt to package materials. It has already been shown that the water jet guided laser can be used for efficient high quality singulation of leadframe based packages. In this technique a low-pressure water jet guides the laser beam like an optical fiber, providing efficient cooling of the cutting kerf at exactly the point that was heated during the laser pulse. We present new cutting results using a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with 100 W average power, and the combination setup for generating a 200 W green laser beam. The timing between the two lasers can be precisely controlled.