Comparison excimer laser – Solid state laser

Both, excimer and solid state lasers can produce intense ultraviolet light pulses as they are required in a wide range of applications in materials processing and micro-fabrication. Excimer lasers offer maximum power and the shortest wavelength of all narrow-band UV sources. Their spatial coherence is low, which allows efficient beam mixing and homogeneous illumination of larger areas. They are the ideal sources for e.g. lithographic processes, TFT display annealing and fiber Bragg grating writing. Solid state lasers exhibit excellent beam quality and produce the highest repetition rates. They require little maintenance and can emit IR, visible and UV wavelengths. Beam quality and repetition rate allow unmatched resolution and yield in micromachining applications requiring tight focusing such as the drilling of holes in a wide range of hard and soft materials. Diode pumped solid state lasers clearly improve lifetime, maintenance costs, uptime and efficiency in comparison with flash lamp pumped lasers. Furthermore, the shorter pulse duration of diode pumped lasers reduce slag and other deposits that are difficult to remove. The different wavelengths of excimer and solid state lasers also enables to selection of a UV source that perfectly matches the requirements of a certain process or material.