Fast micromachining using spatial light modulator and galvanometer scanner with infrared pulsed nanosecond fiber laser

Rapid method to fabricate microstructures using a combination of a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a galvanometer scanner with an infrared nanosecond fiber lasers is studied. Here the SLM is used as a computer generated hologram which can be applied to modify laser pulses intensity distribution virtually almost arbitrary. SLM is used to separate nanosecond pulses into the several spots so that multiple spots can be machined simultaneously with a fast ablation rate. In this paper it is shown that the micromachining speeds that can be realized using a combination of the SLM and the scanner, are not always possible to realize using merely scanner. It is shown that about 0.6 million spots per second can be ablated in silicon using this combination.