Laser Cutting - Ceramics Ltd - Laser Cut Ceramics

SCRIBING

Accurate and reliable scribing to customer specifications

Laser-scribed substrates are normally supplied without tooling or computer part program costs.

1. depth of scribing normally 30 - 50% of material thickness (or by arrangement)
2. laser pulse spacing normally 0.15+/-0.02 mm centreline to centreline (or by arrangement)
3. edge to design. Border edge to be snapped off should be at least 5 times material thickness
4. length and width between scribed edges +0.15/-0.05mm
5. laser-scribed/laser-profiled edge to first scribe line +0.15/-0.05 mm
6. scribe line to scribe line +/- 0.05 mm

Typical batch sizes range from 1 off R & D and prototype work to many 1000s for scheduled work. Our normal lead-time is from 2 - 4 days depending on quantity. We aim to turn prototypes round in 24 hours.

We are happy to receive inquiries by email with drawings in dxf or dwg format. We aim to provide samples within 48 hours from receipt of final drawing subject to material availability.

We laser cut the following materials to customer's designs:

CeramTec Materials Stocked
Rubalit 708S – 96% Al2O3
ALN Aluminium Nitride

Coorstek Materials Stocked
ADS96R – 96% Al2O3
ADS996R – 99.6% Al2O3
ADOS90R – 90% BLACK Al2O3

Kyocera Materials Stocked
A496 – 96% Al2O3
A493 – 99.6% Al2O3

These thicknesses of aluminium oxide are regularly stocked :

These thicknesses of aluminium nitride are regularly stocked :

We also cut the following materials:

* Ceramic tube
* Flexible circuit board
* FR4 (Black)
* Garnet
* Graphite
* Kapton polyimide film
* Magnesium oxide
* Mica
* Mylar
* Nomex*
* Nylon 66*
* Perspex
* Polyester
* PTFE*
* Pyrex
* Quartz substrates
* Quartz tube
* Silicon nitride
* Silicon wafer
* Silicone rubber
* Stainless steel foils (up to 0.25mm)
* Zirconia

Validities

• The following rules are effective for the draft of thick film structures.
• These rules are continuously updated.
• The instructions are absolutely informative and represent only some guide lines for a circuit design.

Materials
Substrate materials:

• Aluminium nitride ceramic (AlN)
• other ceramics in compliance with customer request

Substrates / Panel dimensions:

• standard: 4” x 4”
• maximum: 4.5” x 4.5”

Substrate thicknesses:

• standard: 0.635 mm (25 mil)
• minimum: 0.254 mm (10 mil)
• other thicknesses and shapes in compliance with customer request

Ink systems The thick film inks noted below can be used.
Conductor:

• Ag/Pd
• Ag
• Au
• Ag/Pt

Multilayer / Insulation:

• Cross-over or multilayer structures with insulation / dielectric ink.

Substrates printed on one side:

• Conductor lines recommended as the first printing level.
• Up to 3 conductor layers can be made with dielectric layer between them.
• Subsequent conductor layers will use the same conductor material as 1st layer.
• Multi layer structure is possible with filled via connections through the dielectric layers.

Substrates printed on both sides:

• Single back side layer (not connected to front).
• Drilled filled via connecting front to back side

Distances of the printed structures to the substrate edge:
All of the following measures are valid for substrate edges as well as for scribe lines, in case of several single substrates were printed on one large substrate:

• distance edge – conductor line: > 0.2 mm
• distance edge – resistor: > 0.5 mm
• distance edge – isolation: > 0.3 mm
• distance edge – glaze: > 0.3

Conductor lines in one printing level:
Conductor lines are printed directly on the substrate or the dielectric respectively.

For the minimum conductor width the dimensions below must be kept:

• When widths and distances are less than 0.25 mm, the distance between two conductor lines should be 0.05 mm larger than their width.
• When widths and distances of the conductor lines are greater than 0.25 mm, they can be printed in the same relation.
• Conductor lines can be printed at any angles to the substrate edge.
• When printing conductor lines on dielectric, a side distance to the dielectric edge of 0.3 mm must be guaranteed.
• When printing over the dielectric edge it is advisable to graduate the dielectric edge

MSP-485 Precision Screen Printer:

• Mechanical repeatability of /- 0.0002" ~ 5 µm
• Advanced U-Lign IV™ system with two high resolution CCD cameras, enable to achieve a +/- 0.001 " ~ 25 µm layer to layer repeatability.

• Max Temperature - 1050 deg.C
• Typical Temp. Uniformity - +/- 2 deg. C

• Resolution - 0.2 µm.
• Accuracy - 2.0 µm.
• Repeatability - 1.0 µm