JP2001066530A - Laser marking device and its working method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a marking data device and its working method by which good-quality marking whose working depth is small and where soot is made little is easily worked at high speed, for example, in the marking for an IC package, etc. SOLUTION: In this laser marking device and its working method, marking is performed so as to simultaneously scan a worked surface by arranging plural thin laser beams to line up in series by a laser divider 4 and external switches 5 and 6 based on specified image data previously recorded in a CPU 1, and individually outputting and controlling plurally divided thin laser beams while scanning in a direction orthogonal to the line of the laser beams by galvanometers A8 and B9 and an fθ lens 10 with the N-laser beams scanning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser marking device, and more particularly to a laser marking device capable of processing laser marking easily and at high speed with a plurality of divided laser beams emitted from a laser oscillator. The present invention relates to a laser marking device and a processing method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, this type of marking device scans a laser beam focused near the surface of an IC package to scan the IC package.
On the surface of C package, for example, IC product name, lot
It is used to mark No. and trademarks and logos of the company.

For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 5-146887 discloses a marking device that performs marking by scanning a laser beam using a two-axis galvanometer.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the proposed marking device, the CPU 22 creates data for marking and controls each unit described later.

The laser oscillator 23 has a built-in Q-switch element 24 for suppressing or canceling the suppression of the laser generated in the oscillator, and stopping the output of the laser light or periodically turning on / off the laser. Then, a laser pulse is generated.

The two galvanometers A 25 and B 26 provided with mirrors for reflecting the laser light scan the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 23. The laser beam scanned by these galvanometers is condensed and scanned on the processing surface 28 via the fθ lens 27.

More specifically, referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when laser marking is performed on a processing surface with such a laser marking device, the marking data 29 created by the CPU 22 using software such as CAD.
Marking is performed through data such as

In a portion where a line is drawn as indicated by a marking portion 30 (solid line portion), a mirror for controlling the Q switch element 24 to emit a laser pulse at a constant cycle and to reflect a laser beam is attached. With the two galvanometers 25 and 26, the laser light output at a constant cycle follows a trajectory like the marking portion 30 at the position of the processing surface 28, and the emitted laser light has a constant speed at the position of the processing surface 28. Is controlled to move with.

In a portion where no line is drawn as shown by the moving portion 31 (dotted line portion), the two galvanometers 25 and 2 are stopped while the laser light is stopped by the Q switch element 24.
6 is operated at high speed, and the irradiation position when the laser beam is emitted is moved to the next marking start position. The output of the Q switch element is controlled, the spot diameter scanned by the galvanometers 25 and 26, and condensed through the fθ lens 27 is applied to the IC package placed on the processing surface 28 by, for example, a laser pulse of 50 to 300 μm. 4, a marking like the conventional marking state 33 of FIG. 4 is obtained.

[0010]

In the above situation, as described above, in the conventional marking apparatus, the direction and the position of the laser scanning as shown in the marking data 29 as shown in FIG. A laser beam is scanned based on vector data obtained by converting information into data.
That is, marking is performed in the manner of drawing figures and characters with a brush.

In such a marking method, the laser pulse must be superimposed so that the line does not appear broken at a portion where the line intersects at an acute angle, such as an acute intersection 32 shown in FIG. 4 (b)], there is a problem that the processing depth of the marking becomes deeper because the laser pulse overlaps and the portion irradiated with the laser more than the other portions appears like the intersection 35.

In addition, the resin on the surface of the IC package from which carbon has been removed by the first laser scanning burns by the second laser scanning to generate soot, and the soot adheres to the surface of the IC package. Was.

[0013] A dot, such as a bitmap format, created by image data editing software for marking a pattern such as a trademark of a company or a font such as an operating system having a graphical user interface environment (Windows) read from an image scanner. When attempting to use image data for marking, conventional marking devices convert vector-format data such as DXF data files created using software that automatically extracts and vectorizes the contours of the design into CAD. (Computer Aided Design), the contour data displayed on the display is manually traced again, and the conventional marking data 29 [FIG.
(See (a)), it took time to create the marking data because the vector data as shown in FIG.

When marking a pattern that needs to be painted or a character having a thick line width, two lines such as a thick line character marking data A39 as shown in FIG. Since vector-format data composed of lines and data of a plurality of contours such as thick-line character marking data B40 as shown in FIG. 5B are created and marked, such marking data is used. It takes a lot of time to create.

As shown in a thick line marking image 44 shown in FIG. 6B, there is also a method of increasing the laser beam diameter in order to increase the line width. d)], there is a problem that the center of the line becomes deep like the processing depth 45, and a problem that details cannot be expressed when marking a pattern such as a company trademark using a laser having the same beam diameter. there were.

Therefore, in order to perform good and shallow marking on an IC package using a YAG laser, the laser is turned on / off at a repetition cycle of 10 kHz to 90 kHz by a Q switch element to generate a laser pulse. Perform marking.

In this case, when the YAG laser is turned off by a Q switch element or the like for a laser beam of about 230 μs or more, which is the upper level life of the Nd: YAG rod, and then a laser pulse is emitted, A laser pulse having a high leading value after the inversion distribution amount is maximized is output, and the interval between laser pulse outputs is constant while laser pulses are continuously emitted at a period of 10 KHz to 90 KHz to draw a line. Is shorter than the upper-level life of the Nd: YAG rod, so that a laser pulse having a lower power than the above-described laser pulse having a high head value is emitted.

The laser pulse emitted after moving to the marking start point varies depending on the distance moved, but usually the laser stop time is longer than the upper level life of the Nd: YAG rod, and the above-mentioned high head value is high. A laser pulse is emitted.

As a result, there has been a problem that the portion where the writing of the marking line starts is deeper than the other marking portions.

Further, as described above, in order to eliminate the drawback that the starting part of the marking line becomes deeper than the other marking parts, the writing of the marking line is started at the beginning.
In some cases, a device that prevents the generation of a strong laser pulse by gradually lowering the suppression force of the Q switch element and gradually outputting a weak laser to gradually reduce the inversion distribution amount of the Nd: YAG rod.

In this case, it takes time to gradually lower the population inversion distribution of the Nd: YAG rod, and the marking becomes slow. Also, since the writing start portion of the marking line is marked with a weak laser, the marking becomes thin. Or
There was a problem that the resin on the surface of the IC package could not be burned off and soot was generated.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed operation for performing marking in a short period of time, excellent operability for facilitating operations such as data creation, and the like, and for processing a surface such as an IC package. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser marking apparatus capable of satisfactorily and clearly marking various and various characters and designs as described above, and a processing method thereof.

[0023]

From the above, the present inventor has set forth the following.
In view of the problems described above, as a result of intensive studies to solve the problems, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator is divided into two parts, and the divided laser beams are divided based on image data stored in the CPU in advance. The inventors have found that the laser beam can be condensed and scanned separately on the processing surface while controlling the output individually, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention relates to a laser marking device for forming an image by using a light beam emitted from a laser oscillator, a means for dividing a laser beam into a plurality of pieces, a means for individually controlling the output, And a means for simultaneously scanning laser beams whose output is individually controlled.

That is, there is provided a laser splitter which splits one light beam emitted from the laser oscillator into a plurality of parts evenly. The laser light divided into a plurality is individually turned on.
It has an external switch for turning on / off and emitting toward the laser coupler. A first galvanometer for condensing the laser light thus divided into a plurality of laser beams on a laser scanning mirror attached to the galvanometer, and simultaneously, the individual pulse laser beam divided into the plurality of light beams reflected by the first mirror Provided is a laser marking device that causes light to scan toward a processing surface using a second laser scanning mirror attached to a second galvanometer.

In the present invention, control operations of the laser splitter, the external switch, the galvanometer, and the like are controlled and executed by a CPU that cooperates. Moreover,
In advance, based on predetermined image data recorded in the CPU, the pulsed laser beam emitted from the oscillator is
A laser marking processing method characterized in that a laser beam is formed by simultaneously scanning a processing surface with separate light beams by using a large number of light beams evenly divided.

According to the present invention, since the laser beams divided into a plurality of portions are individually output-controlled for marking, the marking is markedly faster than in the conventional method. In addition, since marking can be performed based on predetermined image data recorded in advance, data can be easily and accurately created. In addition, since the output of the laser can be controlled outside the laser oscillator, it is possible to eliminate the output of the laser pulse having a high head value generated when the laser stop time by the Q-switch element in the laser oscillator becomes long. When marking by scanning laser beams in parallel,
Marking can be made clear and accurate without intersecting the marking lines.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a laser marking apparatus according to the present invention and an embodiment of laser marking processing by the apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 7 and 8.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a laser marking apparatus according to the present invention. In a laser marking apparatus according to the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. To record.

One dot of the image data 47 is considered to be the same as the laser beam diameter (50 μm), the dot position indicates the laser irradiation position at the time of marking, and the dot ON / OFF is determined by the laser irradiation. The presence or absence shall be indicated.

As another function, the CPU 1 already controls the above-described units (see FIG. 1).

Therefore, the Q switch element 3 in the laser oscillator 2 suppresses or cancels the suppression of the laser to be generated in the oscillator, and stops the output of the laser light or periodically turns on / off the laser. A pulsed laser beam is generated. The laser oscillator 2 converts the laser light turned on / off by the Q switch element 3 into a laser splitter 4.
Emitted toward. Next, the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is split into two by a laser splitter 4 using a half mirror, and emitted toward an external switch A5 and an external switch B6, respectively.

Here, the external switch A5 and the external switch A6 individually turn on / off the two laser beams based on the image data 47, and emit the laser toward the laser coupler 7. Further, the laser coupler 7 transmits the two laser beams whose output is controlled by the external switch A5 and the external switch B6 to a processing diameter
The laser beam is emitted from the laser oscillator 2 at a pitch substantially the same as that of the
The laser beam emitted from the galvanometer 8 is directed toward a first mirror that reflects the laser beam.

Here, the first galvanometer 8 provided with a mirror for reflecting the laser light is arranged in the direction in which the two laser lights passing through the laser coupler 7 are irradiated on the processing surface 11 in the arrangement direction of the two laser lights. Then, the laser beam is operated to scan a parallel axis, and a laser beam is emitted toward the second galvanometer 9.

On the other hand, the second galvanometer 9 is provided with a second mirror for reflecting the laser light similarly to the first galvanometer 8, and has an axis perpendicular to the direction in which the two laser beams are irradiated on the processing surface. And emits a laser beam toward the fθ lens 10. Lens 10 scans the laser beam scanned by the first galvanometer 8 and the second galvanometer 9 on the processing surface 11 for 5 seconds.
The light is focused at a spot of 0 μm.

Further, these operations will be described more specifically with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 1, 7 and 8.

First, as already described above, the marking is C
Binary image data 47 created by PU1
This is performed using The external switch A5 and the external switch B6 are set to a state where the laser is stopped, as in the process A55 in the flowchart of FIG. Next, as in the process B56 in the flowchart of FIG. 8, the laser oscillator 2 generates a laser pulse at a period of 10 kHz to 90 kHz under the control of the Q switch element 3.

Here, as shown in a process C57 shown in FIG. 8, the first galvanometer A8 and the second galvanometer A8 are so arranged that the two laser beams emitted to the processing surface are irradiated to the positions corresponding to the upper dot 50 and the lower dot 51 of the marking image. The two galvanometer B9 moves.

Next, as in a process D58 shown in FIG.
The CPU 1 reads the image data corresponding to the positions of the two laser beams, and when the image data corresponding to the upper dot 50 shown in FIG. Output, OF
In the case of F, the laser is stopped by the external switch A5.
When the image data corresponding to the lower dot 51 shown in FIG. 7B is ON, the laser is output by the external switch B6, and when OFF, the laser is stopped by the external switch B6.

Next, as in a process F60 shown in FIG.
It waits for a period of time until the IC package is colored (discolored) by laser light irradiation. Further, as in the process G61, the first galvanometer A8 and the second galvanometer B9
Is not the position corresponding to the two rightmost dots when the marking image is formed and viewed, the first galvanometer A8 is so arranged that the laser light is irradiated to the position indicated by the dot on the right when viewed on the marking image. , The second galvanometer B9 is moved, and the process returns to the process D58 to perform the process.

As described above, the processing from the processing D58 to the processing G61 described above is repeated or performed once, and the positions of the first galvanometer A8 and the second galvanometer B9 correspond to the rightmost two when the marking image is established and viewed. When the image reaches the position corresponding to the dot, the first galvanometer A8 and the second galvanometer B9 are moved so that the laser light is applied to the position corresponding to the leftmost dot of the dot arrangement two dots below when the marking image is formed and viewed. Then, the process returns to the process D58 in the flowchart.

Further, the above-mentioned processing C58 to processing H62
Is repeated or performed once. When the positions of the first galvanometer A8 and the second galvanometer B9 reach the position corresponding to the two dots at the lower right end when the marking image is established and viewed, as in process I63, The generation of the laser pulse from the laser oscillator 2 is stopped by the control of the Q switch element 3. Next, the laser is stopped by the external switch A5 and the external switch B6 as in a process J64 in the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG.
According to the above-described embodiment, a laser beam to be emitted can be suitably used as a multi-divided light beam that exceeds at least two.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the laser beam splitter 15 divides the beam emitted from the laser oscillator into eight equal multiple beams, and individually turns on / off the eight laser beams. Things.

According to the second embodiment, in addition to the effect of the first embodiment using the two equivalent light beams described above, the scanning speed does not need to be forcibly increased by increasing the number of laser light divisions. In addition, the marking time can be shortened more reliably, and furthermore, it is not necessary to add an extra function as a device, and there is a cost advantage.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, two pulsed beam lights emitted from a laser oscillator are combined and condensed by a laser splitter into a plurality of equally split laser beams. The laser scanning mirrors respectively attached to the galvanometer can simultaneously scan the processing surface with the divided beam light.

Thus, a marking pattern having no intersection of lines can be formed by scanning in parallel with a thin laser beam having a scanning spot diameter of about 50 μm, so that a marking with a shallow and uniform processing depth can be performed. Marking with less soot adhesion to the surface is possible.

Further, by operating the personal computer, the dot data is connected to the dots arranged in the scanning direction at the time of marking through the image displayed on the screen, and is converted into one line data by repeating a simple process. Since the marking data can be created, the creation of the marking data is easy.

Also, since there is no need to create offset data of the outline data, the line width of the character can be easily changed, and since a plurality of laser beams are scanned simultaneously, the line width of the character can be increased. However, unlike the related art, marking can be performed in a short time, and a thin laser beam is scanned in parallel to form a marking pattern. Therefore, the processing depth at the time of marking does not increase.

Further, after the galvanometer is operated to control the output of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator, the time characteristics of the output by the Q-switch element in the oscillator and the operation at the start of writing a line are determined. The depth is prevented from being noticeable, and the thin line marking at the beginning of the line is also effectively prevented by the same operation relationship, and the generation of soot at the beginning of the line is also reduced. Can be prevented.

In addition to this, in addition to being scanned with a plurality of laser beams at once, there is no need to suppress strong laser pulses. Because there is no
It is possible to provide a laser marking device capable of markedly improving a marking speed and a processing method thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the prior art.

FIG. 4 illustrates marking data according to the related art.

FIG. 5 shows marking data in the prior art and marking data in the case of marking thick line characters in the prior art.

FIG. 6 illustrates a marking state in the prior art and a marking state of thick line characters in the prior art.

FIG. 7 illustrates a marking according to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,12,22 CPU 2,13,23 Laser oscillator 3,14 Q switch device 4,15 Laser splitter 5 External switch device A 6 External switch device B 7,17 Laser coupler 8 First galvanometer 9 Second galvanometer 10 , 20, 27 fθ lens 11, 21, 28 Work surface 16 External switch 24 Q switch element 25 Galvanometer A 26 Galvanometer B 29 Conventional marking data 30 Marking part 31 Moving part 32 Sharp intersection 33 Conventional marking state 34 Laser pulse 35 Intersection Part 36 First pulse A 37 First pulse B 38 First pulse C 39 Thick line character marking data A 40 Thick line character marking data B 41 Normal marking state 42 Processing depth A 43 IC cross section A 44 Beam diameter enlarged markin State 45 Processing depth B 46 Cross section of IC 47 Image data 48 Laser pulse irradiation position 49 Left end of first and second rows 50 Upper dot 51 Lower dot 52 First and second rows 53 Third and fourth rows 54 Last row 2 dots 55 Process A 56 Process B 57 Process C 58 Process D 59 Process E 60 Process F 61 Process G 62 Process H 63 Process I 64 Process J

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H01S 3/00 H01S 3/00 B // B23K 101: 40

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A laser marking device for forming an image by using a pulsed light beam emitted from a laser oscillator, comprising: a laser splitter for equally splitting the emitted light beam into a plurality of light beams; An external switch for individually turning on / off the laser light and emitting the laser light toward the laser coupler; and a first switch for condensing the plurality of divided laser lights on a first mirror for laser scanning attached to a galvanometer. A galvanometer, and a second galvanometer that simultaneously scans the processing surface with a laser scanning second mirror attached to the galvanometer with the plurality of divided laser lights, and an interlocking CPU, and the laser splitter Laser marking by controlling the external switch and the galvanometer to perform laser marking. Grayed apparatus. 2. The laser marking device according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam is emitted as a pulsed laser beam by a Q-switch element incorporated in the laser oscillator. 3. The laser marking device according to claim 1, wherein one pulse laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator is split into two by the laser splitter. 4. The laser marking device according to claim 1, wherein the laser splitter splits one pulse laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator into a large number of light beams exceeding two. 5. When forming an image with a laser marking device, one pulsed laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator is evenly split into at least two or more split light beams by a laser splitter. ON / OF the plurality of divided laser beams individually with a switch
F, and then separately focus the plurality of split laser beams emitted to the laser coupler toward the first mirror for laser scanning attached to the first galvanometer,
Laser marking, wherein the plurality of divided individual pulse laser beam lights reflected by the first mirror are scanned toward a processing surface by a second laser scanning mirror mounted on a second galvanometer. Processing method. 6. The first galvanometer operates to scan the laser beam along an axis parallel to an arrangement direction of a plurality of laser beams applied to the processing surface, and the second galvanometer includes: The laser marking processing method according to claim 5, wherein the laser marking is operated so as to scan on an axis orthogonal to an arrangement direction of the plurality of laser beams applied to the processing surface. 7. The laser marking processing method according to claim 5, wherein predetermined image data is recorded in the CPU in advance, and marking data is created based on the image data.