Automated generation of NC part programs for excimer laser ablation micromachining from known 3D surfaces

Abstract

The purpose of this research project is to improve the capability of the laser micromachinning process, so that any desired 3D surface can be produced by taking the 3D information from a CAD system and automatically generating the NC part programs. In addition, surface quality should be able to be controlled by specifying optimised parameters. This paper presents the algorithms and a software system, which processes 3D geometry in an STL file format from a CAD system and produces the NC part program to mill the surface using the Excimer laser ablation process. Simple structures are used to demonstrate the prototype system's part programming capabilities, and an actual surface is machined.

A 3D-CAM system for quick prototyping and microfabrication using excimer laser micromachining

“…Modelling of a prototype system was reported in our previous work (Mutapcic et al 2002) and Figs 1-4 briefly summarize the four steps process.…”

New mask design approach for UV laser micromachining to reduce stitching errors

“…Micromachining of micromechanical devices usually requires use of more than one mask pattern to machine a complete device [11]. This means that mask pattern projected images have to be properly aligned and offset in order to stitch them together for complete device or microstructure creation.…”

“…Especially when the size of the features on the mask is 10x bigger than the produced image size. Demagnification is required in excimer laser micromachining as explained in standard experimental procedure described in our previous work [11].…”

“…The approach is based on a special mask design concept that incorporates allowance for all overlaps directly during the mask design stage. This technique takes advantage of the developed material database described in [13] with process characterization parameters for commonly used materials and design techniques that incorporate stitching error earlier in the mask design stage. It enables the user to tailor the type of stitching error that will best suit the particular device or application.…”

A prototyping and microfabrication CAD/CAM tool for the excimer laser micromachining process

“…The software and algorithms used to convert a CAD model into an NC part program were reported in our previous work [5]. The four steps of the CAD/CAM process, are summarized in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4.…”