Deposition of debris produced in laser ablation of a workpiece situated in a vacuum chamber is reduced by introduction a background gas into the vacuum chamber prior to or during laser ablation. The background gas can be introduced diffusely into the vacuum chamber and can reduce contamination of surfaces such as a surface of an optical window that faces the workpiece during processing. Directed introduction of a background gas can be used as well and in some cases the same or a different background gas is directed to a workpiece surface at the same or different pressure than that associated with diffuse introduction of the background gas to reduce contamination of the workpiece surface with laser ablation debris.

Deposition of debris produced in laser ablation of a workpiece situated in a vacuum chamber is reduced by introduction a background gas into the vacuum chamber prior to or during laser ablation. The background gas can be introduced diffusely into the vacuum chamber and can reduce contamination of surfaces such as a surface of an optical window that faces the workpiece during processing. Directed introduction of a background gas can be used as well and in some cases the same or a different background gas is directed to a workpiece surface at the same or different pressure than that associated with diffuse introduction of the background gas to reduce contamination of the workpiece surface with laser ablation debris.

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes; a component separating apparatus configured to separate a defective component from a substrate, a bump conditioning apparatus including an end mill cutter and receiving the substrate following separation of the defective component from the substrate, the bump conditioning apparatus being configured to cut a first connection bump using the end mill cutter to provide a conditioned first connection bump, and the first connection bump being exposed by separating the defective component from the substrate, and a component attaching apparatus configured to receive the substrate following provision of the conditioned first connection bump, and mount a new component including a second connection bump to the substrate by coupling the second connection bump and the conditioned first connection bump.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for using microlens arrays for parallel micropatterning of features. In some embodiments, a system includes a laser that emits a laser beam, a beam homogenizer configured to shape the laser beam into a shaped laser beam having a beam profile, and a lenslet array. The beam homogenizer shapes the laser beam such that at least a portion of the beam profile is substantially uniform in power. The lenslets of the lenslet array have the same shape and each receive a respective portion of the shaped laser beam to output a plurality of laser sub-beams. The plurality of laser sub-beams can be directed toward one or more layers of material to generate or modify a plurality of features on the one or more layers in parallel.

Glass articles and methods for modifying a composition of a surface portion of the glass article are disclosed. The method includes heating the surface portion of the glass article with a laser beam to a temperature within a range of about 1100?C to about 2200?C such that the heating evaporates one or more metalloids and/or one or more alkali metals present at the surface portion, and modifies the composition of the surface portion such that the surface portion has a lower alkali metals concentration and/or a lower metalloids concentration as compared to a portion of the glass article that is not heated by the laser beam.

A laser machining device includes a first focus movement amount calculation section configured to calculate a focus movement amount based on comparison of a first measurement value obtained by averaging a plurality of measurement values measured by a returning light measurement unit within a first period and a second measurement value obtained by averaging a plurality of measurement values measured by the returning light measurement unit within a second period that is temporally later than the first period; and a focus position correction section configured to correct a focus position during laser machining based on the focus movement amount, and the first period is a period shortly after initiation of laser emission when the external optical system is not warmed up or is a period after correcting the focus position, and the second period is a period after passage of a certain time duration when the external optical system is warmed up.

A reaction plate for a clutch including an annular body, the annular body including an inner circumferential edge, an outer circumferential edge, a first surface between the inner and outer circumferential edges and facing a first axial direction and a second surface between the inner and outer circumferential surfaces and facing a second axial direction, the second surface including recesses covering at least 50 percent of the second surface. A clutch assembly including a friction plate, the friction plate having a first axially-facing surface including a friction material, a reaction plate, the reaction plate having a second axially-facing surface including recesses covering at least 50 percent of the second axially-facing surface and an actuation means arranged to displace the friction plate or the reaction plate such that the first and second axially-facing surfaces frictionally engage. A method of fabricating a reaction plate for a clutch.

The invention relates to a method and a laser machining device 10 for machining a workpiece 13. The laser machining device 10 has a laser 11 for generating a laser beam 12, which is deflected by way of a deflecting device 15 in accordance with a pattern defined by a control unit 14 and is directed onto a workpiece surface 17 of a workpiece 13, which surface is to be machined. The point of impingement 18 of the deflected laser beam 12b on the workpiece surface 17 is guided along at least one spiral path within a circular hatched area 16. The spiral path 19 is characterized by spiral path parameters. One spiral path parameter is the line spacing a between neighboring points of intersection P of the spiral path 19 with an axis running through the center point M of the spiral path 19.

The invention relates to a method and a laser machining device 10 for machining a workpiece 13. The laser machining device 10 has a laser 11 for generating a laser beam 12, which is deflected by way of a deflecting device 15 in accordance with a pattern defined by a control unit 14 and is directed onto a workpiece surface 17 of a workpiece 13, which surface is to be machined. The point of impingement 18 of the deflected laser beam 12b on the workpiece surface 17 is guided along at least one spiral path within a circular hatched area 16. The spiral path 19 is characterized by spiral path parameters. One spiral path parameter is the line spacing a between neighboring points of intersection P of the spiral path 19 with an axis running through the center point M of the spiral path 19.

A laser marker has: a controller configured to oscillate a laser beam; and a head configured to scan a machining surface of a machining target with the laser light. The controller is configured to transmit, to the image processing apparatus, a command for instructing the image processing apparatus to perform a predetermined scene, when the controller is set to cause the image processing apparatus to perform the scene. When the command is received, the image processing apparatus is configured to calculate a deviation amount of the machining target relative to a reference position using image data of an image of the machining target captured by the marker head and to notify the deviation amount to the controller. The controller is configured to correct a position to be scanned with the laser beam based on the deviation amount and then cause the marker head to perform the scanning.