Component Carrier With Well-Defined Outline Sidewall Cut by Short Laser Pulse and/or Green Laser

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a component carrier is described. The method includes forming a stack having at least one electrically conductive layer structure and/or at least one electrically insulating layer structure, and cutting out the component carrier from the stack along a closed circumferential laser cutting trajectory by a pulsed laser beam having a pulse length of less than 1 ns.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a component carrier, the method comprising: forming a stack comprising at least one electrically conductive layer structure and/or at least one electrically insulating layer structure; and cutting out the component carrier from the stack along a closed circumferential laser cutting trajectory by a pulsed laser beam having a pulse length of less than 1 ns.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam is a green laser beam or an ultraviolet laser beam.

3. A method of manufacturing a component carrier, wherein the method comprises: forming a stack comprising at least one electrically conductive layer structure and/or at least one electrically insulating layer structure; and cutting out the component carrier from the stack along a closed circumferential laser cutting trajectory by a green laser beam.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the laser beam is a pulsed laser beam, in particular having a pulse length of less than 1 ns.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pulsed laser beam has a pulse length in a temporal range from 1 ps to 100 ps.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pulsed laser beam has a pulse length of not more than 10 ps.

7. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises generating the laser beam by a picosecond laser source.

8. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises cutting out the component carrier from the stack by moving the laser beam multiple times along an outline of the component carrier, in particular in closed loops.

9. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises cutting out the component carrier from the stack by moving the laser beam 10 times to 100 times, in particular 50 times to 70 times, along an outline of the component carrier, in particular in closed loops.

10. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein a wavelength of the laser beam is in a range from 492 nm to 577 nm, in particular in a range from 520 nm to 560 nm.

11. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein a wavelength of the laser beam is in a range from 50 nm to 650 nm, in particular in a range from 450 nm to 600 nm.

12. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein cutting out the component carrier from the stack is carried out for singularizing of component carriers from a panel.

13. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein cutting out the component carrier from the stack is carried out by cold ablation.

14. A component carrier, comprising: a stack comprising at least one electrically conductive layer structure and/or at least one electrically insulating layer structure; wherein an entire outline sidewall of the stack has a roughness Rz of not more than 20 μm.

15. The component carrier according to claim 14, comprising at least one of the following features: wherein a thickness of the stack is in a range from 200 μm to 2 mm, in particular in a range from 500 μm to 1 mm; wherein reinforcing structures, in particular reinforcing glass fibers, of the at least one electrically insulating layer structure of the stack do not extend laterally beyond the outline sidewall along the outline of the stack; wherein the outline sidewall of the stack has a roughness Rz of not more than 15 μm, in particular of not more than 10 μm; wherein a spatial range, in particular a thickness, of a carbonization at the outline sidewall is less than 100 μm, in particular less than 50 μm; wherein the outline sidewall of the stack is free of carbonization.

16. The component carrier according to claim 14, wherein a tapering of the outline sidewall in a horizontal direction is less than 25 μm, in particular less than 20 μm, more particularly less than 15 μm.

17. The component carrier according to claim 14, wherein the component carrier comprises a component embedded in the stack.

18. The component carrier according to claim 17, wherein the component is selected from a group consisting of an electronic component, an electrically non-conductive and/or electrically conductive inlay, a heat transfer unit, a light guiding element, an optical element, a bridge, an energy harvesting unit, an active electronic component, a passive electronic component, an electronic chip, a storage device, a filter, an integrated circuit, a signal processing component, a power management component, an optoelectronic interface element, a voltage converter, a cryptographic component, a transmitter and/or receiver, an electromechanical transducer, an actuator, a microelectromechanical system, a microprocessor, a capacitor, a resistor, an inductance, an accumulator, a switch, a camera, an antenna, a magnetic element, a further component carrier, and a logic chip.

19. The component carrier according to claim 14, configured as one of the group consisting of a rigid component carrier, a rigid-flex component carrier, a semiflexible component carrier, and a flexible component carrier.

20. The component carrier according to claim 14, comprising at least one of the following features: wherein the at least one electrically conductive layer structure comprises at least one of the group consisting of copper, aluminum, nickel, silver, gold, palladium, and tungsten, any of the mentioned materials being optionally coated with supra-conductive material such as graphene; wherein the at least one electrically insulating layer structure comprises at least one of the group consisting of resin, in particular reinforced or non-reinforced resin, for instance epoxy resin or Bismaleimide-Triazine resin, FR-4, FR-5, cyanate ester, polyphenylene derivate, glass, prepreg material, polyimide, polyamide, liquid crystal polymer, epoxy-based build-up material, polytetrafluoroethylene, a ceramic, and a metal oxide; wherein the component carrier is shaped as a plate; wherein the component carrier is configured as one of the group consisting of a printed circuit board, and a substrate; wherein the component carrier is configured as a laminate-type component carrier.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a picosecond laser cutting process for defining an outline of component carriers according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0055] FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a sidewall of a component carrier cut by a picosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0056] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional nanosecond laser cutting process for defining an outline of component carriers.

[0057] FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional carbon dioxide laser cutting process for defining an outline of component carriers.

[0058] FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of component carriers cut by a green laser for defining an outline of the component carriers according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0059] FIG. 6 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a rigid-flex component carrier cut by a green picosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0060] FIG. 7 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier cut conventionally by a nanosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier.

[0061] FIG. 8 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier cut by a picosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0062] FIG. 9 illustrates a plan view of a portion of a component carrier cut by a green picosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0063] FIG. 10 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier cut conventionally by a UV nanosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier.

[0064] FIG. 11 illustrates a plan view of a component carrier structure out of which a component carrier is cut out by a green picosecond pulsed laser for defining an outline of the component carrier by carrying out a plurality of sequential circumferential cutting stages.

[0065] FIG. 12 shows plan views of portions of a conventionally processed component carrier with pronounced carbonization.

[0066] FIG. 13 shows plan views of portions of a component carrier manufactured according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention without visible carbonization.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0067] The illustrations in the drawings are schematically presented. In different drawings, similar or identical elements are provided with the same reference signs.

[0068] Before, referring to the drawings, exemplary embodiments will be de-scribed in further detail, some basic considerations will be summarized based on which exemplary embodiments of the invention have been developed.

[0069] Conventionally, outline formation of component carriers such as printed circuit boards (PCB) may be carried out by routing or using a dicing process. Some systems are also using laser cutting. However, such conventional approaches to not provide sufficient accuracy, may result in rough and undefined outline sidewalls and may also result in highly undesirable accumulation of carbonization at a cutting sidewall. Furthermore, such conventional processes may be incompatible with tough requirements in terms of high yield singularization throughput on an industrial scale.

[0070] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, singularization of component carriers (for instance printed circuit boards) from a stack (such as a panel) may be carried out with a pulsed laser beam having a pulse length below 1 ns and in particular in the picosecond range and/or by using green laser light. It has turned out that such an architecture may result in highly precise component carriers with smooth and well-defined outline sidewalls. Advantageously, any tendency of carbonization at an outline sidewall may be strongly suppressed. The mentioned concept of laser cutting is in line with even demanding requirements concerning high throughput and high yield.

[0071] According to an exemplary embodiment of a first aspect of the invention, a printed circuit board (PCB) outline cutting is accomplished with a picosecond-controlled laser system. More particularly, an architecture is provided which utilizes a picosecond pulsed laser to cut the outline of the PCB outline. When PCB industry is moving towards more advanced and tight designs and tolerances, conventional routing or dicing is no longer appropriate for high-performance outline processing. To overcome such shortcomings, an exemplary embodiment provides a method of utilizing a highly advanced picosecond-controlled laser cutting architecture to form the PCB outline with high accuracy and to create an extraordinarily low roughness outline accordingly. Hence, a laser system implementing extremely short laser pulses is provided to reach ultra-high cutting quality outline performance for PCBs and other component carriers (such as IC substrates). Advantageously, an improved outline processing capability with proper throughput and high accuracy at reasonable effort is provided to a PCB designer. Such an embodiment is highly appropriate to provide an advanced level of packaging substrates and embedded packages.

[0072] According to an exemplary embodiment of a second aspect of the invention, a printed circuit board (PCB) outline cutting is provided which allows to obtain a substantially carbonization-free PCB outline. This may be obtained by laser cutting using a green light laser. Such a laser cutting architecture provides a PCB manufacturing system with green laser cutting, which allows to obtain a component carrier being reliably prevented from suffering from damage or carbonization of resin and glass cloth of one or more dielectric layer structures of the stack or panel. As mentioned above, a conventional routing process may be not accurate enough to support the outline processing when demanding specifications in terms of tolerances of a manufactured component carrier need to be complied with. By executing laser cutting using green laser light, it may be possible to provide high-end processing of the component carrier. In contrast to conventional approaches of laser cutting causing extensive carbonization on the PCB edge and in the cutting area, a green laser-based laser cutting of a component carrier along its outline may enable a high-quality cutting with fast speed. This may allow to obtain an increased accuracy and a more efficient utilization of the panel. Hence, exemplary embodiments of the invention allow to provide a damage- and carbonization-free high quality component carrier by implementing green laser cutting. As a result, an outline processing technology for component carriers may be provided that can be used across very different PCB applications. Consequently, singulation of panels into PCBs may be significantly improved by exemplary embodiments of the invention. In particular, an exemplary embodiment of the invention may allow to form a carbonization-free laser cut by using a green laser (in particular a laser having a wavelength in a range from 520 nm to 560 nm).

[0073] In addition, one or more of the following further improvements may be optionally implemented by which heat accumulation in the stack may be further suppressed. In combination with the green wavelength and/or laser pulsing low 1 ns, a laser irradiation pausing time, a pulse rate, a pulse energy, and/or the supply of inert gas may be considered.

[0074] For example, a pulse rate may be, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, in a range from 200 kHz to 2000 kHz, in particular in a range from 400 kHz to 1000 kHz. According to an embodiment, an impact energy on a panel may be in a range from 3 μJ/pulse to 150 μJ/pulse (in particular in a range from 20 μJ/pulse to 50 μJ/pulse per laser head). In an embodiment, a laser power (i.e. the power of the laser beam) may be in a range from 1 W to 120 W. For instance, the power may be in a range from 10 W to 30 W per laser head, i.e. in a range from 20 W to 60 W upon implementing two laser heads.

[0075] FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a picosecond laser cutting process for defining an outline 114 of component carriers 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0076] The cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 comprises a laminated layer stack 102 composed of electrically conductive layer structures 104 and electrically insulating layer structures 106. For example, the electrically conductive layer structures 104 may comprise patterned copper foils and vertical through connections, for example copper filled laser vias. The electrically insulating layer structures 106 may comprise a resin (such as epoxy resin) with reinforcing particles therein (for instance glass fibers or glass spheres). For instance, the electrically insulating layer structures 106 may be made of prepreg or FR4 or build-up film such as ABF. The layer structures 104, 106 may be connected by lamination, i.e. the application of pressure and/or heat.

[0077] The stack 102 shown in FIG. 1 can be manufactured and processed on panel-level, i.e. for multiple cards or component carriers 100 to be manufactured in common. After such an efficient batch manufacture, the panel-level stack 102 may be separated or singularized into individual component carriers 100, which is accomplished by an exemplary embodiment of the invention by pulsed laser cutting using extremely short laser pulses. In other words, cutting out the component carriers 100 from the stack 102 is carried out for singularizing of the component carriers 100 from panel 116. As a result, plate-shaped laminate-type component carriers 100 may be obtained, which are here embodied as printed circuit boards (PCBs). Alternatively, the component carriers 100 may be integrated circuit (IC) substrates.

[0078] In the shown embodiment, a component 126 (for instance a semiconductor chip such as a silicon die) is embedded in the stack 102, more precisely in a core 154 of stack 102. Core 154 may be made of fully cured dielectric material, such as FR4, which may be partially covered by patterned copper foils on both opposing main surfaces. Due to the fundamentally different material properties of the component(s) 126 (predominantly semiconductor material) on the one hand and of the stack 102 (for instance copper, resin and glass), including significantly different properties in terms of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), it is of utmost importance that separation of the component carriers 100 is accomplished with limited energy impact on the stack 102 with its embedded components 126 to keep thermal stress, warpage and other undesired phenomena small.

[0079] Referring now to FIG. 1 in further detail, the illustrated component carriers 100 may be manufactured by laminating stack 102 composed of the shown electrically conductive layer structures 104 and the depicted electrically insulating layer structures 106. One or more components 126 may be optionally embedded in the stack 102 using methods which are known as such by a person skilled in the art of PCB technology.

[0080] After processing stack 102 on panel-level in the described way, each individual component carrier 100 may be out from the stack 102 by moving a pulsed laser beam 108, created by a laser source 112, along an interior trajectory of the stack 102, so that a respective component carrier 100 is separated from the rest of the stack 102 along an exterior component carrier outline 114 corresponding to the trajectory of the laser beam 108. Highly advantageously, the component carrier 100 may be cut out from the previously continuous stack 102 by a continuous laser cutting procedure along a closed circumferential laser cutting trajectory or path (as can be taken for instance from FIG. 11). This avoids artifacts and results in a continuous smooth outline 114 with homogeneous properties. As will be understood by a person skilled in the art, moving the pulsed laser beam 108 along the exterior outline 114 of the component carrier 100 may be accomplished by moving a corresponding laser source 112 relative to the stack 102, or by keeping laser source 112 stationary and moving only the laser beam 108 (for instance using one or more appropriate laser-optical elements, not shown).

[0081] Highly preferably, a pulse length t0 of each individual of a sequence of laser pulses 140 may be significantly less than 1 ns, for instance may be 10 ps. This can be taken from a diagram 142 shown in FIG. 1. Diagram 142 has an abscissa 144 along which the time is plotted. Along an ordinate 146 of the diagram 142, an amplitude (such as energy, intensity or power) of the laser beam 108 plotted. Pulse length t0 may be the temporal duration of a full width half maximum (FWHM) of a laser pulse 140.

[0082] Most preferably, the laser beam 108 may be generated by a picosecond laser source 112, i.e. a laser source 112 configured for emitting pulses 140 with a pulse length t0 in the picosecond range. As can be taken from a detail 148 of an outline sidewall 122, i.e. a sidewall of the component carrier 100 at which sidewall the stack 102 is separated by the laser beam 108, the entire outline sidewall 122 may be substantially vertical, may be covered (if at all) only by a very thin layer of carbonization 124 and shows a low roughness Rz of below 20 μm. For instance, a spatial range (i.e. a thickness d) of carbonization 124, for instance carbon black, at the outline sidewall 122 is less than 50 μm. Without wishing to be bound to a specific theory, it is presently believed that the extremely small pulse length t0 of the picosecond laser beam 108 efficiently focuses the energy impact on the very short laser pulses 140, which precisely cuts the stack 102 into the individual component carriers 100 by cold ablation and without excessive energy impact on the stack 102 apart from the cutting lines. The cutting lines are furthermore of very limited lateral extension, so that a large percentage of the area of the stack 102 may be used for singularizing component carriers 100 with low loss of material. Furthermore, thermal artefacts on the component carriers 100 can be efficiently suppressed. Apart from this, the accuracy of the definition of the component carriers 100 is very high. Highly advantageously, the outline sidewalls 122 are well defined and can be set precisely.

[0083] Although it may be in general possible to generate the laser beam 108 by a laser source 112 being embodied as a UV laser or a carbon dioxide laser, the use of a green laser beam 108 is highly preferred, as will be described below referring to FIG. 5. In particular the synergetic combination of picosecond pulses 140 with a green wavelength of laser beam 108 preferably in the range from 520 nm to 560 nm allows obtaining excellent results in terms of quality of outline sidewalls 122 and avoidance of artefacts of the component carrier 100 resulting from excessive heat impact.

[0084] Advantageously, excellent results can be obtained when cutting out the component carriers 100 from the stack 102 by moving the pulsed laser beam 108 multiple times (preferably 50 times to 70 times) along the outline 114 of one component carrier 100 for continuously deepening a laser-formed groove in the stack 102 which finally results in the separation of the component carrier 100 when the groove turns into a through hole. It is believed that this approach furthermore suppresses undesired local hotspots and additionally contributes to the quality of the outline sidewalls 122 and the protection of the stack 102 against thermal artefacts.

[0085] A thickness D of the stack 102 may be in particular in a range from 500 μm to 1 mm, for instance 650 μm. Such a thickness D also allows to further promote the quality of the laser separation.

[0086] Also referring to FIG. 3 for comparison purposes, reinforcing structures such as a glass cloth composed of glass fibers 222 of the electrically insulating layer structures 106 of the stack 102 is in flush with the outline sidewall 122 according to FIG. 1. In other words, said fiber-type reinforcing structures do not extend laterally beyond the outline sidewall 122 along the circumference of the stack 102, which further increases the smoothness of the sidewall.

[0087] As a result of the accurate formation of the outline sidewall 122 according to FIG. 1, a horizontal tapering of the outline sidewall 122 may be preferably less than 15 μm. Descriptively speaking, this means that a lateral (i.e. horizontal according to FIG. 1) offset between an upper corner 150 and a lower corner 152 of a respective component carrier 100 is less than 15 μm. Advantageously, a spatial tolerance at the outline sidewall 122 may be less than 25 μm, less than 20 μm or even less than 15 μm thanks to the accurate definition of the cutting process by the picosecond pulsed laser beam 108.

[0088] FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a sidewall of a component carrier 100 cut by a picosecond laser beam 108 for defining an outline sidewall 122 of the component carrier 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The image of FIG. 2 shows the cross section of an image of a manufactured component carrier 100 and in particular illustrates a laser entry side with reference sign 154.

[0089] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional nanosecond laser cutting process for defining an outline sidewall 202 of component carriers 200.

[0090] Each of the component carriers 200 of FIG. 3 comprises a stack 206 made of electrically conductive layer structures 208 and electrically insulating layer structures 210. The component carriers 200 of FIG. 3 are separated from a panel using a microsecond or nanosecond pulsed laser beam 204.

[0091] As shown, the outline sidewall 202 of the component carriers 200 are very rough with an Rz value much larger than 20 μm. Furthermore, as shown by a detail 220, glass fibers 222, which are improperly cut by the microsecond or nanosecond pulsed laser beam 204 protrude in a pronounced way at the outline sidewall 202 of the stack 206. Furthermore, due to an incomplete burning of the organic material of the electrically insulating layer structures 210 by the microsecond or nanosecond pulsed laser beam 204, a significant amount of carbon black may accumulate in an uncontrolled way at the outline sidewall 202 to thereby form a pronounced carbonization 224 of uncontrolled and large thickness.

[0092] As described above, the mentioned shortcomings may be overcome by the embodiment of FIG. 1.

[0093] FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional carbon dioxide laser cutting process for defining an outline sidewall 202 of component carriers 200.

[0094] FIG. 4 shows the scenario of component carriers 200 singularized by a carbon dioxide laser operating with microsecond or nanosecond pulses. As shown, a pronounced degree of carbonization 124 occurs at the obtained outline sidewalls 202. Incomplete burning at the outline sidewalls 202 and a disadvantageous laser energy impact on the stack 206 as a whole may result in component carriers 200 which have only limited reliability. The mentioned carbon dioxide laser may emit laser light in the infrared regime, for instance in a range from 900 nm to 1200 nm.

[0095] FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of component carriers 100 with outline sidewalls 122 cut by a green laser source 112 emitting a green laser beam 108 for precisely defining an outline 114 of the component carriers 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0096] Advantageously, the component carriers 100 shown in FIG. 5 are separated from the stack 102 by a green laser beam 108. Said green laser beam 108 may operate at a wavelength in a range from 492 nm to 577 nm, and preferably in a range from 520 nm to 560 nm. It is believed that, in particular in comparison with FIG. 4, the more energetic green laser beam 108 ensures substantially complete burning of organic stack material at the outline sidewalls 122, which may be therefore free or substantially free of carbonization (as illustrated schematically by reference sign 170).

[0097] Although the pulsed green laser beam 108 may also operate in the microsecond or nanosecond range of pulse lengths t0, it may be preferred that the green-light laser beam 108 is a pulsed laser beam 108 emitting laser pulses 140 with pulse lengths t0 of less than 1 ns, most preferably in the picosecond range. As a result, excellent properties may be obtained at the outline sidewalls 122 in terms of suppression of carbonization, smoothness of the sidewalls, vertical extension of the sidewalls, and low tolerances.

[0098] FIG. 6 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier 100 cut by a green picosecond laser beam 108 for defining an outline 114 of the component carrier 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The shown embodiment relates to a rigid-flex component carrier 100. Without wishing to be bound to a specific theory, it is presently believed that the implementation of a green picosecond laser beam 108 for outline cutting component carriers 100 results in a cutting process which is dominated by a cold ablation. Consequently, artefacts at the outline 114 may be safely prevented.

[0099] FIG. 7 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier 200 cut conventionally by a UV nanosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier 200. As shown, the outline sidewall 202 is significantly less defined as compared to the outline 114 of the component carrier 100 of FIG. 6. Without wishing to be bound to a specific theory, it is presently believed that an excessive heat impact on the component carrier 200 results in heat affect artefacts in particular at the outline sidewall 202.

[0100] FIG. 8 illustrates a plan view of an edge portion of a component carrier 100 cut by a picosecond laser beam 108 for defining an outline sidewall 122 of the component carrier 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The illustration of FIG. 8 shows that that the outline 114 may be precisely defined when singularizing a component carrier 100 from a panel-type stack 102 using a picosecond laser. In particular, straight and low-roughness sidewalls may be obtained.

[0101] FIG. 9 illustrates a plan view of a portion of a component carrier 100 cut by a green picosecond laser for defining an outline 114 of the component carrier 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Due to cold ablation occurring when using a green picosecond laser 108 for cutting a flexible component carrier 100, an artefact-free component carrier 100 may be obtained. This can be seen in particular when comparing a portion 180 of the component carrier 100 according to FIG. 9 with a portion 230 shown in FIG. 10.

[0102] FIG. 10 illustrates a plan view of a portion of a component carrier 200 cut conventionally by a UV nanosecond laser for defining an outline of the component carrier 200. Undesired heat affects may be seen particularly around reference sign 230 of FIG. 10.

[0103] FIG. 11 illustrates a plan view of a panel-type component carrier structure, in form of a laminated layer stack 102, out of which a component carrier 100 is cut out by a green picosecond pulsed laser beam 108 for defining an outline 114 of the component carrier 100 by carrying out a plurality of sequential circumferential cutting stages.

[0104] More specifically, the method according to FIG. 11 comprises cutting out the component carrier 100 from the stack 102 by moving the laser beam 108 multiple times along the outline 114 of the component carrier 100 to be singularized in closed loops. Preferably, cutting out the component carrier 100 from the stack 102 may be accomplished by moving the laser beam 108 about 50 times to about 70 times in closed loops along the outline 114. Descriptively speaking, a circumferentially closed groove may be formed in the stack 102 which is continuously deepened at each revolution or loop of the laser beam 108 until the groove turns into or is converted into a through hole when the component carrier 100 is separated from the stack 102. With such an architecture, an energy impact on the stack 102 during singularization may be kept reasonably low, which results in excellent surface properties of the outline sidewall 122 of the separated component carrier 100.

[0105] It is believed that such a cutting protocol reliably prevents the stack 102 from overheating and from the formation of local hot spots which may cause undesired artefacts. Best results can be obtained by using laser pulses shorter than 1 nm, irradiating the stack 102 with green light, and cutting in a plurality of closed loops. Under these circumstances, cold ablation may be ensured.

[0106] FIG. 12 shows plan views of portions of a conventionally processed component carrier with pronounced carbonization. FIG. 12 shows performance with nanosecond laser processing resulting in a heavy heating and carbonization effect. The carbonization may extend over an area of for example about 200 μm or more from the cutting line.

[0107] FIG. 13 shows plan views of portions of a component carrier manufactured according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention without visible carbonization. FIG. 13 shows a component carrier corresponding to the component carrier of FIG. 12, however implementing a picosecond laser cutting process. No carbonization is visible.

[0108] It should be noted that the term “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the use of article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Also, elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined.

[0109] Implementation of the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments shown in the figures and described above. Instead, a multiplicity of variants is possible which variants use the solutions shown and the principle according to the invention even in the case of fundamentally different embodiments.