laser micro-manufacturing: cost analysis, international ... · cost analysis, international...

1

2015

Laser micro-manufacturing: Cost analysis, International standards and Regulations

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ecolaserfact contributes to a more cohesive EU society as it derives from a cooperation of people from different countries working on common issues that touch the lives of EU-citizens. 2

I. About Ecolaserfact 3

II. Trends in laser technologies 6

III. Typical Laser Equipment 9

IV. Investments in laser manufacturing 11

V. Laser standards and Safety 14

A. Risks 14

B. Laser classes 15

C. Laser Safety Eyewear and Filters 16

D. User Best Practices 18

VI. Cost analysis example 19

VII. General conclusion 19

VIII. Acknowledgements 20


I. About Ecolaserfact Ecolaserfact is the abbreviation for ECO - efficient LASER technology for FACTories of the future. The project is funded by the INTERREG IVB Program to promote the economic, environmental, social and territorial future of the North-West Europe area. INTERREG IVB NWE is a financial instrument that funds projects which support transnational cooperation in order to find innovative ways to make the most of territorial assets and tackle shared problems of Member States, regions and other authorities. Ecolaserfact aims to provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) based in North-West Europe with the most recently developed laser micro-manufacturing processes with the goal to enable fast, flexible, high-precision, reduced cost and ecological friendly manufacturing methods. Ecolaserfact gives the opportunity to SMEs to easily access the latest laser manufacturing equipment on-demand and thereby produce highly innovative and functional products. This will improve the long-term competitiveness by creating in-house know-how for the production of high-tech products. Twelve partners from all over Europe have joined their forces:

BayerischesLaserzentrum (Blz) is an independent service company located on the Röthelheim-Campus in Erlangen, Germany. Blz has technology independent competencies from process and system technology over laser safety to education and further training. Being one of the most important centres for applied laser research in Germany, the BayerischesLaserzentrum GmbH (BLZ) was established to support the industry by opening up new application areas for photonics, especially laser material processing by research, development and realization of customized system technology.

University of Birmingham: The Advanced Manufacturing Centre within the School of Mechanical Engineering carry outs research in Advanced Machining, Process Modelling and Geometrical Modelling. The Advanced Machining group will be involved in the project with its industry facing manufacturing research and its facilities for laser micro machining, high speed milling, creep feed grinding, electrical discharge machining, hybrid machining, micro tool making and micro machining together with associated metrology and workpiece surface integrity analysis equipment. The Centre works closely with the Manufacturing Technology Centre and has access to its advanced manufacturing facilities.


The Belgian Ceramic Research Centre (BCRC) is a research, tests and analysis laboratory specialised in materials (research and development, analysis, certification, expertise), soils (geotechnics and sampling), and environment (sampling and analysis). It is part of the EMRA (Environment and Materials Research Association) which is a cluster of six Belgian research centres.

Cardiff University specializes in micro tool manufacturing using various technologies (micro EDM, micro milling, Focus Ion Beam, micro Injection moulding ...) including micro multi axis multi material laser processing. Their unique multi axis laser machining can manufacture complex sculptured surfaces in wide range of materials, including Bulk Metallic Glasses, fused silica, ceramics, metals and plastics. Advance control system allows to control the removal process to a few micrometers while ensuring high removal rate.

Cluster Photonic Belgium was founded in 2008 for the promotion of optics. It gathers industrial enterprises as well as research and training centres, all involved in photonics, a very high potential sector.

EPIC is the European Photonic Industry Consortium that promotes the sustainable development of organisations working in the field of photonics in Europe. Our members encompass the entire value chain from LED lighting, Photovoltaic solar energy, Photonics Integrated Circuits, Optical components, Lasers, Sensors, Imaging, Displays, Projectors, Optic fibre, and other photonic related technologies.

Irepa Laser is an industrial and development company with more than 30 years of experience in laser processing. It is also part of the Carnot MICA network institute which brings together 15 R&D partners. Thereby, IREPA is able to offer customised support for the most demanding industrial clients.

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one of the largest research and education institutions in Germany, resulting from a merger of the university (Universität Karlsruhe (TH)) and the research centre (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe) of the city of Karlsruhe. KIT has over 9000 employees and over 22000 students with an annual budget of over 700 million € and is operating along three strategic fields of action - research, teaching, and innovation. Within KIT, the Institute for Applied Materials (IAM-AWP) pools the research of materials processing technology to materials characterization and from testing to materials theory.

Lasea was founded in 1999 and produces laser solutions for high precision, reliable and effective micromachining. Their products meet the most complex demands with regard to marking, cutting, drilling and other texturations. Lasea provides different services, from preliminary tests to the delivery of a turnkey production line.


MULTITEL is a Research Centre in scientific technologies supported by a multidisciplinary team including engineers and technicians, as well as a sales structure. Its aim consists in developing and implementing innovative projects in collaboration with local and international companies. Besides its Research & Development activities, Multitel offers services in optics and telecom, company computer networks, speech and video processing.

SIRRIS helps companies to develop, test and effectively implement technological innovations. It provides the knowledge and experience, as well as a high-tech infrastructure to explore the full range of possibilities offered by new technologies. This can help industrial customers to make the right technological choices and rapidly turn innovations into marketable products and services.

VlaamseInstellingvoorTechnologischOnderzoek NV (VITO) is the Flemish institute for technological research. VITO develops innovative products and processes, translating the latest knowledge and technologies into practical applications. With more than 500 highly qualified employees, VITO is organised in 8 centres of expertise. The materials centre of expertise is supported by 24 engineers and 17 technicians working in 3 research groups (ceramic materials and powder metallurgy, surface technology as well as laser technology) and a service for materials analysis and advice.


II. Trends in laser technologies Within Ecolaserfact about 42 research studies are currently performed with regard to laser manufacturing technologies. The studies are based on SME requests on different technologies and thereby provide an excerpt on demands of smaller manufacturing companies. The studies can be divided into four main technologies; the distribution of all inquiries with regard to the respective technology is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Technologies requested by SMEs within Ecolaserfact

As it can be seen most of the studies were requested in the field of subtractive manufacturing, i.e. for cutting tasks, texturing of moulds or selective ablation of polymers. The second most asked technology is laser joining with task concerning laser welding or bonding of dissimilar materials. Additive and modification tasks are both under 10% with only 4 requests throughout the whole project.

Concerning the overall situation the market for laser manufacturing and other laser applications is so wide and diverse that it is difficult to cover all current trends throughout the industry. After the recession in 2008/2009 most of the segments recovered slowly but steadily, reaching an all-time high in 2011 and 2012. Generally speaking, the market can currently be divided into two main categories: materials processing (24%) and communications and data storage (39%). The overall market shares are displayed in

Figure 2.

Figure 2: Laser revenue by segment; source: Strategies Unlimited market report 2014


A market analysis carried out by EPIC in 2013 not only covers the recent economic developments, but also gives an outlook for the expected growth for each segment. The ascertained data for each segment until 2017 is shown in Figure 3. As it can be seen, the largest growing sector still is communications, with a growth of 10% in 2013 and an expected one of about 60% until 2017. Other segments that are expected to achieve growing numbers are macro materials processing, photolithography, medical and sensors. Data storage is currently on the decline with a drop of 27% in 2013 alone.

Figure 3: Laser revenue by segment 2012 - 2017; source: Strategies Unlimited Concerning the distribution of laser types within the whole market low-power laser diodes were by far the largest slice in 2013. This is mainly because of their inexpensiveness and the broad field of application for this type of lasers. The second largest share is taken by solid state lasers, followed by CO2 lasers. A full overview of the market shares is given in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Laser revenue shares by laser type for 2013; source: Strategies Unlimited


The forecast for the expected growth of different laser types is shown in the figure below. The fastest rates are expected for fibre lasers which are displacing CO2 lasers in the industrial areas. It can also be discerned that high-power diode lasers and the wide field of “other” lasers are expected to achieve high growth rates. In contrast, sales of CO2 and solid state lasers are predicted to stay at the current level.

Figure 5: Forecast for growth rates of different laser types; source: Strategies Unlimited


III. Typical Laser Equipment An example for a modern laser manufacturing machine can be found at KIT (IAM-AWP). The laser micro-machining platform (OPTEC s.a., Belgium) is consisting of a femto-/picosecond-laser source operating at different wavelengths and at high repetition rate up to 2 MHz. An advanced optical concept uses a turret optics (TO) design which was implemented into the system by combining high precision rotary and linear tables. This technical approach combines a high repeatability of manufacturing details in the sub-micron-area with a very compact design (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Laser micro-machining platform; rendering of turret optics design (left) and front view of the workstation (right)

The design basically resembles to the turret optics of a microscope and ensures a precision up to a fourth of the alternative inline-optic-design (ILO) because of the high accuracy of the Aerotechrotary table with a repeatability of 0.5 arc seconds. The x,y axes provide a 300x300 mm2 working area and thus gives the opportunity for a small, compact layout. This sophisticated design enables a micro- and nano-structuring of multi-material specimen like bio-materials, transparent materials or energy storage materials without significant thermal impact or melt formation. In addition the turret design with exact positioning systems allows for a high repeatability and precision manufacturing. The specifications of the laser systems themselves are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Specifications of lasers in micro machining platform

Laser System Wavelength λ Pulse Duration τ Repetition rate f Power P

fs/ps Laser 1030, 515, 343 nm 350 fs – 10 ps ≤ 2 MHz 20 W ns Laser 1064 nm 4 – 200 ns ≤ 2 MHz 20 W

Laser structuring is performed using a micro-machining workstation (PS450-TO, Optec, Belgium) equipped with a tunable ultrafast fiber laser (Tangerine, Amplitude SYSTEMES, France) with an average power of 20 W and a maximum pulse energy of 100 µJ at 1030 nm (TEM00 with M2 < 1.3), a


variable pulse repetition rate of up to 2 MHz, and tunable laser pulse duration from 330 fs up to 10 ps. Second harmonic (SHG) and third harmonic generation (THG) efficiency was specified to be > 40 % and > 15 % at 200 kHz, respectively (Figure 7).

Figure 7: SHG, THG module, beam expander, pulse duration and energy control

The 2nd laser module consists of a nanosecond (ns) laser with adjustable pulse length in the ns regime (Table 1). This laser enables classic thermal-driven material processing such as cutting and drilling applications. A schematic drawing of the fs-laser system is given in Figure 8. The 2nd laser module uses the same beam path like the NIR wavelength of the fs laser source.

Figure 8: Schematic view of the optical beam path


IV. Investments in laser manufacturing When thinking about replacing traditional manufacturing methods like punching, welding, drilling or milling with laser-micro-machining methods the cost of the actual equipment needed is critical especially for SMEs. Therefore, two different laser systems acting as examples for such an investment are shown below. The first system consists of a Excimer laser system for micro material processing and a light bench featuring different accessories that may be added depending on the actual fabrication task. The main components and their approximate costs are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Estimated costs for a basic micro material processing excimer laser system

Component Estimated cost [€]

ATL 1000 I, short pulse excimer laser 50000

Beam delivery unit 21000

Side entry module 1200

Alignment aid 400

Relay telescope for laser 3000

Manual energy controller 2400

Universal mask holder 750

Manual variable aperture 2000

Motorized 40 motif selector 5000

Variable field lens 2700

Afocal beam concentrator 2700

Beam shaper 3800

5 position manual pinhole selector 1200

X,Y stage, 100x100 mm manual drive 3700

System controller 17000

Control Software 500

System Support (Al profile structure) 3500

Total 120850

As can be seen above a basic system for micro-manufacturing costs about 120000 €. A system like this features a high rigidity rail, a sophisticated focus control and a wide range of possible configurations. The applications are selective polymer film removal, micro hole drilling thin film metal removal, micro milling, micro etching and 3D structure generation. The second example is a fs laser system which is similar to the system which is described in chapter 0, a workstation ultrafast laser material processing including a sophisticated topography measurement system for a precise control of laser ablation process. The components are listed in Table 3.


Table 3: Estimated costs for an advanced micro material processing fs-laser system.

Component Estimated cost [€]

Basic machine including: 225000

Water cooled linear motors

Air bearings

Contouring control

Clamping table

Machine housing

Turn- and swivel unit 51000

Distance sensor for Z-axis 7000

Topography measurement system incl. software 40000

Off-line evaluation software for topography 6500

Vacuum clamping system 4000

Rotary axis incl. clamping system 24000

Beam guidance unit incl. software implementation 51000

High performance fs-laser 200000

Frequency converter SHG and THG 21000

IPG fibre laser 12500

High precision galvo scanner 1030 nm 23000



Focus lenses 14500

CAD/CAM system 12500

Fixed optics 24500

Optical high definition measuring system 23000

Colour overview camera 2500

Exfumer extraction unit 6000

Manual control unit 1500

Maintenance contract (3 years) 110000

Training (3 days, 5 persons) 5000

Acceptance test 9000

Packaging, shipping and installation 10000

Total 929500

The total costs of about one million Euro for such a highly accurate machine with high repeatability and the possibility of using different wavelengths are obviously much higher compared to a more basic system as described in Table 2. It should be taken into account that the optics for ultrafast laser systems are in general not long lasting. The warranty time for such optics is normally in the range of 6 months so that one should take into account some additional costs for operation of such a sophisticated system.


When considering the implementation of a laser equipment in production line, companies and laboratories must pay attention not only on the performances of the machine, but also on the environment. For instance, gas or liquids inlets may be needed. In some other cases, especially in micro manufacturing, a clean room could be necessary. In addition precautions are mandatory in terms of collective and individual protections.

TRAININGS ENVIRONMENT

COLLECTIVE PROTECTION

LASER MACHINE/EQUIPMENT INDIVIDUAL

PROTECTION

CONSUMABLES MAINTENANCE


V. Laser standards and Safety

A. Risks

The risks of using lasers may be separated into two general categories:

1. beam-related hazards to eyes and skin 2. non-beam hazards, such as electrical and chemical hazards.

Beam related hazards: Improperly used laser devices are potentially dangerous. Effects can range from mild skin burns to irreversible injury to the skin and eye. The biological damage caused by lasers is produced through thermal, acoustical and photochemical processes. The major danger of laser light is hazards from beams entering the eye. The lens in the human eye focuses the laser beam into a tiny spot than can burn the retina. A laser beam with low divergence entering the eye can be focused down to an area 10 to 20 µm in diameter.The energy of a laser beam can be intensified up to 105 times by the focusing action of the eye. If the irradiance entering the eye is 1 mW/cm2, the irradiance at the retina will be 100 W/cm2. Thus, even a low power laser in the milliwatt range can cause a burn if focused directly onto the retina. Exposure to the laser beam is not limited to direct beam exposure. Particularly for high powered lasers, exposure to beam reflections may be just as damaging as exposure to the primary beam.

Electrical hazards (Non-beam related hazards): The use of lasers or laser systems can present an electric shock hazard. This may occur from contact with exposed utility power utilization, device control, and power supply conductors operating at potentials of 50 V or more. These exposures can occur during laser set-up or installation, maintenance and service, where equipment protective covers are often removed to allow access to active components as required for those activities. The effect can range from a minor tingle to serious personal injury or death. Protection against accidental contact with energized conductors by means of a barrier system is the primary methodology to prevent electrical shock.


B. Laser classes

In the European Union lasers have been classified into four hazard classes that are based on the Accessible Emission Limits (AEL). These limits are listed in the EN 60825-1 as well as the American ANSI Z136.1 standard for the safe use of lasers. The European standard was first published in 2001 and updated ever since with the latest update in May 2014. The categorization is based on the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) values which specify the danger level for the eye or the skin

when exposed to laser radiation. The classification of EN 60825-1 is given in Table 3.

Table 3: Classification of laser categories according to EN 60825-1


C. Laser Safety Eyewear and Filters

The most important European norms for laser safety are EN207 and EN208. EN207 describes the safety regulations for laser safety eyewear. The norm not only gives values for the absorption of laser light of given wavelengths but it also takes into account a direct hit from the laser. The glasses have to withstand a continuous wave laser for 10 seconds or a pulsed laser for 100 pulses. This exceeds the corresponding American ANSI Z 136 that is only considering the optical density of the safety gear. Every laser eye protection device sold in the European Community has to be labeled with the specification and the CE sign, proofing that it is certified for the respective safety class. The following table gives an overview of the laser safety classes for eyewear as defined in the EN207.

Table 4: Safety classes for laser safety eyewear according to EN207

Safety gear will be labeled as such: IR 315-532 L6. Here, IR indicates the working mode, 315-532 describes the wavelength in nm and the L6 represents the scale number or the lower limit of optical density. EN208 on the other hand gives a classification of eye protection filters for laser alignment. The safety gear described here will reduce the actual incident power to the power of class II lasers, which are considered as eye safe if the blink reflex is working normally. These safety devices allow the user to see the beam spot while operating/aligning the laser. The glasses have to withstand a continuous wave laser for at least 5 seconds or a pulsed laser for 50 pulses. The safety classes provided in EN208 are given in Table 5.


Table 5: Safety classes for laser alignment filters and eyewear according to EN208

Eyewear or filters according to EN208 are marked e.g. 0,1W 2x10-5 532 RB2, where 0,1 W represents the maximum laser power, 2x10-5 the maximum pulse power, 532 the wavelength in nm and RB2 the scale number.


D. User Best Practices

Collective protection

Restricted area Clear work area Ensure that lasers (as machines) are labeled according to EN 60825-1 Enclose the laser beam path Visible emergency stop button and easily accessible Sound or light signal when laser on Make it impossible to access live parts with bare hands Stop the laser beam at the opening of covers (work not requiring the presence of the beam) Eliminate all potential sources of unwanted reflection Local sufficiently illuminated(decreasing diameter pupil of the eye) Select the correct eye protection according to EN207 and EN 208 Make sure everyone near the laser is wearing appropriate eye protection Periodically check the safety devices Limit access controlled areas where warning signs are posted. Turn lasers off when not used. Consider installing local exhaust ventilation Respect special instructions safety

Individual protection

Position the laser beam path above or below eye level Never look directly to the laser beam (even if you are wearing protective eyewear) Never cut a laser beam with the hand or other body part Observe laser beam safely (camera, laser viewing cards...) Inspect protective eyewear regularly. Check for cracks, discoloration and other damage that

could let light in. Never use damaged eyewear Any optical fibre transmitting a laser beam must be considered as a laser source Remove any item that may be reflective (rings, watches, etc ...) Medical surveillance of users (eye examination) Work at reduced power for all beam adjustment

IMPORTANT NOTICE This list is not exhaustive, and comes from the experience of our consortium.

Please refer to laser safety European standards for more information.


VI. Cost analysis example Laser in Battery Manufacturing The pores of electrodes, components of modern batteries, have to be completely filled with liquid electrolyte in order to achieve an optimal battery performance. The standard liquid electrolyte used for conventional high energy batteries provide a limited electrode surface wetting. In the conventional production process of lithium-ion cells, the liquid is forced to enter and move into the material by expensive and time-consuming storage processes in vacuum or at elevated temperatures.Due to a new laser process, the time for homogeneous and complete electrolyte wetting of the electrodes is reduced from several hours to a few minutes. The costs for battery manufacturing are of about 250 €/kWh. It is assumed that 10-20% of these costs are due to storage of assembled batteries at elevated temperatures in order to guarantee a sufficient electrolyte wetting of the electrodes. Assuming that only 10 % of the manufacturing costs can be saved by using laser modified battery components, a cost reduction of 25 €/kWh can be achieved. An electrical vehicle with a power of 55 kWh needs about 100 separate lithium-ion cells. That means that for one battery (100 cells) the costs can be decreased by 1400 € (14 € for each cell). For an effective cell production lines the investment costs for laser processing (cutting, structuring) is in the range of 5 Mio. € during 5 years. In 5 years one production line can fabricate up to 5 million cells. According this calculation the cost reduction is 1 € per cell and 65 Mio € for the production within 5 years.

VII. General conclusion Laser technology enables new technical approaches and new solutions for industrial applications. It is obvious that fiber lasers became more and more attractive and that many traditional laser processes (e.g., drilling, cutting) can be covered by this technology. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the application is the main driven factor and not only the development or properties of new laser sources. Even “classic” laser sources such as gas lasers (CO2 laser, excimer laser) have specific advantages which are needed for specific applications. For example TFT and display annealing using excimer laser radiation (wavelength 308 nm) was a large growing application during the last two years. For CO2 lasers, a renaissance may occur since this laser type seems to be most advantageous for pushing the new generation of extreme ultraviolet/X-ray nano-lithography. For SME`s the cost analysis will be an critical aspect since they have to be profit-oriented in short times. Investment costs for new laser facilities can be rather high. For a turnkey laser micromachining tool typical investment costs are in the range from 100 k€ - 1 Mio €. Furthermore, daily working procedures have to be adapted and probably building measures have to be performed regarding international standards and regulations for safety issues during laser operation. Investment costs increase with complexity and flexibility of the system. Therefore, for SME`s it would be important to focus on specific laser processes with low risk for product manufacturing. The transfer of knowledge from research to business is an important task with high significance.


VIII. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank all companies, R&D centres, universities, and clusters who contributed to this report:

COMPANY/CLUSTER/R&D CENTRE/UNIVERSITY WEBSITE

EPIC - EUROPEAN PHOTONICS INDUSTRY CONSORTIUM www.epic-assoc.com

MULTITEL www.multitel.be

KARLSHRUE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGIES www.kit.edu

BAYERISCHES LAZERCENTRUM www.blz.org

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM www.birmingham.ac.uk

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY www.cardiff.ac.uk

SIRRIS www.sirris.be

VITO NV www.vito.be

BELGIUM PHOTONICS CLUSTER www.clusters.wallonie.be

IREPALASER www.irepa-laser.com

LASEA www.laser-ea.com

AILU - ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIAL LASER USERS www.ailu.org.uk

STRATEGIES UNLIMITED www.strategies-u.com/index.html

OPTEC www.optec.be

AEROTECH www.aerotech.com

AMPLITUDE SYSTEMS www.amplitude-systemes.com

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION webstore.iec.ch

www.Ecolaserfact.eu

http://www.epic-assoc.com/

http://www.multitel.be/

http://www.kit.edu/

http://www.blz.org/

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/

http://www.sirris.be/

http://www.vito.be/

http://www.clusters.wallonie.be/

http://www.irepa-laser.com/

http://www.laser-ea.com/

http://www.ailu.org.uk/

www.ecolaserfact.eu

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