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Paladin Family of UV Lasers

Family of quasi-CW medium and high power UV lasers - the industry standard in its class.
Coherent Inc.

Paladin is the ideal light source for:

  • Thin film scribing
  • Semiconductor inspection
  • Laser direct imaging
  • Stereo-lithograpy


Paladin™ is the recognized industry standard for quasi-CW medium and high power UV lasers, delivering the widest range of power from 2W to 16W and the highest powers commercially available today.

Paladin’s superior design and manufacturing technology result in a unique combination of high optical performance, exceptional reliability and long lifetime. Paladin delivers the basis for an unmatched success in demanding commercial micro-electronics and materials processing applications. Since Paladin’s launch in 2001 more than 1000 units have been installed in manufacturing lines around the world.


Paladin Compact 355 Paladin Compact 355
Quasi-CW UV lasers of medium power: 2W and 4W. Air- and water-cooled versions to optimally cope with customer installation/integration demands. Ideal for materials processing applications of moderate speed, stereo-lithography and inspection.
Paladin Advanced 355Paladin Advanced 355
Quasi-CW UV lasers of high power: 8W, 10W, 16W. Especially the 10 W and 16 W versions give access to applications and process speeds which were impossible in the past.

Paladin products are available at two repetition rates. With its five power classes the product family offers the optimal power and therewith the best power/price package for your application. In addition the 16W model provides the highest commercial power available today: this enables unmatched applications and process speeds.

Power Repetition Rate
  80 MHz 120 MHz
2 Watt

 

Paladin Compact 355-2000 Air-Cooled

Paladin Compact 355-2000 Water-Cooled
4 Watt

 

Paladin Compact 355-4000 Air-Cooled

Paladin Compact 355-4000 Water-Cooled
8 Watt

Paladin Advanced 355-8000
10 Watt

Paladin Advanced 355-10000
16 Watt

Paladin Advanced 355-16000

 

Paladin is used in applications such as:

  • Thin film scribing and patterning
  • Laser doping
  • Laser direct imaging
  • Repair: memories, masks etc.
  • Semiconductor inspection
  • Stereolithograpy
  • Bioinstrumentation


Paladin’s high peak powers and the high absorption of nearly all materials in the UV make them an effective tool in materials processing. Extreme intensities on the work piece and short laser pulses (ps range) minimize thermal effects, a prerequisite for highest process quality. The UV wavelength and the excellent laser beam parameters enable extreme focusing. The result: fine processing with µm precision of materials such as silicon wafers, glass and sapphire substrates, polymers, thin films.
Due to their outstanding technical features, their reliability and economy Paladin lasers have found their way even into high-speed life science UV applications such as flow cytometry.

 

Polymer Processing

Polymer Processing
Polyimide, Mylar, PTFE are standard polymers with applications not only in electronics and medical device technology (e.g. flexible circuit boards). They can be excellently cut, micro-via drilled or skived with quasi-CW UV lasers. The application photo shows the cut edge of a 50µm polyimide foil processed with a 3W Paladin laser. The cutting quality is excellent: no ridges, minimum debris, virtually no heat-affected zone. The cutting speeds even with low-power lasers are high.

 

 
Cutting of 50 µm polyimide.  

 

Sapphire, Ceramics, and Glass Processing
Sapphire, ceramics (e.g. Al2O3 , AlN, SiC, ZrO) and glasses are standard materials for semiconductor substrates. They are hard, brittle (ceramics), often thin and fragile, and therefore difficult to scribe, cut or drill. In addition the size of electronic components is shrinking and their density increasing which demands cleaner, narrower scribing lanes and cuts and smaller holes respectively vias – a natural barrier for the application of classical tools but also IR and often even visible lasers. Glass is a challenging material (not only) for the laser due to its transparency and – apart from low thermal expansion glasses such as quartz - the tendency to crack due to thermal and mechanical stress.

The effective absorption of their UV light, their extreme intensities on the work piece plus their contact-free processing allow Paladin lasers the quasi-cold and stress-free fine- and micro-machining of sapphires, ceramics and glasses via abormal respectively non-linear optical processes.

Application examples are scribing, contour cutting, hole drilling (e.g. nozzles, electrode through holes), surface micro-milling for electronic, biomedical, micro fluid devices and MEMs. The laser allows for geometries, miniaturization and quality which are not accessible with conventional tools.

Sapphire, Ceramics, and Glass Processing

Micro-scribing of glass substrates for electronic components.

 

LDI - Laser Direct Imaging of PCBs

LDI - Laser Direct Imaging of PCBs
In the most common LDI implementation, the laser beam is high-speed scanned line by line over the panel writing the circuit pattern directly into the photo resist layer. The complete process is fully computer driven and controlled by the front end CAM system. A photo tool is not needed anymore.

Key advantages of LDI over conventional technologies are:

  • Flexibility, time and cost savings for small and medium-size batches
  • No film-associated quality problems
  • Higher accuracy and improved resolution
Multilayer PCB manufactured with LDI technology.  


Related links:

Laser Direct Imaging with a Modelocked, 355 nm DPSS Laser

Paladin features include:

  • The widest range of powers in its class: 2W, 4W, 8W, 10W and 16W output at 355 nm
    - The optimal power-price package for an application
    - The highest powers commercially available
  • Fully controlled light-loop operation for highest power stability and low noise
  • Exquisite and stable beam quality due to pre-qualified spots on THG crystal and automated SHG/ THG optimization including crystal shifting
  • Cleanroom-manufactured using PermAlign™ solder-bonded optics for best mechanical and thermal stability
  • Hermetically sealed laser head
  • Unmatched lifetime with Aluminum-free Active Area (AAA™) pump diodes
  • Modular OEM design for easy integration into commercial applications
  • Hands-free operation over thousands of hours, remote diagnostics for scheduled maintenance

All Paladin lasers offer excellent power and beam parameters, efficiency, hands-free operation, and long lifetime, making them the perfect replacement for old, bulky and energy-hungry UV gas lasers. Paladin can be controlled either by its front panel or by commands sent over RS-232 interface. Our clean room PermAlign™ manufacturing methods and smart operating software - including harmonics generation control - guarantee reliable operation at the highest levels of performance.

Paladin Compact and Paladin Advanced

Paladin Compact 355 comes in the power classes 2 and 4W. These models are a breakthrough in compactness, efficiency and cost of ownership. The 4W version is the successor of the Paladin 355-4000, but is significantly smaller in size and requires only one pump diode. The use of a shorter resonator results in a higher mode-locked/ pulse-frequency (120 MHz instead of 80 MHz), and a reduced energy per pulse compared to longer Paladin models. Therefore it potentially increases the lifetime of external optical systems without sacrificing the average optical power. The Paladin Compact lasers are available in water- and air-cooled versions - enabling even more compact and energy-efficient OEM systems.

Paladin Advanced 355 is the flagship of the Paladin family. It comes in power classes 8W, 10W and 16W. Paladin Advanced represents the next generation of the previous industrial standard Paladin 8W and not only gives access to higher powers but also offers a significant reduction in cost-of-ownership, with no compromise in performance, longevity and reliability. A more efficient pumping scheme results in a reduced need for pump diodes. The 8W and 10W models only require one power supply and no extra amplifier. The dollar per Watt ratio is significantly improved while optical output specifications are unchanged. The 10W and especially the 16W versions give access to process speeds in existing applications and enable new applications which were non-economic or technically impossible in the past.

 

Paladin Compact Air Laser Drawing

Paladin Compact Air-Cooled Laser Head Drawing

Paladin Compact Water Laser Drawing

Paladin Compact Water-Cooled Laser Head Drawing

Paladin Advanced 355 Laser Drawing

Paladin Advanced 355 Laser Head Drawing

 


Paladin Advanced 355 Data Sheet

Paladin Advanced 355 Data Sheet

Paladin Compact 355 Water-Cooled Data Sheet 

Paladin Compact 355 Water-Cooled Data Sheet

Paladin Compact 355 Air-Cooled Data Sheet 

Paladin Compact 355 Air-Cooled Data Sheet

Conversion Efficiency Article

Conversion Efficiency Article
 



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