Review on the High-Power Pulse Fiber Laser Technology and Their Industrial Microelectronics Applications

High-power pulse fiber lasers (HPPFLs) using Yb-doped double-clad fiber for industrial applications are evolved as two types including Seed LD-based Master-Oscillator Power-Amplifier (Seed-LD-MOPA) and Q-switched fiber-laser-based Master-Oscillator Power-Amplifier (QS-MOPA). Seed-LD-MOPA can change pulse duration and temporal pulse shape easily, but bad effects such as super-pulsing phenomena and Stimulated-Brillouin Scattering (SBS) should be suppressed which may damage the lasers or lower the average power. QS-MOPA has good power scalability, but the pulse duration and temporal pulse shape are not easily changed. These HPPFLs are penetrating into mass-production area of microelectronics industries such as semiconductor, display, and PCB industries. The microelectronics industry has market size of $390B in 2006 which compositions are $260B, $80B, and $50B for semiconductor, display, and PCB industries, respectively. In this review paper, the recent technology development of the pulse fiber lasers and their composing components, their industrial microelectronics applications, total microelectronics industry markets will be reviewed.