Large-area UV-processing with a novel 248 nm line beam system

A novel UV line beam system for large area processing is introduced. The linear beam concept dispenses with movable components such as scanner optics. By using a fixed line beam with ns pulse duration and combining it with a 150 W excimer laser as the beam source a system with optimum reproducibility of the resulting layer modification has been created. Depending on the application, the excimer laser beam can be redirected into a high-resolution mask ablation system with rectangular field geometry. This machine's modular concept can be used for a wide range of materials and laser-processes, especially for large area applications. Two different laser-material processes, thermal ablation and optical modification, are presented demonstrating the variety of the possible functionality of the system.