THE LASER USER
ISSUE 114 AUTUMN 2024 R&D COLLABORATION BRINGING HANDHELD LASER WELDING TO THE E-MOBILITY SUPPLY CHAIN
Photonics Express and the automotive welding team at WMG, University of Warwick, have collaborated to introduce laser handheld welding to the UK e-mobility supply chain.
Handheld laser welding is becoming increasingly important in the UK for several reasons. Photonics Express has worked closely with WMG to ensure that the technology met all the necessary safety criteria such that the equipment is readily available to the automotive supply chain. Whereas the majority of handheld systems were optimised for stiff steel wires, we demonstrated that aluminium joining requires new learning.
Handheld welders offer great potential to increase efficiency and speed; an opportunity to boost production efficiency in various industries. Their versatility allows the potential to work with a wide range of materials. However, aluminium and stainless steel perform quite differently with both the laser and the wire feeder.
To achieve the required precision and quality, the team carefully selected the correct grade of wire alloy. The laser power and wobble functions were matched to the properties of the wire and the base material. These parameters are easy to adjust on a touch panel and are saved to on-board memory for future reference.
The laser equipment is supplied with software encryption. Once installed and the passwords loaded, strong and neat welding seams were produced very quickly, with low porosity and no need for a post process.
The air-cooled GW systems are designed to be user-friendly, with optimised presets that reduce the learning curve for operators. There are readily portable and once configured, the user can be welding in minutes. This makes it easier to train new welders and integrate the technology into existing workflows.
Overall, the adoption of handheld laser welding technology in the UK is helping industries improve productivity, maintain high-quality standards, and reduce costs.
Contact: Mark Thompson
mthompson@photonicsexpress.com
https://photonicsexpress.com/
Contact: Pasquale Franciosa
P.Franciosa@
warwick.ac.uk https://bit.ly/wmg_laserbeamwelding
DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT GENERATION SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP INTEGRATION
The consortium’s goal is to mature the bespoke manufacture of glass and silicon-based interposers/redistribution layers and make them commercially available to a wide range of end-user applications beyond consumer products in support of the UK packaging supply chain. The intention is to offer an agile process flow, capable of supporting a variety of niche requirements and not a single restricted application offering.
Dr. Dimitris Karnakis, Senior Manager Technology, Oxford Lasers, stated “The UK government is investing in semiconductor manufacturing to ensure resilience and technological leadership in this area”. Dr. Karnakis continued “This nearly half a million pound grant will enable Oxford Lasers and the INTERPOSE-UK partners to advance next generation chip integration using glass and silicon passive interposers. For our part, Oxford Lasers will be developing new laser processing technologies to fabricate custom through glass vias that will enable advanced 2.5D and 3D heterogeneous integration”.
Oxford Lasers has announced the successful award of a collaborative research and development (R&D) grant from Innovate UK, namely the INTERPOSE-UK project (advanced INTegratEd ciRcuit interPOsers for SEmiconductor packaging in the UK). In partnership with BAE Systems, the University of Southampton and PRP Optoelectronics, Oxford Lasers will provide high-precision laser processing for the development of advanced features in glass interposers. Interposers are functional substrates that enable electrical connectivity between different semiconductor chips in advanced packaging applications.
He highlighted the impact of the project’s results by commenting “Next generation heterogeneous chip integration through the use of bespoke interposers will have a substantial impact in every area involving semiconductors including high-performance computing, optoelectronics, power, aerospace, defence, sensors, and automotive, among others.”
Contact: Dimitris Karnakis
Dimitris.Karnakis@oxfordlasers.com
https://oxfordlasers.com/
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