Micromachining Services
Our laser micromachining division provides machining services and custom manufacturing of high-precision, tight-tolerance parts and features to a wide-range of industries including semiconductor, electronic, medical, life sciences, and automotive. From R&D samples to production volume parts, Clark-MXR’s customer-centric approach is meeting the challenges of today’s increasing demand for higher-performing and miniaturized devices.
Hole Drilling
As device sizes shrink and performance expectations rise, the demands for tighter-tolerance, higher precision micro-holes increase. Clark-MXR’s 20 years of experience with athermal, ultrafast laser drilling of sub-micron to mm sized holes for a variety of applications gives us the ability to meet those expectations. Additionally, our calibrated inspection equipment can measure features down to a few nanometers. With in-house expertise, we can clean, handle, and package small, delicate parts with cleanroom ready packaging up to Class 100 (ISO 5).
Cutting
Clark-MXR routinely cuts a wide-variety of materials ranging from crystals to metals using its own ultrafast laser machining systems. Rare, precious, and refractory metals are frequently cut with kerf width down to 1 micron but smaller kerf widths can be achieved depending on the material and other design requirements. Applications such as processing Tungsten Cathode Filaments for XFR applications are an ideal match for our capabilities.
Surface Modification
The surface of many materials can be modified to alter the optical, chemical, and physical properties of the material interface. For example, broad-spectrum, low-reflecting finishes, diffractive surfaces, chemically reactive sites, and surfaces with enhanced adhesion are common. Nano-scale patterning can also be use to create a wide-range of effects.
Precision Milling
In addition to hole-drilling, material can be removed in virtually any shape or pattern through precision miilling. Cut widths down to a few microns are achievable and in some cases sub-micron kerfs are possible for very-thin materials allowing very precise components with complex patterns that can be manufactured repeatedly. Blind features can be created with depth resolution within a few percent of the feature depth and resolutions as high as a few 10’s of nanometers can be performed on production parts.
Applying the nano-scale patterning concept to an entire surface as a subtractive process will expose underlying areas that can be examined and characterized using a variety of microscopy or spectroscopy techniques. Repeating the process allows for 3D reconstruction of a sample often call serial sectioning or 3D Tomography.
Cleanroom Packaging
We have an on-site Class 100 cleanroom that contains multiple ultrasonic cleaning stations, a plasma cleaner, inspection equipment, and packaging tools that is only accessible by our specially trained personnel. All standard clean room protocols, including routine cleaning and maintenance are closely monitored and dedicated particle counter is used to validate we maintain those standards.
Inspection
Clark-MXR maintains a suite of inspection tools including scanning electron microscopes and a 3D laser scanning microscope. Many of these tools are maintained in a cleanroom environment and we have daily verification to ensure our SEMs calibrations meet the highest level of gauging standards.
