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Advanced laser micromachining techniques for a TFT‐LCD (thin film transistor‐liquid crystal display) module have been developed to repair various kinds of defects such as shorts, opens, and degraded TFTs. They have also been designed to analyse failures in the TFT‐LCD. The techniques are as follows: (i) The technique of zapping the excess metal: to repair short defects and/or to isolate the TFT being tested from the adjacent TFTs. This uses a pulse Xe or a Q‐switched YAG laser. (ii) Zapping, followed by the metal deposition technique: to repair open defects and/or to form electrical testing electrodes. This uses a Q‐switched YLF and an Ar ion laser. (iii) The technique of micro‐welding two metal lines separated by an insulating layer: to repair open defects. This uses a Q‐switched YAG laser. (iv) A separation technique utilised on a TFT‐LCD panel adhered with epoxy resin. This uses a pulse Excimer laser. (v) A micro‐annealing technique for a degraded TFT: to recover the TFT characteristics. This uses a Q‐switched YAG laser. Through the study described above, the authors have confirmed that these techniques are highly effective for obtaining TFT‐LCD modules without defects. The yield of TFT‐LCD modules may therefore be expected to improve.

Many small holes need to be drilled in printed circuit boards to achieve a high packing density of circuit components. Even with NC control, conventional mechanical techniques are relatively slow and holes smaller than 035 mm diameter are difficult to achieve in production. Laser drilling has been suggested as a potentially fast technique capable of drilling small holes, so trials have been conducted on thin, flexible kapton board, and on 08 mm and 16 mm thick epoxide woven glass fabric board with 12 and 36 micron thick copper cladding. Using a 600 W CO2 laser, the proposed technique was to pre‐etch holes in the copper which would then act as a mask to the beam, so drilling only where etched holes existed. This technique was feasible on the flexible board, but not on the thicker boards because of damage to the copper. Using a pulsed Nd‐YAG laser to drill through both copper and laminate gave good results, but more work is necessary to eliminate occasional delamination of the copper around the hole. Through‐hole plating of the drilled holes appeared to present no special problems.

This study aims to review the recent advancements in high entropy alloys (HEAs) called high entropy materials, including high entropy superalloys which are current potential alternatives to nickel superalloys for gas turbine applications. Understandings of the laser surface modification techniques of the HEA are discussed whilst future recommendations and remedies to manufacturing challenges via laser are outlined.

Materials used for high-pressure gas turbine engine applications must be able to withstand severe environmentally induced degradation, mechanical, thermal loads and general extreme conditions caused by hot corrosive gases, high-temperature oxidation and stress. Over the years, Nickel-based superalloys with elevated temperature rupture and creep resistance, excellent lifetime expectancy and solution strengthening L12 and γ´ precipitate used for turbine engine applications. However, the superalloy’s density, low creep strength, poor thermal conductivity, difficulty in machining and low fatigue resistance demands the innovation of new advanced materials.

HEAs is one of the most frequently investigated advanced materials, attributed to their configurational complexity and properties reported to exceed conventional materials. Thus, owing to their characteristic feature of the high entropy effect, several other materials have emerged to become potential solutions for several functional and structural applications in the aerospace industry. In a previous study, research contributions show that defects are associated with conventional manufacturing processes of HEAs; therefore, this study investigates new advances in the laser-based manufacturing and surface modification techniques of HEA.

The AlxCoCrCuFeNi HEA system, particularly the Al0.5CoCrCuFeNi HEA has been extensively studied, attributed to its mechanical and physical properties exceeding that of pure metals for aerospace turbine engine applications and the advances in the fabrication and surface modification processes of the alloy was outlined to show the latest developments focusing only on laser-based manufacturing processing due to its many advantages.

It is evident that high entropy materials are a potential innovative alternative to conventional superalloys for turbine engine applications via laser additive manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to outline some key aspects such as material systems used, phenomenological and statistical process modeling, techniques applied to monitor the process and optimization approaches reported. All these need to be taken into account for the ongoing development of the SLM technique, particularly in health care applications. The outcomes from this review allow not only to summarize the main features of the process but also to collect a considerable amount of investigation effort so far achieved by the researcher community.

This paper reviews four significant areas of the selective laser melting (SLM) process of metallic systems within the scope of medical devices as follows: established and novel materials used, process modeling, process tracking and quality evaluation, and finally, the attempts for optimizing some process features such as surface roughness, porosity and mechanical properties. All the consulted literature has been highly detailed and discussed to understand the current and existing research gaps.

With this review, there is a prevailing need for further investigation on copper alloys, particularly when conformal cooling, antibacterial and antiviral properties are sought after. Moreover, artificial intelligence techniques for modeling and optimizing the SLM process parameters are still at a poor application level in this field. Furthermore, plenty of research work needs to be done to improve the existent online monitoring techniques.

This review is limited only to the materials, models, monitoring methods, and optimization approaches reported on the SLM process for metallic systems, particularly those found in the health care arena.

SLM is a widely used metal additive manufacturing process due to the possibility of elaborating complex and customized tridimensional parts or components. It is corroborated that SLM produces minimal amounts of waste and enables optimal designs that allow considerable environmental advantages and promotes sustainability.

The key perspectives about the applications of novel materials in the field of medicine are proposed.

The investigations about SLM contain an increasing amount of knowledge, motivated by the growing interest of the scientific community in this relatively young manufacturing process. This study can be seen as a compilation of relevant researches and findings in the field of the metal printing process.

This paper aims to provide details of the role that lasers play in manufacturing processes.

Following an introduction, this paper first considers laser technologies used in welding, cutting and drilling. Techniques which add material or modify material’s properties, namely, pulsed laser deposition, laser cladding, heat treatment and laser peening are then discussed. A number of specific applications are cited and finally, brief conclusions are drawn.

This paper shows that many laser-based processes are used to conduct a range of critical functions in the automotive, electronics, aerospace, power generation, medical and other industries.

This paper illustrates the importance of lasers in a diversity of manufacturing processes.

The purpose of this paper is to study the functionality of additively manufactured (AM) parts, mainly depending on their dimensional accuracy and surface finish. However, the products manufactured using AM usually suffer from defects like roughness or uneven surfaces. This paper discusses the various surface quality improvement techniques, including how to reduce surface defects, surface roughness and dimensional accuracy of AM parts.

There are many different types of popular AM methods. Unfortunately, these AM methods are susceptible to different kinds of surface defects in the product. As a result, pre- and postprocessing efforts and control of various AM process parameters are needed to improve the surface quality and reduce surface roughness.

In this paper, the various surface quality improvement methods are categorized based on the type of materials, working principles of AM and types of finishing processes. They have been divided into chemical, thermal, mechanical and hybrid-based categories.

The review has evaluated the possibility of various surface finishing methods for enhancing the surface quality of AM parts. It has also discussed the research perspective of these methods for surface finishing of AM parts at micro- to nanolevel surface roughness and better dimensional accuracy.

This paper represents a comprehensive review of surface quality improvement methods for both metals and polymer-based AM parts.

The purpose of this paper is to review the state of the art of laser powder deposition (LPD), a solid freeform fabrication technique capable of fabricating fully dense functional items from a wide range of common engineering materials, such as aluminum alloys, steels, titanium alloys, nickel superalloys and refractory materials.

The main R&D efforts and the major issues related to LPD are revisited.

During recent years, a worldwide series of R&D efforts have been undertaken to develop and explore the capabilities of LPD and to tap into the possible cost and time savings and many potential applications that this technology offers.

These R&D efforts have produced a wealth of knowledge, the main points of which are highlighted herein.

Laser interferometry‐based sensing (LIS) technique has been proposed and established recently to track and perform dynamic measurements on a moving end‐effector of a robot manipulator. In this paper, a technique using LIS system to perform guidance of a manipulator is proposed. The LIS system is used as a sensor to guide the end‐effector of a robot manipulator. This is to be accomplished through the implementation of guidance error determination and compensation, and path generation in the control algorithm. This technique can be used to accurately guide the manipulator’s end‐effector to a specified location or along a specified path with a high level of accuracy. The structure and various components within the system and the control strategy are also presented.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible application of thick‐film, metal‐based thermocouples to microsystems power supply. The subject of matter was development of the procedure of thick‐film thermopile miniaturisation.

The aptitude of four photoimageable inks (based on silver or silver‐palladium) to fabrication of miniaturised thermocouples' arms was investigated. The object of interest was their compatibility with different kinds of low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) substrates, maximum resolution, shrinkage and electrical resistivity. Usage of the laser shaping technique to fabrication of narrow thermocouples' arms was also subject of matter. After tests and processes optimization both techniques were combined to fabricate the thick‐film Ag/Ni microthermopile.

Most of investigated inks were compatible with all tested LTCC tapes – fired as well as unfired (green tapes). Photoimageable inks technique can be successfully used for thermocouples' arms miniaturization. 40 μm/40 μm line/spaces resolution can be easily achieved. Combining this technique with laser shaping enabled microthermopile fabrication. It consisted of 42 Ag (photoimageable)/Ni (laser shaped) thermocouples. Arms width was 40 μm and 225 μm (Ag‐ and Ni‐arm, respectively), spaces between them – 65 μm. Overall, width of single thermocouple was smaller than 0.4 mm.

Fabrication of microthermopile consisting of several hundreds of thick‐film thermocouples will be possible if described procedure is applied. Such microgenerator will generate output power sufficient to supply some microsystems or microelectronic circuits.

The properties of four photoimageable inks were investigated as well as their compatibility with five different LTCC substrates (fired and unfired). Procedure of thick‐film microthermopile fabrication using photoimageable inks technique combined with laser shaping was proposed for the first time.

Present and future development of laser processing as a production technique for modifying semiconductor devices, improving yields, and decreasing development times are described. Current applications covered include thick‐ and thin‐film resistor trimming, deposited film and polysilicon resistors on silicon trimming and redundant memory repair. Emerging applications include microcircuit mask making and capacitor trimming. Examples of processes still under development include selective annealing, minority‐carrier lifetime doping, and device diagnostics by laser imaging.