Automatic control and real-time monitoring of laser cleaning and laser ablation

Abstract

Closed-loop control and real-time monitoring of pulsed excimer laser cleaning and ablation have been realized by software and hardware design and development. The audible acoustic wave generated during excimer laser surface cleaning and ablation has been used as the feedback signal for the automatic control system of laser-surface interaction. Man-machine interface for laser operation and acoustic monitoring has been developed with Lab VIEW 4.1 under Windows 95 environment. This system has been used to control and monitor laser cleaning and ablation processes in real-time and proven to successfully meet the requirements in our study. By database exchange, this automatic control system can also be applied to control drilling and materials removing.