An integrated simulation program for virtual laser ablation is developed to help understand and predict the effects of machining parameters on the final machined results. The main solver of the program is based on the model for polymer ablation with short-pulse Excimer lasers. The GUI of the program is built using Visual Fortran and OpenGL so that the user can work in a visual environment, such as Windows on a PC, where the important machining parameters can be input via a dialog box and the calculated results for the machined shape can be plotted by means of a 3D graphics window using OpenGL. The developed GUI can be implemented for use with most pre-developed FORTRAN solvers for Windows application, allowing the user to control the input parameters and to see the results in a 3D plot; hence most FORTRAN users could create their own visual programs on PC Windows systems similarly, widening the range of application of FORTRAN solvers.

To investigate the effects of beam focusing in the etching of polymers with short pulse Excimer lasers, a polymer etching model of SSB's is combined with a beam focusing model. Through the numerical simulation, it was found that in the high laser fluence region, SSB model considering both photochemical and thermal contribution is considered to be suitable to predict the etched hole shape than a simple photochemical etching model. The average temperature distribution into the substance obtained by assuming 1-D heat transfer is found to be fairly similar to the fluence distribution on the ablated surface. The experimental etching data for polymers are used to give material properties for ablation model. The fitted etch depth curve gives a nice agreement with the experimental data.

In laser machining such as drilling with C0₂ or Nd:YAG laser, and etching or ablation with Excimer laser, one of the most important parameters affecting the machining is known to be beam characteristics. In this paper a numerical study is performed to investigate the effects of beam parameters, especially in the process of excimer laser ablation of polymers. Results of different beam conditions reveal that if the ablated depth is small compared to beam size the simple photochemical etching model is suitable to predict the etched shape, and that the importance of precise alignment becomes large as beam quality factor becomes larger.

A simulator for virtual laser machining is developed to help understanding and predicting the effects of machining parameters on the final machined results. Main program is based on the model for polymer ablation with short pulse excimer lasers. Version I of the simulator is built using Visual Fortran to make the user work under visual environment such as Windows on PC, where the important machining parameters can be input via dialog box and the calculated results for machined shape, beam fluence, and temperature distribution can be plotted through the 2-D graphics windows. Version Ⅱ of the simulator is built using HTML, CGI and JAVA languages, allowing the user to control the input parameters and to see the results plot through the internet.

This paper summarizes the work on the development of a simulation program for modelling the process of machining quasi-three dimensional shape with the excimer laser beam on a constantly moving polymers. Relatively simple masks of rectangle, triangle and half circle shape are considered. The etching depth is calculated by considering the number of laser pulses irradiated on the specimen surface. It was found that similar shapes as experimental results can be obtained by choosing suitable parameters of moving velocity, moving distance and mask sizes.