Short pulse Laser Shock Microforming of thin metal MEMS components

Laser shock micro-forming is intended as a non-thermal laser forming method using the shock wave induced by laser irradiation to modify the curvature of microscopic scale components. In the present paper, coupled experimental and numerical results are presented showing the influence of different process parameters (target geometry, clamping, laser spot position, laser energy, overlapping of laser pulses) on the net bending angle. As a main conclusion obtained from the study, the use of ns laser pulses provides a suitable parameter matching for the laser forming of an important range of sheet components used in MEMS that, preserving the short interaction time scale required for the predominantly mechanic (shock) induction of deformation residual stresses, allows for the successful processing of components in a medium range of miniaturization but particularly important according to its frequent use in such systems.