Recently, AGC Group and the University of Tokyo in Japan jointly developed a new method that enables laser processing of transparent materials such as glass at a speed 1 million times faster than conventional methods. The results were published online in the American scientific journal Science Advances on June 11, 2025.
In recent years, with the widespread adoption of generative AI, the amount of information processing has continued to increase, leading to a growing demand for faster and more energy-efficient semiconductors. Consequently, the trend toward using glass substrates, with their excellent rigidity and flatness, as packaging substrates for semiconductor chips has become increasingly pronounced.
Image of a large number of through-holes being machined on a glass substrate at ultra-high speed (hole pitch 100 microns).
Currently, glass substrates are primarily processed using laser ablation or laser modified etching. However, the former is time-consuming, while the latter presents challenges such as high environmental impact due to wastewater disposal. In this joint research, by simultaneously irradiating the glass surface with two lasers of different pulse widths at an angle, they succeeded in increasing processing speed to one million times that of laser ablation. This method of high-speed processing of glass substrates using only lasers is more efficient and less environmentally friendly than existing methods, and holds great promise for future practical application in the semiconductor field.
