LPKF Laser & Electronics AG To Deliver Glass Core Plate Laser Equipment To Multiple Asian Customers

A few days ago, German laser technology giant LPKF Laser & Electronics announced that it will expand the supply of laser equipment for the critical glass-through-hole (TGV) process in glass chipboard production this year.
In an interview, LPKF CEO Klaus Fiedler revealed that the company has signed an agreement with a customer manufacturing glass chipboards and will soon deliver its laser equipment suite. In addition, he said that the company has received orders and inquiries from a number of customers in Asia (especially South Korea), and that these demands are for actual production, not for research purposes.
The German company has its own unique patented laser technology, Laser Induced Depth Etching (LIDE), which has been applied to the Vitrion 5000 series of machines equipped with the Through Glass Vias (TGV) process, significantly improving the efficiency and precision of TGV processing.
LPKF's breakthrough Laser Induced Depth Etching (LIDE) technology will revolutionize the chip industry, especially in the pursuit of higher performance and more reliable glass substrates.
Currently, chip industry vendors are actively seeking to replace the organic core layer (e.g., fiberglass reinforced epoxy/FR4) of traditional Flip-Chip Ball Grid Arrays (FC-BGAs) with glass. Glass is an ideal replacement material due to its high stiffness, high thermal stability, good insulation properties and signal transmission speed.
In comparison, glass is stiffer than FR4, so it is less susceptible to thermal deformation and allows for a larger surface area. Glass is also flat, making it easy to form fine circuits on it. It also has good insulating properties. It has low signal loss, but fast signal speeds. In high-frequency RF, where high operating frequencies are required, glass is touted as the best material for making circuit boards.
Notably, US chip giant Intel is already planning to apply glass boards by 2030. Samsung Electronics' electronic parts maker Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Samsung Electro-Mechanics) is proposing to accelerate the development of semiconductor glass substrates, and the expected completion of the pilot line construction has been moved up to September, one quarter ahead of the original end-of-year completion target. Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to launch a prototype chip package using a glass plate in 2025, and then commercialize the production of such equipment sometime between 2026-2027.
The frequent disclosure of the latest initiatives by industry giants for this area has certainly boosted market confidence.
However, there are still many hurdles to the production of chipboards using glass as the core layer - the biggest of which is the glass through hole (TGV) process. In this process, holes must be punched in the glass to connect circuits. But the small scratches created in the process can affect the rigidity of the entire glass substrate. When copper plating is applied to the holes to form the circuits, nine-tenths of the glass breaks, which in turn must be discarded, resulting in a large amount of waste, the source said.
LPKF's LIDE technology solves this problem by precisely controlling the laser energy and structural changes to achieve fast, clean etching of the glass. The general principle of LPKF's Laser Induced Depth Etching (LIDE) solution is as follows: A short laser signal is delivered to a hole in the glass. Subsequently, high-energy photons (particles of light) are delivered to these areas, resulting in structural changes in the glass at these specific locations - including changes in density, the breaking or formation of chemical bonds, and adjustments to the crystal structure. Because the laser-irradiated areas are etched more quickly, the etching process can be completed more quickly and accurately, creating the desired holes or other structures in the glass without causing unnecessary damage to the surrounding area.
The technology has been applied on a large scale to Lepco's Vitrion 5000p model. The German company says they have been commercializing their LIDE technology for a long time and are currently using it in the production of cover glass for foldable displays.LIDE is a patented technology that LPKF developed in-house about 10 years ago, and the devices that use this technology will be a major source of revenue for the company.
In addition to supplying laser equipment, LPKF also offers foundry services for glass board processing, a business that Fiedler explains is offered to customers who produce small quantities of boards using glass or as a test for customers to verify quality before applying the laser equipment on a large scale. He said this OEM business not only provides the company with a steady stream of revenue, but also strengthens the bond with its customers.
Founded in 1976, LPKF is headquartered in Gabson, near Hanover, Germany. Its laser equipment is used in a wide range of applications such as printed circuit boards, microchips, solar panels and biopharmaceuticals. As a company listed on the German Stock Exchange, LPKF generated revenues of €124.3 million last year.
On the basis of these order demands, LPKF announced that it will significantly increase the production capacity of its laser technology in response to the growing demand for glass packaging materials in the semiconductor industry. With the expanding market for glass chipboards, LPKF expects to achieve even greater growth in the coming years.