Control of scanning laser beam

Claim 3

The improvement of claim 1 wherein: the means for providing reciprocating x direction movement comprises means for providing movement first in a positive x direction and then in a negative x direction; and the beam deflecting means comprises means for deflecting the beam along said line successively in a positive y direction during reciprocating movement in the positive x direction, and for deflecting the beam successively in a negative y direction during the reciprocating movement in the negative x direction.

Claim 4

The improvement of claim 2 wherein: the apparatus is of a type in which the writing beam is a laser beam; and the means for providing relative reciprocating movement comprises a carriage mounted on a linear air bearing.

Claim 5

The improvement of claim 3 wherein: the apparatus is of a type including means for synchronizing modulation of the writing beam with carriage movement comprising a code beam reflected from the moving carriage through a code plate.

Claim 6

The improvement of claim 4 wherein: the apparatus is of a type which includes means for indicating change of direction of the carriage reciprocation; and further comprising means responsive to said indicated change of direction of reciprocation for changing the direction of deflection of the writing beam.

Claim 7

The improvement of claim 5 wherein: the apparatus is of the type in which a stored digital signal switches the laser writing beam to define a sequence of spots on the surface, each spot corresponding to one bit of information, which constitutes the pattern; the means for forming n scan lines comprises means for stepping the beam n times along said deflecting line between the formation of successive spots on a single scan line, said stepping being in the positive y direction during reciprocating movement in the positive x direction and in the negative y direction during the reciprocating movement in the negative x direction.

Claim 8

The improvement of claim 6 wherein: the writing beam is deflected by an acoustooptic modulator; and the stepping means comprises means for generating a positively-extending staircase wave during reciprocating movement in the positive x direction and a negatively-extending staircase wave during reciprocating movement in the negative x direction, each period of the staircase wave having n steps.

Claim 9

The improvement of claim 7 wherein: n equals 3, whereby, during reciprocation in the positive x direction, a positively extending staircase wave permits a spot to be formed on a first scan line in response to a digital information bit, then deflects the beam in a positive y direction at an angle of arccot (1/3) to permit a spot to be formed on a second scan line, deflects the beam again in a positive y direction at arccot (1/3) to permit a spot to be formed on the third scan line, then returns to the first scan line to repeat the sequence until reciprocation in the negative y direction, at which time the staircase wave extend in a negative direction to deflect the beam in a negative y direction at arccot (1/3).

Claim 10

The improvement of claim 8 wherein: the apparatus is of the type employing a pulsed laser for generating the writing beam, and said spots are formed in the substrate by laser machining; the velocity of relative reciprocating movement yields a repetition rate of successive spots on a single scan line of m per second; and the maximum power of the laser is at a laser pulse repetition rate of about n(m) per second.

Claim 11

The improvement of claim 9 wherein the laser is a cavity-dumped YAG laser having a maximum power output at about 300 kilohertz.

Claim 12

In apparatus in which a pattern is formed by raster scanning of a writing beam of radiant energy over a substrate surface, including means for digitally modulating the writing beam to form a succession of overlapping spot locations, means for providing relative reciprocating movement between the beam and surface in an x direction, and means for providing relative movement in a y direction orthogonal to the x direction, whereby each scan line is defined by a succession of spot locations and the pattern is formed by successive scan lines on the surface, the improvement comprising: means for forming n scan lines comprising means for stepping the beam n times in the y direction between the formation of successive spots on a single scan line; the beam deflecting means comprising means for deflecting the beam in a positive y direction during relative reciprocating movement in the positive x direction, and for deflecting the beam in a negative direction during reciprocating movement in a negative x direction.

Claim 13

In apparatus in which a pattern is formed by raster scanning of a writing beam of radiant energy over a substrate surface, including means for digitally modulating the writing beam to form a succession of overlapping spot locations, means for providing relative reciprocating movement between the beam and surface in an x direction, and means for providing relative movement in a y direction orthogonal to the x direction, whereby each scan line is defined by a succession of spot locations and the pattern is formed by successive scan lines on the surface, the improvement comprising: means for forming n scan lines comprising means for stepping the beam n times in the y direction between the formation of successive spots on a single scan line; the beam deflecting means comprising means for deflecting the beam in a positive y direction during relative reciprocating movement in the positive x direction, and for deflecting the beam in a negative direction during reciprocating movement in a negative x direction.

Claim 14

The improvement of claim 11 wherein: the apparatus is of a type in which the writing beam is a laser beam; the stepping means comprises means for generating a positively-extending staircase wave during reciprocating movement in the positive x direction and a negatively-extending staircase wave during reciprocating movement in the negative x direction, each period of the staircase wave having n steps.

Claim 15

The improvement of claim 12 wherein: the stepping means comprises means for deflecting the beam along a line at an angle of substantially arccot (1/n) with respect to the x direction, said deflecting means being responsive to the velocity of said x-direction movement.

Claim 16

The improvement of claim 13 wherein: the apparatus is of a type in which the relative reciprocating movement comprises a reciprocating carriage mounted on a linear bearing; means for generating a code signal to synchronize modulation of the writing beam with carriage movement comprising a code beam reflected from the moving carriage through a code plate; and wherein the means for generating the staircase wave is connected to the code signal generating means and is responsive to said code signal.