Raydiance Announces World's First All-Laser Precision Manufacturing Solution for Display Cover Glass of Consumer Electronics

PETALUMA, CA and SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 3, 2014) - Raydiance today announced R-Cut™, the world's first all-laser manufacturing solution for processing of Gorilla^® glass, sapphire crystal and other brittle materials used in mobile device displays of consumer electronics. The R-Cut solution revolutionizes manufacturing by producing finished parts more quickly with less material waste, reducing cost per part by more than 50 percent. Raydiance's R-Cut solution premieres at Booth #1709 during the SID Display Week conference, June 3-5, 2014, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego.

Mobile device manufacturers now have the freedom to envision previously impossible industrial designs with new shapes, curves, chamfers and micron scale features, rapidly taking concepts to finished products. Now available to high-volume global manufacturers, Raydiance's R-Cut automates display glass processing, speeds factory cycle times and increases production line efficiency with yields of nearly 100 percent. As time-to-market pressures accelerate, manufacturers must address more complex device designs and thinner, harder display materials, while improving costs and production economics.

"The properties that make Gorilla glass, one glass solutions (OGS), sapphire crystal and next-generation formulae desirable display cover materials for consumer electronic devices also make it very challenging to process shapes and sizes for mobile devices," said Richard Pierce, Raydiance CEO. "The current micromachining methods require multiple post-processing steps and struggle to keep pace with customer specifications. The Raydiance R-Cut solution creates a new, cost-effective path forward for manufacturers, enabling innovation for consumer electronic device design."

Raydiance's R-Cut solution is capable of processing unstrengthened or strengthened glass, OGS, sapphire crystal and thinner display materials in a single, stress-free step with no heat affected zone (HAZ), breakage or damage. Manufacturers can reduce cost per part by more than 50 percent, leveraging the R-Cut advancements and Raydiance's application-specific software to create and control chamfers, cut-outs, micro holes, notches and interior features not previously possible with micromachining.

In sharp contrast, traditional mechanical processing techniques and other laser-mechanical hybrid machining methods limit design capabilities, require tooling revisions, and continue to subject brittle glass and sapphire materials to micro chips, cracks and flaws that must be removed in multiple grinding and polishing steps to correct the damage. These post-processing steps are not only necessary for cosmetic reasons, but also directly impact the durability and resistance of display cover materials.

Raydiance R-Cut Solution Advantages
The Raydiance R-Cut represents the world's first all-laser precision manufacturing solution, manifesting Raydiance's deep, proprietary knowledge of femtosecond technology and micromachining processes to address the glass and sapphire fabrication challenges for mobile consumer electronics. Faster cycle times create rapid ROI as manufacturing lines move from part-to-part or device-to-device using the same workstation and capital equipment. The R-Cut solution:

• Delivers manufacturing line capacity with a compact, industrial grade, highly automated all-laser manufacturing solution that reduces the number of machines required on factory floors by approximately a factor of five.

• Eliminates HAZ damage to parts that require expensive post-processing. Raydiance's one-step processing typically reduces cost per part by $1 for smartphones and $2 for tablets, when compared with traditional mechanical machining. Manufacturers achieve cost advantages as savings scale with the size of the device display.

• Speeds application development and time-to-market from months to days, enabling mobile device manufacturers to prototype and qualify a new part, new material or new design concept using Raydiance's 24-hour print-to-part software.

The Raydiance R-Cut solution consists of:

• Raydiance laser(s);

• Raydiance beam delivery module(s);

• Raydiance specified work station(s); and

• Raydiance materials processing expertise delivered via proprietary control software.

Raydiance's R-Cut all-laser precision manufacturing solution delivers system flexibility and part-to-part consistency without stress to the glass or display material. Capabilities include:

Chamfers:
Raydiance's all-laser R-Cut solution enables fully programmable top and bottom chamfers, including 45 degree and radius chamfers.

Interior Features:
Raydiance's all-laser R-Cut solution enables small, high-density chamfered features at sub 100µm and fully programmable circular or long narrow slot designs.

Notches and Cut-Outs:
Raydiance's all-laser R-Cut solution enables tighter radius corners, grooves, and notches with less than 2 mm radius.

About Raydiance
Raydiance develops, manufactures and markets precision manufacturing solutions enabled by femtosecond laser technology. The company offers one-step all-laser precision manufacturing solutions, which optimize factory work flow, beyond material processing and handling, to radically improve production efficiency and quality with unmatched part-to-part consistency, higher yields and lower costs. Deployed in factories of Fortune 500 companies worldwide, Raydiance solutions readily integrate into customer manufacturing lines and R&D environments to deliver rapid prototyping and transfer to production. Learn more about Raydiance at www.raydiance.com.