In most cases, glass processing starts on raw substrates that come in the form of flat glass. Unsurprisingly, the display industry and manufacturers of optical components are working with sheet glass as raw materials. However, plate glass also needs to be processed in electronic manufacturing and medical technology.
Originally, most of the glass processing has been done with mechanical scoring and breaking or other process steps such as sandblasting, ultrasonic machining or wet etching. Only recently have manufacturers started turning away from those rather unsubtle processing methods and using laser technology in order to achieve more precise processing of glass materials. The main advantages are plain to see: Ultrashort pulse lasers facilitate highly precise and always reproducible processing of brittle materials at a very high pace.