Improved performance of nonevaporable getter activated by a continuous wave infrared laser

We demonstrate a simple and efficient activation method of nonevaporable ge tter where a local heating is provided by a laser source. Dependence of var ious parameters such as laser power, scan speed, and irradiation time by th e degree of getter activation was experimentally examined in detail. It is shown that the laser irradiation enhances the getter activation process con siderably by shortening the time and increasing the gas absorption capacity required to achieve a desired vacuum level for flat panel display applicat ion The degree of laser activation is compared to that of the conventional thermal heating method. Under the optimized activation conditions, we achie ved a vacuum lever of 2x10(-6) Torr from the initial value of 4x10(-4) Torr . Therefore, the laser irradiation method is a very promising technology fo r nonevaporable getter activation which overcomes a number of problems resu lting from the conventional method. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.