Cleaner laser welding

Seagate Technology is a leading manufacturer of hard disk drives.
Seagate Technology cleans laser-welding fixtures for disk drive suspensions.  The fixtures collect carbon soils in their holes, which accurately navigate the laser.  Prior to using the CO₂ composite spray cleaning process, cleaning was accomplished by swabbing each hole with IPA and/or acetone.
Said Seagate Laser Welding Engineer David Buedorf, “Since the implementation of the system, we have achieved an estimated 2-3 percent yield improvement.  Cleaning time has been reduced to one-fifth of the original time needed, and the improved fixture cleaning results in longer production runs between cleanings.”

Source:
“Today’s Forecast: It Looks like Snow”, Precision Cleaning, May 1999