LW 405 is a laser writer using a single beam for patterning a photosensitive material on a flat substrate. Typical uses include the direct writing of small-area patterns (chip size) for fast prototyping, and glass mask patterning. Bear in mind that patterning at resolutions higher than 8 µm may take a very long time to complete, for a 10 cm wafer area. For 2 µm and 1 µm resolutions it is generally more economical to order a glass mask.

The beam wavelength is 405 nm and is therefore suitable for most diazoquinone-novolac based resists such as AZ 5214E, AZ 4562, AZ 1505, AZ 6600 etc. It can also be used to pattern ORMOCOMP and other negative photoresist sensitive at or around the 405 nm wavelength. It is NOT possible to pattern SU-8 effectively.