the invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof , given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing in which : fig . a ( a ) is an example of a known strip of ball grid array devices suitable for use with the invention , in which encapsulant material protects a die and electrical connections between the die and the substrate , the strip including tooling holes and cut - out sections for ease of punching ; fig . a ( b ) is similar to the strip of fig . a ( a ) but without the cut - out sections ; fig . a ( c ) is similar to the strip of fig . a ( b ) but without the tooling holes ; fig . a ( d ) is similar to the strip of fig . a ( a ) but in which encapsulant covers multiple dies ; fig . b is a known multiple unit , chip - scale package assembly suitable for use with the invention ; fig . c is a known circuit board panel containing multiple circuit boards suitable for use with the invention ; fig . d shows the final steps in a known method of manufacturing ball grid array / chip scale package devices . fig1 is a diagrammatic view of a cutting method of the invention ; fig2 and 3 are diagrams showing control of a laser beam for cutting ; fig6 to 9 inclusive are photographs of cut material cross - sections . the invention is based upon use of a laser beam for singulation , as shown in fig1 . the process uses an ultraviolet laser to “ saw ” the package . the laser creates excellent quality cuts which generate only vapor debris , use no consumables , and do not cause any chips or micro - cracks in the cut edges . the concept of photo - ablative decomposition of materials using ultraviolet laser pulses was introduced by srinivasin in 1982 . ( r . srinavasan et al . applied physics letters , 41 , page 576 , 1982 ). the basic mechanism for material removal differs from longer wavelength processes in that the energy of individual photons at ultra - violet wavelengths is close to the energy of the bonds that hold the material together . examples of the covalent bond strengths of some representative bonds are shown in table 1 . in addition , at room temperature , the width of the absorption bands is sufficient that , at least for organic covalent bonds , pulsed ultraviolet radiation in the wavelength range below 400 nm (& gt ; 3ev ) is sufficient to cause photo - ablative decomposition . below a certain threshold of fluence or intensity , no ablation is observed . however , photo - degradation can occur and lead to morphological changes on the material surface . ( p . e . dyer et al , journal of applied physics , 57 , p1420 , 1985 ; j . h . brannon et al ., journal of applied physics , 58 , p2036 , 1985 ; r . srinivasan et al ., applied physics 61 p372 , 1987 ) the fragments coming off the surface that is being ablated consist of small clusters of material and gaseous products . ( r . c . estler et al , applied physics letters , 49 , p1175 , 1986 ; g . koren et al , applied physics letters , 44 . p1112 , 1984 ; g . s . hansen et al ., journal of applied physics , p1878 , 1990 .) with the exception of 308 nm ablation of polyimide ( d . l . singleton et al ., chemical physics , 144 , p415 , 1990 ), the laser pulse duration and shape are reported to have a determinant effect on the ablation . ( r . srinivasan et al , applied physics letters , 53 , 1233 , 1988 .) the photo - ablation process generally occurs on a fast time - scale less than the laser pulse width of 20 ns . a blast wave is generated following pulse impact and absorption . ( r . srinivasan et al , journal of applied physics , 68 , p1842 , 1990 ). absorption coefficient is defined at low power density ( mw / cm2 ) and etch rate represents material removal at much higher power densities ( mw to mw / cm2 ). as ablation starts with absorption , there is often a link between absorption co - efficient , alpha , and the etch depth . that is , a strong absorber will have a lower ablation threshold ( power density ) than a weak absorber . however , etch rate for a strong absorber can be much smaller as most of the photonic energy is confined to shallower depths . this is a common observation . however , this is by no means the general case . absorption is only a necessary condition . it is not sufficient . a high absorber could relax radiativley or thermally to its original ground state . to have photo - ablation requires bond breaking , i . e . a reaction from reactant to products via excited state ( photo - chemical reaction ) or ground state ( photo - thermal reaction ). secondly , because of the different intensity regime between the spectroscopic measurement of alpha and the ablation regime , non - linear phenomena such as multi - photon absorption could lead to a dramatic increase ( and then possibly to saturation ) of the etch rate with power density . in this way , two materials having a similar alpha ( i . e . at low intensity ) but completely different etch rates ( at high intensity ) because , in one material , two - photon or multi - photon absorption sets in . for example , at 355 nm the aromatic rings of organic are not yet excited ( absorption peaks at 240 - 280 nm ). but with sufficient power - photon bond breaking may occur . a true description of the processes is difficult because ( i ) most of the cross sections and relaxation times are unknown , and ( ii ) ablation happens in the solid state where multi - molecular events , ( i . e . the way the energy of the broken bonds dissipates into the matrix ), mechanical properties , and thermal properties are also of importance . the apparatus of the invention uses an ultra - violet solid state laser to cut materials that form chip scale packages such as ball grid arrays , circuit board materials and other “ thin film ” type materials that may form the lamellae of such laminated packages . solid state yag / ylf and nvo4 lasers and other lasers operating with fundamental laser emission in the visible or infra red may be converted to ultraviolet lasers through second and third harmonic generation , sum and difference frequency mixing in second order nonlinear crystals . as an example , using lasers operating in the “ third harmonic ” regime we have established that with average power in excess of 3w , we can meet or better the cut rate required to match most bga process line throughputs . the apparatus consists of an ultraviolet laser system as described above , and a beam positioning mechanism . the bean positioning mechanism may be a multiple axis stage as illustrated in fig2 or a scanning galvanometer as illustrated in fig3 . referring to fig2 a beam positioning mechanism 30 is illustrated . a frame 31 supports a target 32 to be singulated . the optical path is : variation in spot size may be effectively eliminated by mirror control . the cut process may be monitored in real time by observing the light energy reflected from the surface of the material being cut back - reflected along the path of the incident beam and on to a photo - electric detector . in the event that the material has been completely cut , there will be no reflective surface and the signal at the detector will drop to a background level , ideally zero . the reflected light may be u . v . laser light , in which case a beam splitter for the laser wavelength is used . in another embodiment a mirror transparent to ultraviolet ( e . g . 355 nm ) is used to reflect a second wavelength such as the second harmonic wavelength ( e . g . 532 nm ). in this instance , there is no input power sacrifice at the ultraviolet wavelength . another possibility is that the feedback mechanism is the visible to infrared emission of the plume generated during the cutting process . in the absence of this plume , no cutting occurs and the sample has been cut through . the presence of the plume may be taken as evidence that cutting is occurring . furthermore , the spectral content of the plume provides information on the material that is being cut . real time control of cutting multi - layer materials is possible by monitoring the spectral output at each position of the pulse on the cut scan . from the control point , once the signal can be delivered and processed before the next measurement occurs it is possible to control the laser output parameters on a pulse to pulse basis . this is beneficial in the case where composite materials such as laminated packages may have variation in material distribution across the cut surface . in addition , once a layer has been completely cut through the laser parameters can be vaned on the fly such that the cut process is optimised for the next layer . a second option for beam delivery and position control is to use a scanning galvanometer . fig3 shows the essential geometry . two minors are mounted on current driven galvanometer coils that rotate the axes on which the mirror is mounted . scanning from position a to position d can be achieved by scanning galvanometer galv . 1 through an angle g 1 with galvanometer galv . 2 oriented so that its mirror reflects along this line . scanning from position a to position b may be achieved by rotating galvanometer galv . 2 through an angle g 2 with galvanometer galv . 1 fixed for position a on the ad line . accordingly , any position in two dimensions may be marked out by a combination of moves of the two mirrors . the galvanometer approach allows high acceleration and deceleration times , resulting in minimal time between moves and minimal effect on processing time . to deliver a focussed laser beam to the work surface it is necessary to use a flat field lens or a z - axis focus adjustment . both galvanometer and gantry systems are possible for ultraviolet laser excising of circuit board and chip scale package materials . the choice depends on the exact requirements of the cutting process . in a situation where the high acceleration of a galvanometer approach is required with high accuracy a combination of a galvanometer and xy stage or gantry approach can provide this . for example , a specimen may be mounted on an xy stage below a galvanometer arrangement . high speed and acceleration is possible over a small area with a high degree of accuracy through the galvo action and slower moves with high accuracy are possible with the xy stage . where the number of slower moves is low , the overall effect on processing time will be negligible . this galvo / xy stage combination allows accuracy and speed to be exploited . the type of laser , the laser output specifications , the beam delivery method and the material that is to be cut all affect the rate at which the material is cut and the quality of the resulting cut . the optical configuration described above delivers a laser beam to the surface to be cut . using a lens , the beam is focussed to a small diameter , high - intensity spot . the laser fires pulses in sequence at rates greater than 1 khz . cutting is achieved by scanning the beam over the sample ( or scanning the sample through the beam ) at a speed such that there is sufficient overlap between the pulses to allow cutting . we have established that in order to maximise the cut speed and quality it is necessary to ensure the correct overlap factor and to use multiple passes over the same path to cut through a material . from our investigation into the cutting process we have established that ; the laser , material and scanning parameters form a set of parameters that must be optimised for the optimum cut speed and quality . using the average power , repetition rate , and scan rate relationships it is possible to ensure a linear scaling of cut rate with average power by using multiple passes . the focal spot size may be reduced or increased and the corresponding overlap parameter adjusted ( by adjusting rep rate or scan rate ) if higher peak power density is required . the high power density (& gt ; 100mw / cm2 ) scaling laws for etch rate or cut rate are different to those observed for low power ( 1kw to 100mwy / cm2 ) pulse energy : the pulse is the energy within a single pulse of the pulse train , and the energy density is the value per cm 2 . scan speed : the scan speed of the laser relative to he sample is defined by the required spatial overlap for a given spot size at a fixed repetition rate . overlap : the overlap is defined as the percentage of the beam diameter that overlaps spatially with the other pluses in sequence . spot size : the spot size or bean diameter determines the peak power density ( w / cm2 ) and fluence ( j / cm2 ) at the cutting surface . also , the spot size determines at which velocity the laser should be scanned relative to the sample to achieve the required overlap . overlap   ( % ) = beam   diameter - { scan   velocity repetition   frequency } diameter × 100 average power is the pulse energy delivered by all pulses in one second . energy × repetition frequency . peak   power = energy pulsewidth pulse width : pulse width determines the peak power and the peak power density peak   power   density = peak   power area peak power density is the peak power delivered per unit area ( cm 2 ). the linear absorption coefficient , α , determines the penetration depth of the pulse . the beer lambert law states that accordingly , the depth at which the incident intensity , i 0 , reduces by 50 % ( i = i 0 / 2 ) is given by l 1 2 = ln2 α two - photon absorption way be understood by taking the total absorption as the sum of a linear and intensity dependent absorption coefficient given by where α 0 is the linear absorption coefficient in m − 1 1 α 2 is the two - photon absorption coefficient in m / w and i is the intensity in w / m 2 for a fixed intensity wave and at a wavelength where two - photon absorption occurs the resulting decrease in the wave intensity may be represented mathematically by  i  ( z )  z = - α 0  i  ( z ) - α 2  i 2  ( z ) b where z is the distance that the wave has propagated in meters . integration of this expression yields the intensity of the wave as a function of the distance propagated ; i  ( z ) = i 0   - α 0  z 1 α 0  [ α 0 + α 2  i 0  ( 1 -  - α 0  z ) ] c where i 0 is the initial intensity of the wave . if there is negligible two - photon absorption , α 2 , is zero and this expression reduces to the beer - lambert law for linear absorption . in the presence of two - photon absorption an intensity limiting effect occurs . energy may be absorbed even if the low intensity absorption coefficient is zero . ( a ) as intensity is increased in the presence of two photon absorption , the depth at which the intensity is above a threshold value , i th , increases also . similar to two photon absorption three and multi - photon absorption can be defined using the procedures above . other nonlinear absorption processes include absorption saturation , inverse saturable absorption , and photo - ionisation . using an assist gas it is possible to ensure that debris is not redeposited on the sample surface . also , some gases may enhance photo - removal of material and others may suppress unwanted non - clean chemical processes . based on the parameter space described it is possible to state the following . the minimum energy density should be 100j / cm 2 or the minimum peak power density should be 1 . 0gw / cm 2 . for a given laser pulse energy , the scan rate and repetition rate define overlap . by increasing scan rate and repetition rate the overlap can be maintained , the number of scans remains constant but the time required to cut decreases linearly according to the increase in scan rate , i . e . the cut rate decreases linearly . for a given pulse repetition frequency , scan speed and overlap ( 5 %- 95 °), the number of passes required to cut through a sample decreases as the energy of the pulse is increased . for uv solid stare lasers with average power up to 4 w working at the optimum cut rate and with parameters set to achieve this , the increase generally follows a linear trend . as well as standard photo - ablation , nonlinear absorption and ionization effects occur in the higher power density regime ( greater an 100mw / cm 2 ). accordingly , the cut rate increases with a linear or better than linear dependence on pulse energy . for the uv lasers described above , it is possible to reduce the number of scars required to achieve cutting by : optimising the cut rate at a low power of 3 w , and by scaling the average power output upward such that the only parameter to change is the pulse energy ( for example yielding 15 w average power ). depending on the material it may be possible to reduce the number of scans by five ( 15 w / 3 w , linear ), more the five ( super - linear ) or less than five ( saturating ) to achieve complete cutting . generally , for the materials in chip scale packages , circuit boards and flex circuits , the cut rate increases linearly or “ super ” linearly as pulse energy is increased . as example of the scaling laws above consider a 1 mm thick multi - layer structure . we achieve a cut rate of 4 . 2 mm / s with an average power of 3 w . this is achieved with a repetition rate of 5 . 5 khz , pulse - width of 95 ns , scanning at 100 mm / s and with a 25 micron spot size . this requires a total of 24 passes to cut through and achieve the quality required . for this example the corresponding energy density ( or fluence ) and peak power density may be calculated as : average   power   density = energy area = average   power repetition   rate × area = 111   j /  cm 2 peak   power   density = peak   power area = average   power repetition   rate × pulse   width × area = 1 . 2   gw /  cm 2 increasing the scan rate to 300 mm / s and increasing the repetition rate to 16 . 5 khz , and taking the same pulse energy , it is possible to achieve a cut rate of at least 12 . 6 mm / s . this requires an average power of 9 w . this is within the capability of diode pumped uv solid state lasers . increasing the power further at this repetition rate ( for example to 18 w ) and maintaining all other parameters can then result in a doubling of this rate to 25 . 2 mm / s . keeping all of the above parameters the same , further improvements ( cut rate increases ) are possible by reducing the pulse - width . reducing pulse - width for a fixed energy results in an increase in peak power . nonlinear processes are strongly dependent on peak power and where there is a nonlinear absorption , ionization , or refraction process contributing to the rate of material removal , reducing the pulse - width will increase the material removal rate resulting in an increased cut rate . ablation also show a strong pulse width dependence . a further parameter that affects the beam energy / power density at the sample is the beam diameter . focussing to a smaller beam waist at the sample results in an increase in the peak power density , average power density and energy density at the sample . all of these result in an increase in material removal . eventually , however the “ kerf ” or width of the cutting region physically occludes material removal and it is necessary to ensure a sufficient kerf width to maintain the material removal rate . a second factor which much be taken into account is the depth of field . focussing too tightly will reduce the depth of field . finally , reproducibility of the positioning system will become critical at smaller beam sizes . with these factors in mind , the optimum beam diameter lies in the range from 8 to 70 microns . the parameter space is then defined by ( in no particular order ): pulsewidth :& lt ; 100 ns overlap ( rep rate and scan rate dependent ): 5 % to 95 %, and preferably 30 % to 50 %. minimum energy density of 100j / cm 2 or a minimum peak power density of 1 . 0gw / cm 2 . the laser was a frequency tripled q - switched nd : yag laser . the laser stability was better than 7 % about the mean and the mode ration was in the fundamental tem 00 . the operating specification is shown in table 2 . the optimum rep rate was established by varying the rep rate and scan speed , ensuring similar overlap and counting the number of passes required to machine through . although the rep rate could be tuned up to 15 khz the optimum machining performance is obtained when the average power is near the peak . at this point the individual pulse energy may not be at a maximum but the total delivered energy is such that that cutting occurs in the fastest possible time . the conclusion that may be drawn from the graphs in fig4 and 5 is : above a power density of 0 . 5 gw / cm2 , by varying the pulse energy only , the cut rate increases without saturation . this relationship varies slightly depending on the sample type and thickness but the relationship may be defined as linearly proportional or better . using the same laser operating parameters as in example 1 the cut rate for a 1 mm thick overmolded bga package was measured as 4 . 2 mm / sec at 3w average power . this was accomplished by using 24 passes at a sped of 100 mm / s ( approx . 50 % overlap at the fwhm intensity point ). 20x and 100x sem images of the edges obtained are shown in fig6 and 7 respectively . the sample consists of solder mask , glass fiber matrix , epoxy and adhesive , copper and encapsulant regions . it is clear that the edge quality is defect free . the open space that appears is likely due to the free volume of the encapsulant material . the experiment was repeated with two passes and scanning with a speed of 8 . 3 mm / sec . this corresponds to a 93 % overlap for a 25 micron spot . the 20x and 100x sem images of the edge are shown in fig8 and 9 respectively . it is very clear that the cut quality is not as good as in the case for 50 % overlap and that this is an important factor in achieving the required cut quality . the following example indicates the laser beam power requirements . 1 mm thick multilayer overmolded bga package ( see example 2 ). effective cut rate = 4 . 2 mm / second energy   density = average  power repetition   frequency * area = 3 5500 * π * ( 12 . 5 × 10 - 4 ) 2 = 111   j /  cm 2  energy   density = average  power repetition   frequency * area = 3 5500 * π * ( 12 . 5 × 10 - 4 ) 2 = 111   j /  cm 2 depth of focus ω  ( z ) = ω 0  [ 1 + ( λ   z π   ω 0 2 ) 2 ] 1 2 where ω ( z ) is beam waist at a distance z from the minimum beam waist at ω 0 and λ is the wavelength . allowing 5 % spot size variation , i . e . ω ( z )= 1 . 05 ω 0 . with ω 0 = 25 microns and at a wavelength of 355 nm and solve for z = δz δ   z = ± 0 . 32  π  ( 25 × 10 - 6 ) 2 355 × 10 - 9 δ   z = ± 1 . 7   mm form this data we can conclude that the energy density , peak power density and average power density regime is unique and also that the depth of focus over which this regime can exist yields a completely new set of parameters for laser machining using ultraviolet light . using a laser of this type with an average power greater than 3 w yields a completely new regime of power densities which may be applied to the efficient machining of multiple layer and composite materials such as those used in electronic manufacturing . it will be appreciated from the above that the invention achieves the following advantages over the prior art . parts transferred directly from previous process in panel , strip , or boats for example , for singulation of a package having a thickness of 1 mm , a speed of greater than 1000uph ( units per hour ) is achieved with a 5 w laser . this may be greater with more power . unlike use of a diamond saw , the laser cutting process does not incur costs associated with wafer saw , for uv tape deionized water , drying , and for saw consumables laser excising consumes less space in class 1000 clean room area . laser excising and inspection require only approximately 2 square metre , as opposed to approximately 5 square metres for prior art sawing , handling , and inspection equipment . the excising method of the invention results in much smaller “ kerf ”. typically in the prior art methods saws are given 250 μm waste area and use 175 μm cuts . in the invention , the waste area is 25 μm or less . thus , the invention achieves great “ real estate ” for components , particularly small components . also , the invention achieves edges with less stress and no micro - cracking . the invention is not limited to the embodiments described but may be varied in construction and detail within the scope of the claims .