Hole drilling of glass has been performed by use of a pulsed CO sub 2 laser of type Rofin Sinar RS 1500 in order to determine the best conditions for laser drilling. Relations have been established between the specific energy, the power density and the pulse time needed for drilling holes through glass plates of defined thicknesses. From these relationships it has been possible to decide the correct laser parameters for an optimized hole drilling with minimized crack formation