Surface Layer Damage of Silicon Wafers Sliced by Wire Saw Process

Abstract

Wire saw process is widely used in the machining of hard and brittle materials with low surface damage and high efficiency. Cutting of silicon wafers in integrated circuit (IC), semiconductor and photovoltaic solar industries is also generally using wire saw process. However, the surface layer damage induced by wire saw process will seriously decrease the wafer quality and increase the process time and production costs of the post grinding and polishing. The surface layer qualities of the silicon wafers sawed by the different wire saw processes was investigated in this paper. The characteristics of surface roughness, surface topography and subsurface damage of silicon wafers sliced by the fixed abrasive and the loose abrasive wire sawing respectively were compared and the corresponding reasons were analyzed.