Posts made in May 2020

One of the most significant advances in electronics manufacturing is silicon wafer dicing. Wafers form the basis of semiconductors, microchips, and many electronic devices. To provide a general overview of the process, dicing involves high-speed saws that cut precise dies from the silicon wafer. The resulting dies are then placed in printed circuit boards or another electronic device.

Wafer dicing is an automation-focused process, as the cuts for wafers need to be made to exacting specifications. Many dies find purpose in computers, and also in sophisticated machinery used in the medical and defense industries.

One process, known as “high-precision wafer dicing,“ involves the cutting of silicon wafers to very small sizes. High-precision production methods can craft silicon dies for devices as little as 0.2mm. The wafers used in these manufacturing procedures can be as thin as 0.02mm

Silicon wafer dicing uses two machines to make die cuts. One method might utilize dual saw blades. Another might use a laser to etch out the dies. No matter the process, all steps must be overseen by computers to ensure accuracy and consistency. Another inspection crew conducts the final inspection to verify the dies. Diced wafers that do not pass inspection may be sent for reclaiming so that the materials can be used in another product.

Silicon wafer dicing utilizes advanced technology to create the innovations of tomorrow. Contact an experienced polishing company to learn about their dicing capabilities.

Silicon wafers are the building blocks of computer chips, circuit boards, and many electrical devices. While silicon is an exceptional material, it has limitations. Given the precise and exacting production standards of the manufacturing industry, it is not uncommon to have many wafers get rejected daily.

That doesn’t mean erroneous batches can never be reused, however. Many polishing companies offer wafer reclaiming services. This is a process that takes off layers of silicon to create a like-new service. This allows the wafers to be used in other projects instead of immediately filling a scrap heap. The wafer reclaiming process has several steps:

• Receiving
• Incoming Inspection
• Presort
• Stripping and Etching
• In-Process Quality Assurance
• Polishing
• SC1/SC2 Clean Spin/Rinse/Dry
• Visual Inspection
• Final Inspection and Quality Assurance

Polishing companies will accept a batch of rejected wafers and inspect them to determine if they are salvageable. When they have been approved, they go through the procedure. Reclamation uses a combination of polishing and chemical processes to remove old films and etchings. Then, the batch goes through a final inspection before being re-issued for another production run.

Refurbished silicon wafers will be thinner than their new counterparts. However, they can still find use in other applications. When refining your initial production processes at your facility, you may want to consider wafer reclaiming services that can give rejected runs a new purpose.