Wire Electric Discharge Machining Process of Various Crystalline Silicon Wafers

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) process was evaluated to slice Silicon (Si) for various applications. Specifically, various Si workpieces with various resistances, such as single and multi crystalline Si bricks and wafers were used. As conventional slicing processes, such as slurry-on or diamond-on wire slicing, are based on mechanical abrasions between Si and abrasive, there is a limitation to decrease the wafer thickness as well as kerf-loss. Especially, when the wafer thickness is less than $150{\mu}m$, wafer breakage increases dramatically during the slicing process. Single crystalline P-type Si bricks and wafers were successively sliced with considerable slicing speed regardless of its growth direction. Also, typical defects, such as microcracks, craters, microholes, and debris, were introduced when Si was sliced by electrical discharge. Also, it was found that defect type is also dependent on resistance of Si. Consequently, this study confirmed the feasibility of slicing single crystalline Si by WEDM.

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