• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.21-25
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• 2010

In response to the industrial needs for automated handling of very thin solar cell wafers, this paper presents the design concept for the individual wafer separation from the stacked wafers by utilizing continuous water jet. The experimental apparatus for automated wafer separation was constructed and it includes the water jet system and the microprocessor controlled wafer stack advancing system. Through a series of tests, the performance of the proposed design is quantified into the success rate of single wafer separation and the rapidity of processing wafer stack. Also, the inclination angle of wafer equipped cartridge and the water jet flowrate are found to be important parameters to be considered for process optimization. The proposed design shows the concept for fast and efficient processing of wafer separation and can be implemented in the automated manufacturing of silicon based solar cell wafers.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.125-134
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• 2006

Process & mechanism $\blacklozenge$ The process consists from two steps which are laser processing step and separation steop. $\blacklozenge$ The wavelength of laser beam is transmissible wavelength for the wafer. However, inside of Si wafer is processed due to temperature dependence of optical absorption coefficient Advantage & Application $\blacklozenge$ Advantages are high speed dicing, no debris contaminants, completely dry process, etc. $\blacklozenge$ The cutting edges were fine, The lifetime and endurances did not degrade the device characteristics $\blacklozenge$ A separation of a wafer with DAF was introduced as an application for SiP

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.301-306
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• 2017

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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.697-702
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• 2019

In this study, using a wet chemical process, we evaluate the effectiveness of different solution concentrations in removing layers from a solar cell, which is necessary for recovery of high-purity silicon. A 4-step wet etching process is applied to a 6-inch back surface field(BSF) solar cell. The metal electrode is removed in the first and second steps of the process, and the anti-reflection coating(ARC) is removed in the third step. In the fourth step, high purity silicon is recovered by simultaneously removing the emitter and the BSF layer from the solar cell. It is confirmed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy(ICP-MS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analyses that the effectiveness of layer removal increases with increasing chemical concentrations. The purity of silicon recovered through the process, using the optimal concentration for each process, is analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy(ICP-AES). In addition, the silicon wafer is recovered through optimum etching conditions for silicon recovery, and the solar cell is remanufactured using this recovered silicon wafer. The efficiency of the remanufactured solar cell is very similar to that of a commercial wafer-based solar cell, and sufficient for use in the PV industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.401-407
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• 2012

The recent manufacturing process in the thin wafers and flat panel necessitate new approaches to reduce handling fragile and surface-sensitive damage of components. This paper presents a new pneumatic levitation for non-contact handling of parts and substrates. This levitation can achieve non-contact handling by blowing air into an air pressure pick-up head with radial passages to generate a negative pressure region. Negative pressure is caused by the radial air flow by nozzle throat and through holes connecting to the bottom region. The numerical analysis deals with the levitational motion with different design factors. The dynamic motion is examined in terms of force balance(dynamic equilibrium) occurring to the flow field between two objects. The stable equilibrium position and the safe separation distance are determined by analyzing the local pressure distribution in the fluid motion. They make considerable design factors consisting the air pressure pick-up head. As a result, in case that the safe separation distance is beyond 0.7mm, the proposed pick-up head can levitate stably at the equilibrium position. Furthermore, it can provide little effect of torque, and obtain more wide picking region according to the head size.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2017

This study aims to select suitable co-solvents and to obtain optimal process conditions in order to improve process efficiency and productivity through experimental results obtained under various experimental conditions for the etching and rinsing process using liquid carbon dioxide and supercritical carbon dioxide. Acetone was confirmed to be effective through basic experiments and used as the etching solution for MEMS-wafer etching in this study. In the case of using liquid carbon dioxide as the solvent and acetone as the etching solution, these two components were not mixed well and showed a phase separation. Liquid carbon dioxide in the lower layer interfered with contact between acetone and Mems-wafer during etching, and the results after rinsing and drying were not good. Based on the results obtained under various experimental conditions, the optimum process for treating MEMS-wafer using supercritical CO2 as the solvent, acetone as the etching solution, and methanol as the rinsing solution was set up, and MEMS-wafer without stiction can be obtained by continuous etching, rinsing and drying process. In addition, the amount of the etching solution (acetone) and the cleaning liquid (methanol) compared to the initial experimental values can be greatly reduced through optimization of process conditions.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.40-44
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• 2008

The interfacial adhesion energy between resist and a substrate is very important due to resist pull-off problems during separation of mold from a substrate in nanoimprint process. And effect of substrate surface roughness on interfacial adhesion energy is very important. In this paper, we have treated glass wafer surface using $CF_4$ gas for increase surface roughness and it has tested interfacial adhesion properties of UV resin/glass substrate interfaces by 4 point bending test. The interfacial adhesion energies by bare, 30, 60 and 90 sec surface treatments are 0.62, 1.4, 1.36 and 2 $J/m^2$, respectively. The test results showed quantitative comparisons of interfacial fracture energy (G) effect of glass wafer surface roughness.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2003

The synthesis of SiC used for the parts of the gas turbine and the heat exchanger, was carried out. In this study, wire cutting slurry of silicon wafer and the graphite rod of spent zinc-carbon battery were applied to the starting materials for the synthesis. The powders of Si or Si+SiC were obtained from the waste material by filtration, gravity separation and magnetic separation. Graphite powder was produced by dismantling, grinding and gravity separation from spent zinc-carbon battery. The synthesis of SiC could be completed from the mixture powders of Si and C or Si+SiC and C at the condition of equivalent ratio of Si and C, atmosphere of Ar or vacuum, temperature of above 1$600^{\circ}C$ and 2 hours reactions. The purity of synthesized Si-C was above 99%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.1 s.75
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• pp.59-67
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• 2007

Recovery of acids from the waste etching solution of containing acetic, nitric and hydrofluoric acid discharged from silicon wafer manufacturing process has been attempted by using solvent extraction method. EHA(2-Ethylhexlalcohol) for acetic acid and TBP(Tri-butly Phosphate) for nitric and hydrofluoric acid as a extraction agent was used to the experiment to obtain the process design data in separation procedure. From the experimental data and McCabe-Thiele diagram analysis, we obtained the optimum conditions of phase ratio(O/A) and stages to separate each acid sequently from the mixed acids. The recovery yield was obtained above 90% for acetic acid from the acid mixtures, 90% for nitric acid from acetic acid extraction raffinate and then above 67% for hydrofluoric acid from final extraction raffinate.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-4
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• 2009

This work shows how the adoption of a dual-dicing process for silicon wafer separation affects the thermal-cycling reliability (i.e. $-65^{\circ}C$ to $150^{\circ}C$) of the semiconductor devices utilizing lead-on-chip (LOC) die attach technique. In-situ examinations show that conventional single-dicing process directly attacks the edge region of diced devices but dual-dicing process effectively protects the edge region of diced devices from dicing-induced mechanical damage. Probably, this is because the preferential and sacrificial fracture of notched regions induced on the active surface of wafers saves the edge regions. It was also investigated through thermal-cycling tests that the number of thermal-cycling induced failures is much lower at the dual-dicing process than the single-dicing process.