• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.67-71
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• 2016

This study investigates the characteristics of the sapphire wafer chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. The material removal rate is one of the most important factors since it has a significant impact on the production efficiency of a sapphire wafer. Some of the factors affecting the material removal rate include the pressure, platen speed and slurry. Among the factors affecting the CMP process, we analyzed the trends in the material removal rate and surface roughness, which are mechanical factors corresponding to both the pressure and platen speed, were analyzed. We also analyzed the increase in the material removal rate, which is proportional to the pressure and platen speed, using the Preston equation. In the experiment, after polishing a 4-inch sapphire wafer with increasing pressure and platen speed, we confirmed the material removal rate via thickness measurements. Further, surface roughness measurements of the sapphire wafer were performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipment. Using the measurement results, we analyzed the trends in the surface roughness with the increase in material removal rate. In addition, the experimental results, confirmed that the material removal rate increases in proportion to the pressure and platen speed. However, the results showed no association between the material removal rate and surface roughness. The surface roughness after the CMP process showed a largely consistent trend. This study demonstrates the possibility to improve the production efficiency of sapphire wafer while maintaining stable quality via mechanical factors associated with the CMP process.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.13-19
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• 2010

Due to the rapid spread of mobile handheld devices, industrial demands for micro-scale holes with a diameter of even smaller than $10{\mu}m$ in sapphire/silicon wafers have been increasing. Holes in sapphire wafers are for heat dissipation from LEDs; and those in silicon wafers for interlayer communication in three-dimensional integrated circuit (IC). We have developed a sapphire wafer driller equipped with a 532nm laser in which a cooling chuck is employed to minimize local heat accumulation in wafer. Through the optimization of process parameters (pulse energy, repetition rate, number of pulses), quality holes with a diameter of $30{\mu}m$ and a depth of $100{\mu}m$ can be drilled at a rate of 30holes/sec. We also have developed a silicon wafer driller equipped with a 355nm laser. It is able to drill quality through-holes of $15{\mu}m$ in diameter and $150{\mu}m$ in depth at a rate of 100holes/sec.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.323-329
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• 2019

Sapphire is currently used as a substrate material for blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The market for sapphire substrates has expanded rapidly as the use of LEDs has extended into various industries. However, sapphire is classified as one of the most difficult materials to machine due to its hardness and brittleness. Recently, a lap-grinding process has been developed to combine the lapping and diamond mechanical polishing (DMP) steps in a single process. This paper studies, the effect of wafer surface roughness on the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process by pressure and abrasive concentration in the lap-grinding process of a sapphire wafer. In this experiment, the surface roughness of a sapphire wafer is measured after lap-grinding by varying the pressure and abrasive concentration of the slurry. CMP is carried out under pressure conditions of 4.27 psi, a plate rotation speed of 103 rpm, head rotation speed of 97 rpm, and slurry flow rate of 170 ml/min. The abrasive concentration of the CMP slurry was 20wt, implying that the higher the surface roughness after lapgrinding, the higher the material removal rate (MRR) in the CMP. This is likely due to the real contact area and actual contact pressure between the rough wafer and polishing pad during the CMP. In addition, wafers with low surface roughness after lap-grinding show lower surface roughness values in CMP processes than wafers with high surface roughness values; therefore, further research is needed to obtain sufficient surface roughness before performing CMP processes.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2013년도 제45회 하계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.223.1-223.1
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• 2013

Since sapphire single crystal is one of the materials that have excellent mechanical and optical properties, the single crystal is widely used in various fields, and the demand for the use of substrate of LED devices is increasing rapidly. However, crystal defects such as dislocations and stacking faults worsen the properties of the single crystal intensely. When sapphire wafer of single crystal is used as LED substrate, especially, crystal defects have a strong influence on the characteristics of a film deposited on the wafer. In such a case quantitative assessment of the defects is essential, and the evaluation technique is now becoming one of the most important factors in commercialization of sapphire wafer. Wet etching is comparatively easy and accurate method to estimate dislocation density of single crystal because etching reaction primarily takes place where dislocations reached crystal surface which are chemically weak points, and produces etch pit. In the present study, the formation behavior of etch pits and etching time dependence were studied systematically. Etch pit density(EPD) analysis using optical microscope was also conducted and measurement uncertainty of EPD was studied to confirm the reliability of the results. EPDs and measurement uncertainties for 4 inch sapphire wafers were analyzed in terms of 5 and 21 points EPD readings. EPDs and measurement uncertainties in terms of 5 points readings for 4 inch wafers were compared by 2 organizations. We found that the average EPD value in terms of 5 points readings for a 4 inch sapphire wafer may represent the EPD value of the wafer.

• 반도체디스플레이기술학회지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.81-86
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• 2023

Recently, there has been an increased demand for light-emitting diode (LED) due to the growing emphasis on environmental protection. However, the use of GaN-based sapphire in LED manufacturing leads to the generation of defects, such as dislocations caused by lattice mismatch, which ultimately reduces the luminous efficiency of LEDs. Moreover, most inspections for LED semiconductors focus on evaluating the luminous efficiency after packaging. To address these challenges, this paper aims to detect defects at the wafer stage, which could potentially improve the manufacturing process and reduce costs. To achieve this, image processing and deep learning-based defect detection techniques for Sapphire Epi-Wafer used in Green LED manufacturing were developed and compared. Through performance evaluation of each algorithm, it was found that the deep learning approach outperformed the image processing approach in terms of detection accuracy and efficiency.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제29권12호
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• pp.1285-1289
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• 2012

This study has been focused on application of ELID lapping process for mirror-surface machining of sapphire wafer. Sapphire wafer is a superior material with optic properties of high performance as light transmission, thermal conductivity, hardness and so on. High effective surface machining technology is necessary to use sapphire as various usages. The interval ELID lapping process has been set up for lapping of the sapphire material. According to the ELID lapping experimental results, it shows that 12.5 kg of load for lapping is most pertinent to ELID lapping. the surface of sapphire can be eliminated by metal bonded wheel with micron abrasives and the surface roughness of 60 nmRa can be gotten using grinding wheel of 2,000 mesh in 4.5 um, depth of cut. In this study, the chemical experiments after ELID grinding also has been conducted to check chemical reaction between workpiece and grinding wheel on ELID grinding process. It shows that the chemical reaction has not happened as the results of the chemical experiments.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.743-744
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• 2008

• 한국재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국재료학회 1999년도 추계학술발표강연 및 논문개요집
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• pp.142-142
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• 1999

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2013년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.35-36
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• 2013

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2009년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.407-408
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• 2009