subject: Wafer Dicing Process And Types Of Dicing Blades [print this page] In the semiconductor industry, wafer dicing process plays an important role as it is used for semiconductor product manufacturing. This process uses equipment like wafer dicing machine where wafers are cut into individual semiconductor chips, with the help of dicing blades.
'Wafer dicing methods'
There are several methods involved in wafer dicing, and some of these are the following:
Scribing and breaking - usually is done in a substrate made of a brittle material by which good-quality cutting surface of the substrate can be achieved without any defects such as chippings on the substrate. This method of semiconductor wafer separation is accomplished by creating a stress in the wafer and then fracturing the wafer along the stress line. A line must be created in the wafer surface along the street where the break is desired.
Mechanical sawing - the process is done using a mechanical machine called dicing saw; this method is used for a micro electro-mechanical system semiconductor devices. While there are still manufacturers that use this method, it is slowly getting unpopular because of several disadvantages - the process is slow, contaminant-laden, and dependent on regular shapes.
Laser cutting - a new and more effective technology to cut semiconductor materials; the process works by directing the output of a high-power laser at the material to be cut. This process burns or vaporizes away the unwanted parts, leaving an edge with a high-quality surface finish.
'Dicing blades'
Dicing blades are used and are an important element for the dicing process. There are several types of dicing blades and some of them are the following:
Metal Sintered Dicing Blades - this is a type of blade is manufactured by capturing diamonds in a metal binder using sintering process - this is a very rigid blade and has a very low wear rates. These properties offer the ability to create very straight cuts even when subjected to large exposures.
Hubless Resin Bonden Blades - this type of dicing blade performs extremely well on materials like ceramic, quartz, sapphire and glass. This offers minimum chipping and superior finish.
Hubbed Nickel Bonded Blades - this is used to cut Silicon and III-V materials. This blade is ultra-thin and created using a special electrodepositing technique to hold the cutting diamonds in a nickel alloy matrix.
Hubbed Resin Bonded Blades - with this type of blade, using expensive flanges is not needed as the resinoid blade is permanently mounted to its own hub. As opposed to flanges, once the blade is dressed, it can be detached and reattached again without undergoing the process of dressing.
