9634889 Kao Wire sawing is a technology that has been used for may years to cut stone and wood, but today is used to slice the silicon wafers used in photovoltaic cells and semiconductors. These saws use multiple wires and an abrasive slurry to produce thin (on the order of 300-400 micron), relatively large diameter (200-300 millimeter) wafers from silicon ingots with excellent surface finish. This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry cooperative research project between the State University of New York at Stony Brook and GT Equipment Technologies, Inc. will develop models for the wire sawing process to design and build the next generation of wire saw capable of producing wafers less than 300 microns thick with kerf losses of between 150-200 microns. The technical approach will be to develop a mechanics and dynamic model of the sawing process that can be used to design a stiffness and tension control strategy for improving slicing accuracy. Experiments and unique speckle laser measurement techniques will be used to validate the model and control prior to the industrial partner's design of a prototype. This project will provide a fundamental model for this important process in electronics manufacture, leading to improved quality and productivity when fabricating wafers from silicon ingots. An integrated design and control approach for this equipment promises to reduce waste through both kerf losses and defective products, giving a technological lead to equipment manufactures competing in global markets.
