Wafer manufacturing and shaping of crystalline wafers

Wafer manufacturing refers, in general, to the processes which produce prime wafers for semiconductor fabrication, such as silicon wafers for microchips and solar cells. It has been a field in which experiences and engineering know-hows play significant roles and are of instrumental value to the industry. With the emergence of new technology and research, the challenges are to understand fundamental process modeling in various processes of wafer manufacturing, and to be able to apply this new knowledge in the process control and management of wafering processes. With the familiarity of both research issues and practical engineering, researchers and practitioners strive to achieve the goals stated above. In this presentation, Dr. Kao will first review the processes of wafer manufacturing including crystal growth, wafer forming, wafer polishing, and wafer preparing. With the development of 300-mm Si wafers (12”), the wafer surface properties and quality measures will be presented and discussed with the four-character acronyms for wafer flatness measurement together with a brief history of wiresaws in wafer shaping. The vibration analysis of a moving wire and its implication in slicing ingots into wafers will be discussed using an industrial practice of moving the wire guides, which supports the wire web on which the ingot is sliced, to oscillate wire segments and contact to improve the efficiency of slicing. A book on various topics in wafer production is also being published by Dr. Kao. Selected topics from this book will be presented in this talk, as well as new research on vibration analysis of a moving wire and its implication in wiresawing process.