Concept for performance-enhancement of ultra-precision dicing for bulk hard and brittle materials in micro applications by laser dressing

Abstract

Adapted ultra-precision dicing processes are required for implementing hard and brittle materials such as sintered silicon carbide (SSiC) into MEMS applications. Wear and accuracy loss of resin-bonded dicing blades are significant when processing SSiC. Metal-bonded dicing blades can better resist the harsh environment during dicing of SSiC but require frequent dressing to renew the worn-out diamond grains. This paper presents laser dressing of metal-bonded dicing blades to show its capability as an online dressing tool. The laser dressed blades achieve equal sharpness as conventional dressed blades with the advantage of a smaller and more consistent reduction of the blade diameter. Laser pulse lengths of 655 and 12ps with a wavelength of 532nm are studied for laser dressing. The dicing blades dressed with 655ps achieved higher cutting performances in terms of increased substrate roughness and better cutting depth consistency.