High-Speed Dicing of SiC Wafers by Femtosecond Pulsed Laser

Abstract

A novel dicing technology that utilizes femtosecond pulsed lasers (FSPLs) are demonstrated as a high-speed and cost-effective dicing process for SiC wafers. The developed dicing process consists of cleavage groove formation on a SiC wafer surface by the FSPL, followed by chip separation by pressing a cleavage blade. The effective FSPL scan speed on the SiC surfaces was 33 mm/s. Kerf loss can be negligible in the developed FSPL dicing process. In addition, the residual lattice strain in the FSPL-diced SiC chips was comparably small to that of the conventional mechanical process using diamond saws, due to the absence of the lattice heating effect in femtosecond-laser processes.