Title: Wheel wear mechanisms for silicon grinding: a literature review

Authors: J.H. Liu, Z.J. Pei, Graham R. Fisher

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. ' MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., 501 Pearl Drive, St. Peters, MO 63376, USA

Abstract: Grinding is an important flattening process for manufacturing of silicon wafers. The wear of grinding wheels has significant impacts on the manufacturing cost of silicon wafers and the quality of ground wafers. However, a thorough literature search has not resulted in any studies on wheel wear mechanisms in silicon grinding. The lack of understanding and knowledge about wheel wear mechanisms in silicon grinding has become a major barrier to the development of better wheels for the silicon wafer industry. This paper reviews the literature on the wear mechanisms for conventional wheels when grinding metals and for diamond wheels when grinding ceramics, aiming to provide a springboard for research on wheel wear mechanisms when grinding silicon wafers. It covers the types of wheel wear mechanisms, measurement methods for the wheel wear mechanisms, models constructed to study the wear mechanisms and feasibility of applying/extending them to silicon grinding. It concludes with a discussion on the challenges of conducting the research on wheel wear mechanisms in silicon grinding.

Keywords: abrasive; grinding wheels; machining; semiconductor materials; silicon wafers; wear mechanisms; wheel wear mechanisms; silicon grinding; literature review; wafer manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2009.023113

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2009 Vol.5 No.1, pp.60 - 79

Published online: 10 Feb 2009 *

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