A wire supplying and receiving device includes a moving unit including a rail along a first horizontal direction, a first wire winding unit disposed on the rail and rotatable about an axis parallel to the first horizontal direction, and a second wire winding unit on the rail and rotatable about the axis. At least one of the first and second wire winding units is movable along the first horizontal direction. The wire supplying and receiving device is convertible between a connected state, where the first and second wire winding units are adjacent to each other, and a disconnected state, where the first and second wire winding units are spaced apart from each other. An ingot slicing wire saw and a method for slicing ingot are also provided.

Semiconductor wafers are produced from a workpiece by means of a wire saw, by feeding the workpiece through an arrangement of wires tensioned between wire guide rollers and divided into wire groups, the wires moving in a running direction producing kerfs as wires engage the workpiece. For each of the wire groups, a placement error of the kerfs of the wire groups determined, and for each of the wire groups compensating movements of the wires of the wire group are induced as a function of the placement error, in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the wires during feeding of the workpiece through the arrangement of wires, by activating at least one drive element.

Provided are a silicon ingot slicing apparatus capable of slicing silicon ingots in various forms such as blocks or wafers using microbubbles and wire electric discharge machining.

A cutting device of a silicon rod cutting system, and the silicon rod cutting system. The cutting device includes: a support frame, installed on a machine base of the silicon rod cutting system; two cutting machine head mechanisms, wherein each cutting machine head mechanism is provided with a diamond wire, a cutting segment of the diamond wire is used for cutting a silicon rod from top to bottom while moving; and a feeding mechanism, wherein the support frame is connected with the two cutting machine head mechanisms by means of the feeding mechanism, and the two cutting segments are disposed opposite to each other; and the feeding mechanism is used for driving the two cutting machine head mechanisms to move towards and away from each other, so as to adjust the distance between the two cutting segments.

A wafer processing method including the steps of storing information on the intervals and positions of metal patterns formed on part of division lines on a wafer into a storage unit of a cutting apparatus, detecting the division lines, forming a cut groove along each division line by using a cutting blade, imaging an area including the cut groove at any position where the metal patterns are not formed, by using an imaging unit included in the cutting apparatus, according to the information on the intervals and positions of the metal patterns previously stored, during the step of forming the cut grooves, and measuring the positional relation between the position of the cut groove and a preset cutting position. Accordingly, kerf check can be performed without being influenced by burrs produced from the metal patterns in cutting the wafer, so that the wafer can be cut with high accuracy.

A wafer processing method including the steps of storing information on the intervals and positions of metal patterns formed on part of division lines on a wafer into a storage unit of a cutting apparatus, detecting the division lines, forming a cut groove along each division line by using a cutting blade, imaging an area including the cut groove at any position where the metal patterns are not formed, by using an imaging unit included in the cutting apparatus, according to the information on the intervals and positions of the metal patterns previously stored, during the step of forming the cut grooves, and measuring the positional relation between the position of the cut groove and a preset cutting position. Accordingly, kerf check can be performed without being influenced by burrs produced from the metal patterns in cutting the wafer, so that the wafer can be cut with high accuracy.

A method of producing a sapphire product from a suitable precursor material is disclosed. The method comprising the steps of placing a sapphire product precursor on a support apparatus of a crystalline material processing assembly further comprising at least one cutting tool and two or more x-ray module fixedly positioned around the product precursor. The support apparatus can be tilted and rotated in order to align the crystalline plane orientations to a fixed cutting direction, and the sapphire product can be produced by cutting in that direction.

An inspection substrate for use in inspecting whether or not a constituent element of a cutting apparatus forms a scratch on a top surface of a workpiece when a cutting blade cuts the workpiece, the inspection substrate includes a top surface side of the inspection substrate having a groove portion for simulated cutting, the groove portion having a width that the cutting blade can pass through, and a paint layer disposed on the top surface side of the inspection substrate to improve visibility of a scratch formed on the top surface side.

Semiconductor wafers having a subsurface-referenced nanotopography of the upper side surface of less than 6 nm, expressed as a maximum peak-to-valley distance on a subsurface and referenced to subsurfaces with an area content of 25 mm25 mm, are produced from a workpiece by feeding the workpiece through a wire web tensioned between wire guide rollers and divided into wire groups, the wires producing kerfs as the wires engage the workpiece. For each of the wire groups, a placement error of the kerfs of the wire groups is used to compensate movements of the wires of the wire group as a function of the placement error, in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the wires during feeding of the workpiece through the arrangement of wires, by activating at least one drive element.

A diamond wire cutting machine includes a spool on which a diamond wire is wound. The spool includes two end flanges having respective frustoconical faces adapted, by cooperation of shape with frustoconical faces of two adapters, to center the spool on an axis of revolution. A drum extends from one of the end flanges to another of the end flanges. The drum includes a cylindrical outer face of circular cross-section on which the diamond wire is wound. The drum defines a central hole through which a drive shaft passes. The drum and the end flanges form a single plastic block.