Provided are a method for cutting silicon rod and an apparatus for diamond multi-wire cutting, the method for cutting silicon rod includes: using a cooling pipe to supply cutting fluid to the diamond wire, and using the diamond wire to cut the silicon rod, wherein the distance between the supply position of the cutting fluid and the periphery of the silicon rod is 10-20 mm; or adjusting the new wire running amount and/or feed speed at different positions of the crystal cross section during the cutting process.

A crystalline material processing method includes forming subsurface laser damage at a first average depth position to form cracks in the substrate interior propagating outward from at least one subsurface laser damage pattern, followed by imaging the substrate top surface, analyzing the image to identify a condition indicative of presence of uncracked regions within the substrate, and taking one or more actions responsive to the analyzing. One potential action includes changing an instruction set for producing subsequent laser damage formation (at second or subsequent average depth positions), without necessarily forming additional damage at the first depth position. Another potential action includes forming additional subsurface laser damage at the first depth position. The substrate surface is illuminated with a diffuse light source arranged perpendicular to a primary substrate flat and positioned to a first side of the substrate, and imaged with an imaging device positioned to an opposing second side of the substrate.

A method cuts semiconductor wafers. The method includes: cutting a semiconductor ingot into a workpiece; and sawing the workpiece into slices using a wire grid having a fixed abrasive grain wire, while moving workpiece towards the wire grid. At a first contact of the workpiece with the wire grid, an initial cutting speed is less than 2 mm/min, coolant flow is less than 0.1 l/h and a wire speed is greater than 20 m/s. The workpiece is then guided through the wire grid until a first cutting depth is reached, and then the coolant flow is increased to at least 2000 l/h. The cutting speed is reduced to less than 70% of the initial cutting speed between the first contact of the workpiece with the wire grid up to a cutting depth of half a diameter of the cylinder, and is then increased.

A method for slicing a workpiece includes feeding and slicing a workpiece held by a workpiece holder with a bonding member therebetween, while reciprocatively traveling a fixed abrasive grain wire wound around multiple grooved rollers to form a wire row, so that the workpiece is sliced at multiple positions simultaneously. The bonding member has a grindstone part. The method includes, after the workpiece is sliced and before it is drawn out from the wire row, a fixed-abrasive-grain removal step of pressing the wire against the grindstone to remove fixed abrasive grains from the wire while reciprocatively traveling. In the fixed-abrasive-grain removal step, the wire rate is 100 m/min. or less, and the load on each line of the wire is 30 g or more. The method prevents a sliced workpiece from catching a wire and from causing saw mark and wire break in drawing out the wire after slicing.

There is provided a blade replacing apparatus for replacing a cutting blade. The blade replacing apparatus includes a blade storage unit including a movable storage section configured to store the cutting blade, a transporting unit including a holding unit configured to hold the cutting blade and a moving mechanism configured to move the holding unit, a camera configured to photograph the holding unit, and a control unit including an operation control section configured to control operation of the blade storage unit and the transporting unit and a position registration section in which positions of the storage section and the holding unit. The storage section includes a first mark portion photographable by the camera, and the holding unit includes a second mark portion photographable by the camera.

A cutting apparatus includes a cutting unit cutting a workpiece held on a chuck table, a processing-feed unit moving the chuck table, a moving unit moving the cutting unit, and a delivery pad delivering the workpiece to be cut to the chuck table and delivering the workpiece that has been cut on the chuck table. The delivery pad is mountable on and detachable from the moving unit, holds the workpiece under suction while being mounted on the moving unit, and delivers the workpiece by being moved by the moving unit while holding the workpiece under suction.

A crystalline material processing method includes forming subsurface laser damage at a first average depth position to form cracks in the substrate interior propagating outward from at least one subsurface laser damage pattern, followed by imaging the substrate top surface, analyzing the image to identify a condition indicative of presence of uncracked regions within the substrate, and taking one or more actions responsive to the analyzing. One potential action includes changing an instruction set for producing subsequent laser damage formation (at second or subsequent average depth positions), without necessarily forming additional damage at the first depth position. Another potential action includes forming additional subsurface laser damage at the first depth position. The substrate surface is illuminated with a diffuse light source arranged perpendicular to a primary substrate flat and positioned to a first side of the substrate, and imaged with an imaging device positioned to an opposing second side of the substrate.

The invention relates to a production facility (40) for detaching wafers (2) from donor substrates (4). According to the invention, the production facility comprises at least one analysis device (6) for determining at least one individual property, particularly the doping, of the respective donor substrate (4), a data device (10) for producing donor substrate process data for individual donor substrates (4), wherein the donor substrate process data comprise analysis data of the analysis device (6), and the analysis data describe at least the individual property of the donor substrate (4), a laser device (12) for producing modifications (14) inside the donor substrate (4) in order to form a region of detachment (16) inside the respective donor substrate (4), wherein the laser device (12) can be operated according to the donor substrate process data of a concrete donor substrate (4) for the machining of the concrete donor substrate (4), and a detachment device (18) for producing mechanical voltages inside the respective donor substrate (4) for triggering and/or guiding a crack for separating respectively at least one wafer (2) from a donor substrate (4).

A multiplicity of slices are simultaneously sliced from a workpiece during a slicing operation using a wire saw. A non-linear pitch function dTAR(WP) is selected dependent on a target thickness value function TTAR(WP), a pitch function dINI(WP) and a thickness value function TINI(WP), dTAR(WP) and adjacent grooves in the wire guide rollers are assigned a pitch at a position WP during the slicing operation, TINI(WP) slices which are obtained during a plurality of preceding slicing operations by means of the wire saw at the position WP are assigned a thickness value, dINI(WP), adjacent grooves in the wire guide rollers at the position WP are assigned a pitch during the preceding slicing operations, TTAR(WP) slices which are sliced off during the slicing operation at the position WP are assigned a target thickness value, WP denoting the axial position of the adjacent grooves with respect to the axes of the wire guide rollers.

The present invention provides a monocrystalline SiC substrate with an asymmetric shape for enhancing substrate stiffness against thermal induced deformations, the substrate comprising: a main region, and an asymmetric region located at a peripheral region of the substrate and adjacent to the main region, wherein the asymmetric region is inclined inwards, relative to the main region, to provide an asymmetric shape to the substrate. The present invention also provides a method of producing one or more substrates with an asymmetric shape, comprising: performing a multi-wire sawing process in which one or more substrates are cut with an wire-sawing web from an ingot placed on a stage, and cutting the one or more substrates with the asymmetric shape by controlling a relative movement between the wire-sawing web and the stage, the relative movement causing the wire-sawing web to describe a non-linear sawing path across the ingot to cut the asymmetric shape.