A cutting apparatus is provided. The cutting apparatus includes a processing chamber, a chuck table, a transferring mechanism, and a cleaning member. The chuck table is disposed in the processing chamber and configured to hold a workpiece on a chuck surface of the chuck table during a cutting process. The transferring mechanism is configured to transfer the workpiece to the chuck surface before the cutting process or transfer the workpiece away from the chuck surface after the cutting process. The cleaning member is disposed in the processing chamber, and is configured to move across and clean the chuck surface, driven by the transferring mechanism.

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 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 processing method for a workpiece includes a cutting step of cutting the workpiece along streets by a cutting blade having a V-shaped tip end, to form V grooves of which shallower parts are wider than deeper parts, and a cleaning step of cleaning a back surface of the workpiece with cleaning water, after the cutting step is carried out.

A production method of a wafer includes a wafer production step in which ultrasonic water is ejected against an end face of an ingot with cleavage layers created therein, thereby severing the wafer from a rest of the ingot to produce the wafer.

Systems for cooling and directing a cutting wire. The systems include a water cooling box which permits cooling a cutting cable without any loss of cleaning/cooling fluid or contamination of the driving elements of the system. The systems also include a plurality of cutting wire directing elements which permit multiple cutting directions without derailing of the wire out of the guiding pulleys.

Slices are cut from workpieces during a sequence of cut-off operations by a wire saw, having a wire array. The wire array is tensioned in a plane between two wire guide rollers supported between fixed and floating bearings. During each cut-off operation, a workpiece is fed through the wire array perpendicular to a workpiece axis and the wire array plane. The workpiece is fed with simultaneous axial movement of the floating bearings by adjusting a temperature of the fixed bearings in correlation with a first correction profile, which specifies a travel of the floating bearings in dependence on the depth of cut. In dependence on the depth of cut, operating parameters are set, such as the feed rate, an amount of working fluid fed to the wire array per unit time, a temperature of the working fluid, a wire speed, a wire consumption per cut-off operation, or a wire tension.

A slurry sprayer for supplying a slurry to a wire saw during ingot slicing is disclosed. The slurry sprayer includes a main body and a cover plate that is detachable from the main body for cleaning the slurry sprayer. In some embodiments, the slurry sprayer includes an adjustable support that allows the incline angle of the sprayer to be adjusted and allows the vertical and horizontal position of the slurry sprayer to be adjusted. In some embodiments, the slurry sprayer includes two feed openings to allow the slurry pressure to be more equalized across the slurry sprayer.

Provided is a method for preventing metal contamination during cutting of a polycrystalline silicon rod. A method for cutting a polycrystalline silicon rod (S) includes the step of cutting the polycrystalline silicon rod (S) by using a cutting tool (133). The step of cutting includes: delivering a liquid (L1) to a cutting position of the polycrystalline silicon rod (S) through a first nozzle (14); and delivering a liquid (L2) to a surface of the polycrystalline silicon rod (S) through a second nozzle (15).

In order to respond flexibly to various processing modes, such as forming curved surface shapes, when cutting a workpiece using a wire saw, this wire saw device (1) is provided with: a single robot arm (2) that is capable of moving freely by means of multi-axis control; a wire saw unit (3) that is detachably connected to the robot arm (2) via a tool changer (7); a wire (8) that spans a plurality of pulleys supported within the wire saw unit (3); and a workpiece cutting zone (20) that is established between the pulleys. The workpiece is cut to a prescribed shape by moving the robot arm (2) in a preset direction while running the wire (8) of the wire saw unit (3) and pressing the wire (8) against the supported workpiece.