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.

A method for manufacturing an ingot block in which an ingot of a silicon single crystal pulled up by a Czochralski process is cut and subjected to outer periphery grinding to manufacture an ingot block of the silicon single crystal, the method including: a step of measuring a radial center position of the ingot at one or more locations along a longitudinal direction of the ingot, a step of setting a reference position at which an offset amount of the measured radial center position of the ingot is equal to or less than a predetermined eccentricity amount, a step of cutting the ingot into the ingot blocks based on the set reference position, and a step of performing outer periphery grinding on each of the cut ingot blocks.

A wire saw apparatus including: a plurality of wire guides; a wire row formed of a wire which is wound around the plurality of wire guides and configured to reciprocatively travel in an axial direction; a nozzle configured to supply a coolant or slurry to the wire; a workpiece-holding portion configured to suspend and hold a workpiece plate having a workpiece bonded thereto with a beam interposed therebetween; a workpiece-feeding mechanism configured to press the workpiece against the wire row; and a mechanism configured to adjust a parallelism of axes of the plurality of wire guides around which the wire row is formed. Thereby, a wire saw apparatus and a method for manufacturing a wafer are provided which enable manufacturing of a wafer having any warp shape by controlling a warp in a wire travelling direction of a sliced workpiece.

A method of sampling a multi-layered material and a micro-sampling tool are described. The sampling method includes penetrating a top surface of a material in a component of interest with a micro-cutting tool to a predetermined depth sufficient to include each layer of the multi-layered material and a portion of the base, without cutting through the full depth of the base, under-cutting from the depth of penetration through the base to define a micro-sample of the multi-layered material, and removing the micro-sample with each layer of the multi-layered material intact. The micro-sampler includes a cutting tool calibrated to cut to a depth no greater than 2 mm, and in some aspects, no greater than 200 microns into a multi-layered material, the material having a top surface and a metallic or ceramic base and a container for removing and storing a micro-sample cut from the material with each layer of the multi-layered material and a portion of the base intact.

Provided is an indium phosphide substrate, a semiconductor epitaxial wafer, and a method for producing an indium phosphide substrate, which can satisfactorily suppress warpage of the back surface of the substrate. The indium phosphide substrate includes a main surface for forming an epitaxial crystal layer and a back surface opposite to the main surface, wherein the back surface has a SORI value of 2.5 μm or less, as measured with the back surface of the indium phosphide substrate facing upward.

A wire sawing apparatus of one embodiment comprises: a wire for cutting an ingot; an ingot conveyor unit for conveying the ingot to the wire; a nozzle for supplying slurry to the wire; and a dispersed slurry blocking unit disposed above the ingot sawed by the wire, so as to absorb at least a part of the slurry dispersed from the lateral sides of the ingot cut by the wire.

A method of manufacturing a silicon carbide substrate includes the steps of preparing an ingot of single crystal silicon carbide and obtaining a substrate by cutting the ingot. Then, in the step of obtaining a substrate, cutting proceeds in a direction α in which an angle β formed with respect to a <11-20> direction or a <1-100> direction of the ingot is 15°±5° in an orthogonal projection on a {0001} plane.

Methods, wires, and apparatus for use in cutting (e.g., slicing) hard, brittle materials is provided. The wire can be a super-abrasive wire that includes a wire core and super-abrasive particles bonded to the wire core via a metal bonding layer. This wire, or another type of wire, can be used to slice workpieces useful for producing wafers. The workpieces can be aligned within a holder to produce wafers using the device and methods presently provided. The holder rotates about its central axis, which translates to workpieces moving in orbit around this axis. A single abrasive wire, or multiple turns of wire stretched tightly between wire guides, is then contacted with the rotating holder to slice the workpieces.

A method is disclosed for slicing an ingot by which wire rows are formed by using a wire that is spirally wound between a plurality of wire guides and travels in an axial direction. An ingot is pressed against the wire rows while supplying a working fluid to a contact portion of the ingot and the wire, thereby slicing the ingot into wafers, and a ratio of a wire new line feed amount per unit time in slicing of a slicing start portion of a first ingot to that in slicing of a centration portion of the same at the time of slicing the ingot after replacement of the wire is controlled to be ½ or less of the ratio at the time of slicing second and subsequent ingots after the replacement of the wire.

A roller module is used for driving a sawing wire to slice an ingot into multiple wafers, and includes two spaced apart main rollers and an auxiliary roller. Each main roller has a rotating axis and a diameter. An imaginary horizontal plane is defined to pass through the rotating axes of the main rollers. Two imaginary vertical planes are defined to be perpendicular to the imaginary horizontal plane and respectively pass through the rotating axes of the main rollers. The auxiliary roller is disposed above the imaginary horizontal plane and between the imaginary vertical planes. An uppermost side of the auxiliary roller is not lower than an uppermost side of each main roller. The auxiliary roller has a diameter smaller than one half of that of each main roller.