Precision Manufacturing Of Silicon Wafers in a Nutshell

Silicon wafers are probably the single most important component in the modern electronics industry. Millions of wafers are used in electronics devices and produced daily on a mass scale. The process of developing these essential little items took years to develop, but now it has become a fairly routine process to manufacture them efficiently and economically.

Silicon is a simple element that that can be naturally found in abundant quantities. In fact, this brittle substance is one of the most common elements known on the planet. It is present in many rocks and is used in a wide variety of applications that can range from cement to glass and synthetic rubber products.

As a semiconductor for electronic usage, it has the ability to control the passage of electricity in an extremely precise manner. By adding assorted other materials to it in its processed crystalline form, its conductivity properties can be altered as needed to produce a highly controlled way to channel minute amounts of electrical impulses in electronic gear.

Making a wafer is actually a complex process in its entirety, but the basics are quite easy to understand. To put the procedure into simple terms, the silicon is used to grow a crystal substance which will contain desired amounts of other materials which give it the desired properties for its specific application.

These crystal composites are then ground into any number of specific shapes which are uniformly sliced into wafers and polished. The wafers can be created in many different shapes and sizes, depending on what type of semiconductor devices they are required to be inserted into. The ultimate factors that determine their function are decided by their shapes, thicknesses and added ingredients.

In addition to the raw material of silicon, arsenic, boron and other elements are introduced. All of the components are essentially melted together inside specialized furnaces that form ingots ready for processing. Once the individual ingots are cooled and thoroughly inspected for defects, they are ready for grinding and slicing.

Each ingot will be ground into a relatively rough shape that is larger than the finished product. A diamond saw is most commonly used to slice the piece into a flat and uniform part. At this point, they will need to be lapped, or rough finished, to remove marks from the sawing process along with any other defects. This is basically a method of polishing and smoothing the material.

After this step, mild acids are used to further remove any surface imperfections that might be present. Special water solutions are applied to rinse and remove these acids. In most cases, addition grinding will be needed to round off corners to remove areas that could be easily broken during installation into the device for which they may be designed.

After being shaped, smoothed and cornered, each piece is finely polished and cleaned with chemicals such as ammonium hydroxide. Finally, they are all carefully inspected and are approved or rejected. While the exact details of the manufacturing process that silicon wafer suppliers use are quite complicated, the overall method is fairly straightforward.