Abstract A body, such as a crystalline semiconductor body for the production of diodes, transistors, thyristors or other electronic components, is severed from a crystal wafer by placing the wafer face-to-face onto the surface of a griddle which has a slit along each cutting line. A sandblast is directed from a jet nozzle upon the top face of the wafer above the slit, and relative movement is imparted between griddle and jet nozzle in a direction lengthwise of the slit, simultaneously exhausting the sand out of the slit. In this manner, the crystal body is separated from the rest of the wafer along the slit. Preferably, the device for performing the method is provided with a griddle whose top surface has a group of parallel slits extending crosswise to another group of parallel slits, a comb structure, also with intersecting slits, being mounted above the griddle surface proper. Such apparatus is capable of simultaneously severing a multiplicity of individual bodies from a crystal wafer.
The method of subdividing a thin semiconductive crystal wafer into individual semiconductor members by forming cuts in the wafer perpendicularly to the faces thereof which comprises cementing a face of the wafer onto a planar support formed with an array of slits extending in direction in which the cuts are to be formed in the wafer, disposing a sandblast nozzle having an elongated outlet opening, that is narrower than the width of the slits formed in the support directly above the opposite face of the wafer and in alignment with one of the slits, blasting a jet of sand having a grain size of substantially 10 to 30 Mu from the nozzle onto the opposite face of the wafer along the respective slit, and then passing the nozzle along the respective slit and parallel to the faces of the wafer so as to form a severing cut in the wafer, and simultaneously removing sand by suction from the respective slit wherein sand from the nozzle has accumulated.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
167 words
The method of subdividing a thin semiconductive crystal wafer into individual semiconductor members by forming cuts in the wafer perpendicularly to the faces thereof which comprises cementing a face of the wafer onto a planar support formed with an array of slits extending in direction in which the cuts are to be formed in the wafer, disposing a sandblast nozzle having an elongated outlet opening, that is narrower than the width of the slits formed in the support directly above the opposite face of the wafer and in alignment with one of the slits, blasting a jet of sand having a grain size of substantially 10 to 30 Mu from the nozzle onto the opposite face of the wafer along the respective slit, and then passing the nozzle along the respective slit and parallel to the faces of the wafer so as to form a severing cut in the wafer, and simultaneously removing sand by suction from the respective slit wherein sand from the nozzle has accumulated.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
87 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the slits are arranged in parallel criss-cross relationship, and which comprises disposing a plurality of the sandblast nozzles in alignment with a corresponding plurality of the slits, blasting a corresponding plurality of jets of the sand from the nozzles onto the wafer along the respective plurality of slits, and then passing the plurality of the nozzles along the respective slits to form severing cuts in the wafer, and simultaneously sucking the sand accumulating in the respective slits out of the same.