Piezoresistive Diaphragm Decoupling via Anodic Glass Pedestal Mounts
Anodically bonded Borofloat glass pedestals isolate silicon piezoresistive diaphragms from packaging strain, reducing zero thermal shift below 0.02 percent span.
Wafer Dicing
Substrate Partitioning
Mechanical or thermal separation processes divide a processed semiconductor disk into individual functional components. Practical wafer dicing utilizes high-speed diamond saws or laser beams to cut through the silicon or sapphire material. This step occurs after the completion of front-end fabrication and before the final assembly of the chips into packages.
Method Choice
Blade sawing remains standard for thick substrates while laser ablation suits thinner materials. The choice of wafer dicing technique affects the amount of material lost in the kerf.
Process Control
Protection strategies during the cut avoid chipping or cracks in the active circuitry. Modern wafer dicing often employs a protective tape to hold the die in place during the separation. Cooling water removes heat and debris from the cutting zone to prevent thermal damage to the metal layers.
Laser stealth dicing avoids surface damage by focusing energy deep within the substrate to create a weakened path. This path then breaks cleanly during a subsequent expansion step. Quality control teams inspect the edges for micro-cracks that could lead to long-term failure.
Throughput Limit
Speed of the cut must balance against the risk of structural defects. Effective wafer dicing is the final barrier to achieving high yields in a production batch.