A hybrid process technology of SiC die separation

Silicon carbide (SiC) is ideal for making powerful, high-frequency chips for 5 G and electric vehicles due to its wide band gap and resistance to high voltage. However, its powerful chemical bond strength and extreme hardness make it difficult for die separation in the post-wafer process. A hybrid process technology is proposed, where die scribing is performed on SiC wafer using a femtosecond pulsed laser-assisted ablation. The extremely short energy pulses forced the ablation of traces of SiC at extreme speed, breaking chemical bonds and thereby reducing strength and hardness for easy high-speed cutting along the scribed lanes with a polycrystalline diamond wheel. The experiment showed that the average stage current dropped from 0.90 A to 0.45 A and kerf chipping ratio from 11.7 to 4.1 during die separation, proving that the process removed materials along the separation lanes using a wheel tool at low grinding force, creating separation lanes of outstanding straightness and minimal kerf chippings and SiC dies of high integrity. Furthermore, thanks to the on-line rotational machining and dressing of the wheel tool, the blunt diamond abrasive cutting edge could be redressed to expose chip pockets of appropriate depth and protruding grinding edges with a favorable negative rake angle. The established grinding regime utilizing a pressure-grinding force in cutting and material removal reduced cracking at the SiC surface. In this paper, the laser energy density, scanning speed, number of ablations, focus position, as well as the speed, feed-rate and grinding depth of the wheel tool are also discussed in detail.