Press Release
Development of a Sapphire Substrate Stealth Dicing Process Offering High-Quality, High-Yield Production of High-Intensity LEDs
DISCO Corporation (Head Office: Ota Ward, Tokyo; President: Sekiya Kazuma) has developed a sapphire substrate stealth dicing process. This new solution significantly improves the yield rate and quality of the die separation process for sapphires used in high-intensity LEDs.
Development Background In recent years, demand for LEDs for use in lights, vehicles, etc., has continued to increase. The demand for LEDs with higher intensity, less consumption of electricity, and longer lifespans has grown at the same time as the demand for reduced costs. As a result, there is a need for further refinement in the manufacturing process. Notably, in the die separation process, conventional diamond scribing relies on the operator's skill, which is an issue in terms of quality stability and yield rate. Laser sapphire processing is thus currently becoming more and more common as a new processing method that can be used instead of diamond scribing.
Now, in addition to the sapphire laser scribing process*1 already in use by our company, DISCO has developed a new sapphire stealth dicing (SD) process*2 which incorporates the stealth dicing technique licensed to us by Hamamatsu Photonics. |
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| *1 | Laser scribing process: | This process involves grooving the sapphire surface by concentrating light on a minute area of the workpiece surface for an extremely short time and sublimating and vaporizing the workpiece material (also known as an ablation process), and then separating the die through breaking. |
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| *2 | Stealth dicing: | This process involves forming a modified layer inside the workpiece by focusing the laser light inside the workpiece, and then performing die separation through breaking or another method. |
Distinctive Features of the Stealth Dicing Process The most distinctive characteristics of sapphire processing using the SD technique are that it prevents reduction in LED intensity and enables die separation at a high yield rate.
With the laser scribing process, some reduction in brightness may occur in comparison to diamond scribing. With regard to this issue, the SD process is the ideal processing method for high-intensity LED die separation, since there is no reduction in brightness and high-yield processing is possible.
For these reasons, in Japan and overseas there is a growing number of cases in which the SD process is applied to high-value devices requiring a high level of intensity. |
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Main Benefits of Processing Sapphires Using Stealth Dicing:
| Since the operation is fully automated, production of an extremely high yield rate is possible without being dependent on the operator's skill. |
| - Almost no reduction in brightness |
| By using a processing method that differs from laser scribing (ablation processing), almost no reduction in brightness occurs. |
| - Separation of thick wafers (100 um thick or more) is also possible |
| Even with thick wafers for which die separation has to date been difficult, it is possible to separate the die at a good yield rate. |
| - Significant improvement in productivity |
| Since fully automated high-speed processing is possible, productivity improves significantly in comparison to diamond scribing. |
| - Street narrowing is possible |
| Processing without chipping or kerfs is possible. |
| Comparison by Processing Method |
ScheduleTest cuts for evaluating products and processes will be conducted upon request.
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Laser saw for stealth dicing
DFL7340 | Sapphire substrate
after stealth dicing |
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| Contact: Aya Osumi
Corporate Communications
DISCO Corporation
E-Mail:
Phone: 81-3-4590-1090 |
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| Copyright 2001-2009 DISCO Corporation All rights reserved. | | | |
