Experimental and numerical analysis of scratching induced damage during diamond wire sawing of silicon

Abstract Diamond wire sawing (DWS) is the dominant manufacturing process for thin silicon substrates. The understanding of micromechanical damaging and material removal mechanisms is essential for improving the reliability of the processes and the quality of the products. Due to the lack of models that are capable to predict subsurface damage during diamond wire sawing of silicon, process analyses are so far only possible on the basis of models originally developed for loose abrasive sawing (LAS). However, the application of LAS models to the DWS process does not seem appropriate, because of the different underlying deformation mechanisms. Within this work a three-dimensional Finite-Element analysis is conducted in order to investigate the cracking mechanisms during the sawing process. Experimental as well as numerical studies concerning median and lateral cracking are carried out using a Vickers indenter scratching on silicon. The results show that the numerically predicted dimensions of damage zones are in good agreement with the experimental results and that the new model is suitable for the analysis of subsurface damage during diamond wire sawing of silicon.