The advantages of UV laser cutting technology in the semiconductor industry

       In recent years, with the increase of device integration, chip size and cutting lane width have been shrinking accordingly. The thickness of wafers and chips is getting thinner and thinner, but due to the brittleness of semiconductor materials, traditional cutting methods will produce mechanical stress on the front and back of the wafer, and the high-speed water flow will also bring deformation pressure on the wafer. Stress damage occurs inside the crystal, which is prone to chipping, and at the same time, chip pollution is generated, which reduces the mechanical strength of the chip. The initial chip edge cracks will be further diffused in the subsequent packaging process or in the use of the product, which may cause the chip Fracture, leading to electrical performance failure.

       Since the wavelength of the ultraviolet light is below 0.4 μm and the focus point can be as small as sub-micron order, when the ultraviolet laser is dicing the chip, the cut (the part of the material lost during the cutting) of the ultraviolet laser process is narrower than other technologies. The width of the incision is less than 3μm, and the incision is tighter, the edge of the incision is straighter, finer and smoother. Due to its good focusing performance and cold processing characteristics, the ultraviolet laser can process extremely tiny parts; not only that, it can be used to process materials that cannot be processed by infrared and visible lasers. So that UV laser has higher flexibility and wider application occasions.

       Due to the advantages of UV laser cutting technology in semiconductor chip cutting, this process technology has been widely adopted abroad, especially in some high-end chips (such as thin chips, GaAs wafers) and mass-produced chips (such as blue LED manufacturing) . At present, UV laser technology has great potential to be developed. It will have further development in terms of the number of die per wafer and shorten the payback period of investment. It will open up a new prospect for semiconductor chip cutting.