Valley Design offers a full suite of precision materials processing services — including lapping, polishing, dicing, and 3-axis, 4-axis, true simultaneous 5-axis, and 3+2 positional CNC machining — across virtually every hard and soft material. With over 50 years of experience and more than 100 lapping and polishing machines on the floor, we handle everything from prototype quantities to full production runs.
Valley Design has specialized in precision lapping and polishing for over 50 years, operating more than 100 single- and double-sided machines from 12″ to 64″ in diameter. We process parts from .127 mm (.005″) to 450 mm and larger across virtually every hard and soft material, achieving lapped finishes of 10–25 µin Ra and optical finishes to < 5Å Ra on fused silica and glass.
With 15 K&S and DISCO dicing saws, Valley Design operates one of the highest-volume precision dicing facilities in the industry, capable of cutting die as small as .127 mm square and stacks up to 6.25 mm high. Materials include Silicon, Fused Silica, Glass, Sapphire, Aluminum Nitride, SiC, SiSiC, and many others — from prototype to production quantities.
Valley Design provides 3-axis, 4-axis, true simultaneous 5-axis, and 3+2 positional CNC machining on hard and soft materials including Alumina, Aluminum Nitride, Fused Silica, Glass, Sapphire, and Silicon Carbide. Over 50 years of diamond tooling and fixturing expertise make us a benchmark for precision, tolerances, and quality on complex machined components.
Valley Design polishes select materials to as thin as 10–15 µm — among the thinnest in the industry — drawing on over 50 years of ultra-thin processing expertise. Capabilities extend across a wide range of substrate materials, with tight control of thickness, flatness, and parallelism throughout.
Valley Design offers back grinding, lapping, and polishing on 300 mm and 450 mm diameter wafers in ceramics, glass, Fused Silica, and Sapphire — one of the few facilities equipped to handle 450 mm substrates at scale. Our large-format capabilities are backed by over 50 years of semiconductor materials experience.
Valley Design laps and polishes flat mechanical seals, pump parts, valve seats, and discs in materials ranging from Hastelloy, Inconel, and Stainless Steel to Ceramics, Sapphire, and Macor. Our large-format capabilities have served customers across industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors — including large-scale projects for NASA.
For over 50 years, Valley Design has served as a precision materials resource for research institutions and technology centers worldwide — including Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, Sandia National Lab, MIT, and Rutherford Appleton Lab. We support R&D projects with process development, prototyping, and precision lapping, polishing, dicing, and machining services.
Valley Design offers additional precision capabilities including CNC hole drilling, small-diameter core drilling, laser drilling, wafering, low-kerf wafering, and basic optical coating services. Our broad process portfolio makes us a single-source partner for complex, multi-step precision materials work.
Valley Design offers ultra-thinning to 10–15 µm, Angstrom-level surface finishes, micron-level tolerances, and TTV and 1/4 wave flatness specifications — across our in-house material inventory and customer-supplied substrates. Commonly processed materials include all ceramic types, Fused Silica, Glass, Sapphire, Aluminum Nitride, and Silicon Carbide.
Valley Design manufactures and stocks a broad range of precision materials products — including wafers, substrates, and discs in all materials; precision shims, spacers, and submounts; flat optics; color glass filters; metal mirrors and chucks; and ultra-thin materials down to 10–15 µm. SEMI standard and custom sizes are available, with thousands of finished components in stock for immediate shipment.
Valley Design manufactures wafers, substrates, and discs from a comprehensive range of materials — including Fused Silica, optical glass, Alumina ceramics, Aluminum Nitride, Sapphire, CVD Silicon Carbide, and metals. We offer SEMI standard and custom sizes, with thousands of finished wafers and substrates available from stock for immediate shipment.
Valley Design manufactures precision shims, spacers, and submounts with pitch tolerances sequentially spaced to less than 1/4 micron, flat to 1/4 wave, with lapped or polished mirror finishes available. Components are produced across a wide range of materials to meet tight-tolerance requirements in semiconductor, photonics, and defense applications.
Valley Design polishes Fused Silica and Fused Quartz to 10–15 µm, and Glass, BK7, Alumina, and Silicon to 15–20 µm — among the thinnest achievable in precision materials processing. Our ultra-thin capabilities are backed by over 50 years of substrate processing expertise and specialized fixturing developed for demanding applications.
Valley Design supplies wafers to SEMI specifications from 50 mm (2″) to 450 mm (17.7″) in materials including Fused Silica, BK7, Borofloat 33, D263, Eagle XG, Gorilla Glass, Sapphire, Alumina, and Aluminum Nitride. SEMI notches and one or two SEMI flats are available on request.
Valley Design supplies polished Fused Silica and Fused Quartz wafers, windows, substrates, plates, and discs with optical surface finishes to < 5Å Ra and scratch/dig to 10/5. Standard and custom sizes are available from stock for quick shipment, including ultra-thin down to 10–15 µm.
Valley Design supplies optically polished metal mirrors in Stainless Steel, Molybdenum, Brass, Copper, and other alloys, with surface roughness below 10 Å on select materials. Metal and vacuum chucks are lapped, polished, and CNC machined to micron-level tolerances.
Valley Design supplies optically polished color glass filters as an economical alternative to thin-film coated filters, in sizes from .127 mm square to 300 mm and thicknesses from 75 µm to 10 mm. Filter glass types are cross-referenced to Schott and Hoya equivalents.
Valley Design serves the Semiconductor, Photonics, Optics, Aerospace, Defense, Medical, Telecommunications, and R&D industries. Our precision components — including wafers, substrates, and electro-optical and micro-electronic parts — support sensors, integrated circuits, MEMS devices, electrostatic chucks, optical switches, and more.
Valley Design laps, polishes, dices, and CNC machines virtually every hard and soft material — including Fused Silica, optical glass, Alumina ceramics, Aluminum Nitride, Sapphire, Silicon, Silicon Carbide, metals and alloys, and high-performance plastics. Our material expertise spans over 50 years and covers both standard catalog materials and specialty or exotic substrates.
Valley Design stocks and processes 96% and 99.6% Alumina substrates and wafers, lapped and polished from as-fired blanks to any custom thickness. 99.6% Alumina serves thin film and high-precision electronic applications; 96% Alumina serves thick film, high-power, and RF microwave applications.
Aluminum Nitride combines high thermal conductivity (available in 170, 180, 200, and 230 W/mK grades), high dielectric strength, and electrical insulation — making it ideal for hybrid, power, and microwave electronics. Valley Design laps, polishes, dices, and CNC machines AlN for semiconductor, aerospace, defense, and medical applications.
Valley Design produces and stocks Fused Silica and Fused Quartz wafers and substrates from 300 mm diameter down to 1 cm square, as thin as 10–15 µm. Key properties include low thermal expansion, UV-to-IR transparency, thermal shock resistance, and superior electrical insulation — with thousands of finished wafers available from stock.
Valley Design laps, polishes, dices, and CNC machines all types of optical glass — including materials from Corning, Schott, and Hoya — engineered to transmit or block specific wavelengths across the UV-to-IR spectrum. Our optical glass processing supports vision, sensing, imaging, research, and photonics applications.
Valley Design laps, polishes, and CNC machines a wide range of metals and alloys — including Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Hastelloy, Inconel, Titanium, Tungsten Carbide, Invar, Kovar, and more. Mirror surface finishes below 10 Å are achievable on select metal materials.
Valley Design fabricates precision components from PEEK, polyimide, and other high-performance plastics — materials valued for their thermal stability, chemical resistance, and mechanical durability. These materials serve demanding applications in semiconductor handling, insulation, and precision manufacturing across a variety of industries.
Valley Design laps, optically polishes, dices, and CNC machines Sapphire in all common orientations — A, C, and R-plane — with blanks up to 12″ in diameter. Ultra-thin polished Sapphire substrates are also available, with precise control of flatness, parallelism, and dimensional tolerances.
Valley Design has been processing Silicon since 1975, with capabilities spanning all standard sizes up to 300 mm and 450 mm diameter — including lapping, polishing, dicing, and CNC machining. Ultra-thin Silicon processing is available down to 20 µm.
Valley Design supplies CVD Silicon Carbide wafers and substrates from 2″ to 300 mm diameter — theoretically dense and intrinsically pure — with surface finishes better than 10 Å and 1/4 wave flatness. SiC is available lapped or polished, with dicing and CNC machining also offered.
Valley Design’s precision processing expertise extends well beyond our standard material catalog, drawing on over 50 years of experience with specialty and exotic substrates. Our process development team regularly works with unfamiliar materials — contact us to discuss your specific requirements.
Valley Design's technical resource library supports engineers and buyers with the reference data needed for material selection, specification, and design — including material properties, manufacturer datasheets, optical transmission curves, and a unit conversion calculator.
Valley Design’s material properties library covers the mechanical, optical, and thermal specifications for the glasses, ceramics, and substrates we stock and process. Reference data is available for materials including Alumina, Aluminum Nitride, Borofloat, BK7, D263, Fused Silica, Gorilla Glass, Pyrex, Sapphire, Silicon Carbide, and Soda Lime Glass.
Valley Design provides access to official technical datasheets from leading material manufacturers including Corning and Schott, covering optical, mechanical, and thermal properties for the glasses and substrates we supply. Datasheets available for Borofloat 33, B270, D263, Eagle XG, HPSF Fused Silica 7980, Gorilla Glass, Pyrex 7740, Silicon Carbide CVD, Supremax, and Xensation.
Valley Design’s optical transmission curves plot transmittance against wavelength, showing how much light a given material passes across the UV, visible, and IR spectrum. Curves are available for materials including Fused Silica, Sapphire, Borofloat, BK7, D263, GE 124, and color glass filter types.
Valley Design’s online conversion calculator handles common unit conversions used in precision materials processing — including metric and imperial length, thickness, and surface finish units. A quick reference tool for engineers and buyers working across measurement systems.
Mechanical, Thermal and Electrical Properties of BK7
For over 50 years, Valley Design has been a leader in the advanced material processing and machining industry, working with nearly all material types. We invite you to reach out to our Technical Team to learn more about how to get started with your next project.
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