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Customer specifications may include:

Surface finish Thickness tolerance Flatness Parallelism Single sided or double sided lapped or polished

Squareness Scratch specification Defect specification Step and counterbore depth tolerance Coplanarity with different assembled materials

Lapping specifications will be met by using a combination of diamond slurries and compounds, free abrasive and fixed abrasive materials.

Precision lapping and optical polishing processes include:

Polishing pads Electro polishing Diamond slurries Diamond suspensions Lapping compounds Abrasive slurries CMP

Vibratory polishing Soft metal laps Hard metal laps Composite polishing plates Optical polishing

Surfaces produced can be lapped to a dull matte finish, or can be highly polished to a mirror finish and multiple other surface finishes in between. For example, on Aluminum Nitride, a standard lapped finish is 25u” Ra, and a standard polished finish is 1-2u” Ra.

Contract lapping, grinding and polishing by Valley Design:

• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/single-sided/ Single sided contract lapping
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/double-sided/ Double sided contract lapping
• valleydesign.com/metal-wafers-substrates.htm Metals and metal wafers and substrates
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/ Contract precision flat lapping and optical polishing services
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/stainless-steel-wafers Wafer chuck lapping and optical polishing
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/stainless-steel-wafers Stainless steel wafers and substrates
• 450mm-technology Semi standard wafers up to 450mm diameter

Ceramics Hard Coated Aluminum

Steel Sapphire

Fused Quartz Molybdenum

Robotic end-effectors are robotic arms referred to by various names: wafer arms, wafer lift, transportation arms, tool changers, robotic tool changers, fingers, paddles, wands, vacuum lifters and vacuum lifting systems.

Lapping and polishing will enhance end effector performance by helping in reducing damage to wafer backside, maintaining a cleaner system and smoother operation.

Have your end effectors lapped and polished by Valley Design, the flat lapping, grinding and polishing specialists for over 50 years.

Lapping related Web sites:

• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/end-effectors/ Robotic end effectors lapped and polished
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/single-sided/ Single-side lapping
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/double-sided/ Double-side lapping for parallelism and flatness
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/wafer-chucks/ Wafer chuck lapping and polishing

Vacuum chucks, also called Wafer vacuum chucks can be used for:

• Inspection
• Lithography
• Wafer Dicing

Wafer dicing chucks are used to hold wafers on various models of dicing saws including DISCO, K&S and others.

Wafer chuck material:

• Aluminum
• Hardcoated Aluminum
• Silicon Carbide
• Ceramic
• Titanium Oxide
• Stainless Steel

Typical Specifications for vacuum chucks

• Size: up to 450mm diameter (12″) and larger
• Flatness: to 1/2 light band (λ/4) – depending on size
• Parallelism: to 1 micron and less is possible
• Surface finish: Angstrom level – depending on material

Please call or e-mail for a quotation to meet your requirements.

Wafer chuck related web sites:

• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/end-effectors/ Robotic end effectors lapped and polished
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/single-sided/ Single-side lapping
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/double-sided/ Double-side lapping for parallelism and flatness
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/wafer-chucks/ Wafer chuck lapping and polishing
• 450mm-technology 450mm wafer technology in Silicon, Glass, Ceramics
• ceramic-cnc-machining CNC machining on ceramic vacuum chucks

Typical applications ideal for component lapping processes and lapping services:

Pneumatic valves Gearboxes First flat reference surface Hydraulic valves Gears and rotary pumps Sealing surfaces

Compressors Steel molds Printing machinery Automotive engine blocks Automotive cylinder heads Heat sinks

Lapping is suited for most metals, alloys and nonmetallic materials including:

Aluminum Hardened steel Stainless steel Tungsten Brass Hardcoated Aluminum

Magnesium Molybdenum Sapphire Carbon Silicon Glass

Phenolic Teflon Zinc Ceramic Lead Titanium

Plastic Silver Gold Platnium Macor Many others…

Single sided lapping services related Web sites:

• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/end-effectors/ Robotic end effectors lapped and polished
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/single-sided/ Single-side lapping services
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/double-sided/ Double-side lapping services for parallelism and flatness
• https://valleydesign.com/flat-lapping/wafer-chucks/ Wafer chuck lapping services and polishing services
• Stainlesssteelsubstrates Thin stainless steel substrates and wafers
• 450mm-technology SEMI standard wafers up to 450mm diameter

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430 Stainless steel is magnetic, while 304 Stainless steel is slightly magnetic, and 316 stainless is non-magnetic. Valley manufactures stainless steel wafers in size ranges from 1″, 2″, 3″, 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 200mm, 300mm up to 450mm diameters. Custom diameters and other geometries are also available. Typical wafer thicknesses are 0.005″ (125µm), 0.010″ (250µm), 0.015″ (375µm), 0.020″ (500µm), 0.025″ (625µm) and 0.040″ (1mm). Valley can also thin and polish to custom thicknesses.

Applications for Stainless steel wafers, substrates and foils include:

• Thick-film pressure sensors
• Thick-film resistors
• Thick-film heater substrates
• Temperature sensing elements
• Flexible substrate applications
• Research and development
• CIGS Substrates- Copper, Indium, Gallium Diselenite thin films

Other related web pages:

• Metallic mirrors vs. pure metal mirrors
• Molybdenum metal polished mirrors and optics
• Polished Stainless Steel wafers
• Stainless Steel Optics
• Superpolished metal optical components
• Stainless Steel Surface Finish Data
• Stainless Steel Substrates
• 450mm wafers

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Custom polished Silicon wafers, even over 300 mm (12″) in diameter, 100 mm (4″) Silicon slices as thin as 4 mils are available – frequently from stock.

Other Services:

• Ingot orientation
• Ingot grinding to diameter
• Orientation – flat grinding
• Ingot etching
• Crystal wafering – slicing into thin wafers
• Edge rounding
• Wafer lapping
• Wafer etching – acid or base
• Polishing
• Cleaning
• Packaging – clean room

Silicon wafer dicing related Web sites:

• www.semi.org SEMI Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
• https://valleydesign.com/sitemap/ Wafer custom dicing
• https://valleydesign.com/sitemap/ Edge and angle polishing
• https://valleydesign.com/sitemap/ Substrate chamfering

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Wafer thinning and backgrinding services: (abrasive lapping or Disco backgrinding)

• Thinning from partial wafer sections up to 300mm diameter wafers
• Bumped wafers
• Single die thinning
• Ultra-thin wafers 100mm (4″) diameter down to 25 microns (.001″/ 1 mil); 200mm (8″) diameter down to 50 microns (.002″/ 2 mils)
• Bonded wafers
• Anodic bonded wafers Silicon on Pyrex, one side to 10 microns

Single sided wafer thinning:

Valley Design’s wafer thinning method protects the process side of the wafer which often has various structures or devices already there. After stock thickness reduction step is performed, CMP is used to remove a minimum of 25 microns (.001″/ 1 mil), eliminating sub-surface damage (SSD).

Available surface finishes on backside:

• Ground Finish 25u” Ra < 250 Angstroms
• Stress relief polish < 250 Angstroms
• 10 Angstrom Ra polish
• 7 Angstrom Ra polish
• < 5 Angstrom Ra polish

Various materials thinned:

• InGaAs, Indium Phosphide, Silicon, Germanium, Gallium Arsenide
• Ceramics, Glass, Stainless Steel, Sapphire

Please call or e-mail for a quotation to meet your requirements.

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Fused Quartz and Silica Windows from stock

• https://valleydesign.com/quartz-silica/fused-quartz/

Fused Silica Substrates and Windows

• https://valleydesign.com/quartz-silica/polished-substrates/

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Return to Home Page: Polished silicon wafers and polishing services

By various masking techniques, more material can be removed from one side than from the other, and on substrate edges, it is possible to round one or more edges and leave other edges sharp. The degree of rounding is controllable as well. This process can be used to clean slag from either or both sides of lasered parts and to chamfer square or round holes or any shapes. Each of these benefits is available without the usual risks associated with high velocity blasting techniques. This process is adaptable to most materials including 99.6%, AlN, BeO, Fused Silica, Quartz, Glass and various other hard and semi-hard materials.

The company’s capabilities include complete service for edge shaping, squaring and polishing on most materials including the smallest semiconductor and optical dice.

For more information on the following Web sites:

• https://valleydesign.com/silicon-wafers/dicing Precision dicing
• https://valleydesign.com/silicon-wafers/thinned Silicon wafers thinned to produce thinner dice
• https://valleydesign.com/sitemap/ Listing of Web pages on Edge Polishing domain
• https://valleydesign.com/laser-slag/ Lasered substrate edge and hole deburring
• https://valleydesign.com/sitemap/ Ultra thin glass, wafer and chip site map

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