Dicing, Sawing, Singulating
Quartz, Fused Silica, Glass: We dice Valley supplied or customer material for optical, commercial, or substrate use. Valley also stocks these materials.
Wafers, semiconductor materials, compound semiconductor materials: Valley dices wafers -Silicon, GaAs, InP, GaP, etc.- up to 6″ in diameter or square and up to 6″x14″ rectangles, and any thickness.
Ceramic substrates, Piezo Ceramics, hybrid substrate sawing: We are experts at dicing Aluminum Nitride AlN Aluminas with and without circuitry. Valley Design also stocks these materials.
Capacitors: We have extensive experience with all dielectric materials.
Sapphire: Our process allows us to saw this material with minimum possible chipping.
Metals: Thin metal plates or metal coated substrates diced per your prints.
Ferrites: Valley has extensive experience with brittle materials. Our process keeps chipping to a minimum.
Bonded wafers: Silicon and GaAs bonded to Glass, Quartz, and other bonded wafers are expertly diced at Valley.
Special materials: Valley is familiar with the special characteristics of many exotic materials including Niobates, Titanates, Fluorides, Cadmium Telluride, Zinc Selenide, Silicon Carbide, Molybdenum, and Lanthanum Aluminate. We also develop dicing/cutting procedures for untried materials.
Wafers: Dicing of coated, patterned and circuited wafers is our specially.
Cutting
Thick plates, various materials: Valley will cut Quartz, Ceramics, and Glass for optical and commercial use.
Rods: Quartz, Glass, Metal, Sapphire. We supply accurate cutting of pivots and other small precision parts.
Grooves and Slots: Valley will cut slots, grooves (V-grooves or U-grooves) per your print in Ceramics, Ferrites, Glass, Quartz, AIN, and other materials.
Pyramids: Pyramids can be scored on many hard materials, Glass, Quartz, and Silicon Carbide, for example.
Shaping: Valley will round, bevel, and/or chamfer your parts to the shape that is most efficient for your needs.
Steps: We will machine steps into shims, laser diodes or other parts requiring critical measurements.
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I. Dicing, Sawing, Singulating
- Quartz, Fused Silica, GlassValley provides precision dicing services for both R & D efforts as well as high volume contract dicing requirements. We also offer accurate dicing for customer materials up to 6″ in diameter for Quartz, Fused Silica, and Glass disks. For large thick plates, we also offer precision cutting services. Depending upon the material, the dicing kerf may be as small as .001″. Our capabilities enable you to better handle production pressures as we meet your requirements for kerf, chip specifications, and delivery.Wafers, semiconductor materials, compound semiconductors
Valley provides precision dicing services for both R & D efforts as well as high volume contract dicing requirements. Our dicing saws can handle wafers up to 6″ in diameter. We offer accurate dicing for Silicon wafers, bonded wafers like Silicon-on-Glass, as well as delicate compound semiconductors like GaP and InP. Depending on the material, dicing kerf may be as small as .001″ and die size as small as .005″ square. We will dice and ship your wafers on tape or other carriers.
Ceramic substrates, Piezo Ceramics, hybrid substrate sawing
Valley offers precision dicing services for both R & D efforts as well as high volume contract dicing for customer Ceramic materials up to 6″ in diameter, including Alumina, Aluminum Nitride, Macor, Piezo Ceramics as well as hybrid substrates. Our capabilities enable you to better handle production pressures as we meet your requirements for kerf, chip specifications, and delivery. Depending upon the material, the dicing kerf may be as small as .001″.
Capacitors
Valley is well experienced in dicing capacitor chips in rectangular, hexagonal and other geometric patterns with a kerf as low as .002″. Our dicing saws are fully programmable and are equipped with a high power microscope and video for precision alignment. Our capabilities extend your fabrications services, and enable you to meet production deadlines as we meet your requirements for kerf, chip specifications and delivery.
Sapphire
For electronic, photonic and mechanical applications, Sapphire is unequalled for strength and endurance. Sapphire comes in many orientations, the most common being A-Plane and C-Plane (very machinable) and R-Plane (difficult to machine). Each offers different optical characteristics unimportant for mechanical applications. This is a difficult material to dice, but our process produces the least amount of chipping possible.
Metals
Any diceable material including Copper, Aluminum, and other thin metals may be diced at Valley with precision. Metal coated substrates are handled expertly and all efforts are made to avoid “clumping” of the coating on the edges. Thicker metal parts can be cut to your specifications. Depending upon the material, the dicing kerf may be as small as .001″. Our capabilities enable you to better handle production pressures as we meet your requirements for kerf, specifications, and delivery.
Ferrites
Although these brittle materials present special problems when diced, we will do everything possible to minimize chipping. Our extensive experience with these materials allow us to advise customers concerning tolerances and chip specifications. Valley provides precision dicing services for both R & D efforts as well as high volume contract dicing requirements. For one large government funded firm, Valley’s reliable service has enabled scientists to expand their investigations of many ferrite materials.
Bonded Wafers
Whether or not your bonded wafers have etched patterns or circuitry, we will provide precise dicing of your chips. Valley has the technology to handle Silicon-on-Glass, GaAs-on-Glass or Quartz , and any other bonded wafers. Depending on the material, the dicing kerf may be as small as .001″ and the die size as small as .005″ square. Valley provides precision dicing services for both R & D efforts as well as high volume contract dicing requirements.
Special Materials
Very often, Valley performs prototype dicing and cutting processes crucial to research projects on exotic and untried materials. In the past we have cut soft semiconductor materials like Mercury Cadium Telluride and crystals for optics requiring special handling. Some are hydroscopic like Cesium Bromide or Barium Floride. Occasionally we are asked to cut magnetic materials and control the charge of each part. Whatever the requirement, Valley is committed to working out a process to give each customer a desirable product and yield.
Wafers
Wafer dicing is critical to devise and circuit performance and reliability. Dicing of coated, patterned and circuited wafers is our specialty.
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II. Cutting
- Thick platesIn addition to saws dedicated solely to dicing thin materials, Valley has saws especially suited to precise cutting of thick Quartz, Glass, and Ceramic plates. Even materials 6-8 mm thick will be cut accurately. Some orders we have recently filled include cutting and machining spacers 1″ diameter by 15″ long from Macor, 5″x 5″ x 3 mm thick quartz plates, 3″ diameter by 250″ Gallium Arsenide pucks cut per supplied print.Rods
Valley is experienced in cutting small precision parts from a variety of materials. Regularly, we cut stainless steel and carbide rods into small pivots. We have cut quartz rods 1 mm in diameter into lengths of 0.01″ and polished the ends. Our engineering strengths developed over the past 50 years enable us to develop processes to make parts other companies may find too difficult.
Grooves and Slots
Our engineers will create processes to fulfill print requirements for slots, V-grooves and U-grooves. Recently, we were requested to slot heat sinks made from 2.25″ square BeO blanks. The slot details were 0.075 mm x 1.2 mm for an aerospace giant, Valley produced many precision grooved and slotted Aluminum Nitride parts 4 and 6.5 mm thick which fit together in an “ice cube tray” pattern.
Pyramids
Seven or eight years ago, we received our first request to score pyramids on Silicon Carbide disks. Our technicians developed a process that delighted the customer, who initially had doubts about the feasibility of his project. Since then, we have successfully scored intricate and delicate pyramid patterns on ceramics, quartz, and glass. For one of our regular customers, we have machined our standard blades to precise angles in order to meet the required 60 degree angled upper and lower kerfs of pyramids cut into fused silica wafers.
Shaping
Valley has facilities to round, bevel, and chamber parts to the shape needed for custom fixtures. We require clear prints and the specific tolerances necessary for each part. One of our customers utilizes a glass disk produced by Valley with a centrally placed hole that must fit exactly into the fixture for which it is designed.
Steps
One research firm asked Valley to machine precisely configured steps with tight tolerances into molybdenum blanks measuring .8 x .35 x .105 in. We have the capability to machine steps into your shims, laser diodes or other parts requiring critical measurements.
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