Silicon Cutting with Fiber Lasers

Silicon is widely used in a number of industries but primarily in solar cells and in semiconductor manufacture, with growing applications in jewellery and entertainment goods. In the majority of applications the source material is in the form of wafers which are typically 0.2-1.5mm (0.008”–0.06”) thick and 100-300mm (4”-12”) diameter.

Using our 300W redPOWER QUBE CW Laser cutting speeds of up to 10m/min can be achieved in polycrystalline silicon of 200µm (0.008”) thickness, yielding extremely smooth cut edges which exhibit no signs of cracking. Kerf widths of 40µm can be achieved which are very parallel sided and exhibit no signs of edge chipping. Even at thicknesses of 1.2mm (0.005”) cutting speeds in excess of 1m/min can be achieved, which is competitive with all other silicon cutting existing technologies.