Wire guide roll for wire saw and method

In a coated wire guide roll suitable for guiding a single sawing wire having a sawing wire diameter D in a wire saw and forming a wire gang capable of simultaneously slicing a multiplicity of wafers from a cylindrical semiconductor workpiece, the improvement comprising:

• providing the wire guide roll with a coating having a thickness of at least 2 mm and at most 7.5 mm, the coating comprising a coating material which has a Shore A hardness of at least 60 and at most 99, the coating furthermore containing a multiplicity of annular grooves adapted to guide the sawing wire having the sawing wire diameter D in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the wire guide roll of the wire saw, wherein the grooves each have a curved groove base with a radius of curvature R which is 0.25-1.6 times the sawing wire diameter D, and an aperture angle a of 60-130°, the wire guide roll suitable for guiding a multiplicity of wire segments which constitute the wire gang of the wire saw.