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US 12,697,753 B2Granted
Sound-assisted crack propagation for semiconductor wafering
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsMariana Bertoni, Pablo Guimera Coll
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Abstract
Systems and methods are described for controlled crack propagation in a material using ultrasonic waves. A first stress in applied to the material such that the first stress is below a critical point of the material and is insufficient to initiate cracking of the material. A controlled ultrasound wave is then applied to the material causing the total stress applied at a crack tip in the material to exceed the critical point. In some implementations, the controlled cracking is used for wafering of a material.
Claims24
A sound-assisted cleaving system comprising:
- a holder to hold a material;
- a first stress system configured to apply a first stress to the material;
- a first ultrasound source;
- and
- an electronic controller communicatively coupled to the first ultrasound source, the electronic controller configured to:
- apply a first ultrasound wave from the first ultrasound source to the material to propagate cracking of the material, and
- dynamically control a velocity of the cracking of the material during propagation of the cracking by adjusting at least one of frequency, amplitude, or phase of the first ultrasound wave applied to the material.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.