Investigations on Single Wire Cuts in Silicon

23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 1-5 September 2008, Valencia, Spain; 1098-1103
Slots were cut into multicrystalline silicon using a single wire setup of a standard industrial wire saw. In this work slurries with different abrasives and carrier fluids were formulated to obtain the influence of the composition of the slurry on the wire sawing process and its resulting single slots. Furthermore a combination of sawing parameters like table forward speed and wire speed were set to investigate changes in the “abrasive performance“ of the wire sawing process. Slot width, TTV of the slot, crack depth distribution, sawing efficiency, vertical force at the silicon block and viscosity were observed to specify the wire sawing process. Not only does the abrasive shape and size plays an important role in the wire sawing process but also the properties of the carrier fluid of the slurry. With a drop in viscosity the TTV decreases and the sawing efficiency increases, but also the vertical force increases.