Fractal analysis on the surface topography of Monocrystalline silicon wafers sawn by diamond wire

The direct impact of diamond wire slicing on the cost of subsequent silicon wafer processing underscores the significance of reducing slicing costs for both the integrated circuit and photovoltaic industries. Effectively and reasonably evaluating monocrystalline silicon wafer quality is thus a crucial challenge. In this paper, fractal theory was used to analyze the monocrystalline silicon wafer sawn surfaces combining with surface roughness measurement. The findings reveal the presence of scratches, pits, and prominent saw marks on the sawn surface. Notably, the surface roughness is significantly higher along the feed direction compared to that along the wire direction. Moreover, an increase in the ratio of feed speed to wire speed leads to a rougher surface. The fractal dimension of the sawn surface is inversely proportional to its roughness, indicating that a higher fractal dimension corresponds to a finer surface texture. Moreover, the two dimensional fractal dimension can effectively capture the anisotropic characteristics of monocrystalline silicon wafers. The two dimensional fractal dimension of the wafer surface obtained by removing materials in ductile mode has a strong symmetry. However, the two dimensional fractal dimension of the surface obtained in brittle mode fluctuates obviously and is weakly symmetric. By combining traditional surface roughness analysis with fractal methods, we can gain insights into the material removal mechanisms involved in slicing monocrystalline silicon wafers using diamond wire, which is of great significance for optimizing diamond wire slicing.