Various Dicing Methods for Silicon Carbide Wafers

Compared to silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising and more suitable material for higher power semiconductors. Since SiC has a wider bandgap than silicon, it can achieve stable high temperature operation, high thermal conductivity, and high switching speeds. Despite its superior technical properties, in a wafer dicing process such as a conventional blade dicing method for Si, SiC is hard and brittle so it cracking can easily occur and propagate. The goal of this study is to find a stable dicing method for SiC wafers. Various existing dicing methods as well as a new technology dicing method, stealth & break, were evaluated and compared in terms of quality and productivity. The results show that a stealth & break process is preferred when requiring high chip-out quality and productivity. Also, scribe & break is suitable for devices where peeling and burr criteria are required. An existing dicing method, such as blade dicing, is not better than others in terms of quality and productivity. However, since blade dicing and laser grooving can be used for both Si and SiC, these methods need to be considered for cost and manufacturing facilities.This study provides pros and cons of each process as well as guidelines on which dicing process is more suitable depending on the manufacturing facility and quality requirements.