5.1.2. Wafering
The ingot to be sliced into wafers needs a support to hold cut wafers; therefore, a ceramic or graphite beam is glued on the piece of ingot. The ingot can be processed to wafers with two different methods. Either each wafer is cut, one by one, with an ID cutting machine, or the whole piece of ingot is cut with a web of tensioned wires in a wire-cutting machine. Today, wafers (and from 200 mm up, extensively) are increasingly cut in wire-cutting machines because of productivity reasons. ID cutting, however, retains the flexibility of manufacturing smaller lots, but with higher cost. Table 5.2 shows a comparison of these two cutting methods.
Table 5.2. Wafer-cutting method comparison
| ID cutting | Wire cutting | |
|---|---|---|
| Small lot manufacturing ... |
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