Wafer Dicing Scenarios

MPE provides dicing services for companies in need of singulation of integrated circuit (IC) chips from small scale or R&D wafer runs. Customers with small manufacturing runs often provide multi-project wafers (also known as “pizza masks” or “shuttle wafers”) with relatively complicated dicing requirements. MPE can dice multi-project wafers when the layout requires picking and remounting die in stages to avoid sawing through devices. Some customers require MPE to isolate and dice test modules out of larger circuits for quality or R&D testing. Large companies with in-house dicing capabilities often prefer MPE for R&D dicing because our flexibility and experience with custom dicing programs allows for fast turnaround times that may not be possible using in-house capabilities. 

Many customers utilize MPE to produce custom-sized pieces from larger substrates or wafers available from various third-party material suppliers. For example, we can dice larger glass optical filters (i.e. bandpass or neutral density) purchased from optical parts suppliers to create pieces with unique dimensions for any application. Companies specializing in applying thin film coatings to wafers or substrates may utilize MPE’s dicing services to allow their product to be offered in any size. MPE can also create test pieces or “coupons” from any bare or coated semiconductor wafer for research purposes. Many customers also employ MPE for dicing of wafers or substrates after metallization or bumping is patterned.

Companies often rely on MPE’s expertise for projects with unique dicing requirements that are beyond the capabilities of most basic dicing tools. For example, MPE can dice stacks of bonded wafers made from dissimilar materials (i.e. silicon on glass, GaN (gallium nitride) on SiC, etc.). We can produce beveled and chamfered edges, grooves of varied size and shape, and partial-depth cuts for scribe-and-break. In addition, many customers seek MPE for dicing exotic and uncommon materials. MPE can also handle non-standard substrate shapes, thicknesses, and sizes. MPE can accept drawings in almost any format and can help develop a dicing process for your company’s unique project.