Study of the Orbital Circular Cutting in Quartz Wafers Using Electrochemical Discharge Machining with Micro-Electrodes.

Quartz wafer dicing technologies primarily rely on mechanical cutting and etching processes. Mechanical cutting is easy to generate the micro-cracks along the wafer edges, which compromises component precision. Furthermore, etching processes are associated with long processing times, high manufacturing costs, and environmental concerns. To address these limitations, this study proposes an electrochemical discharge cutting machining (ECDCM) method using a micro-tungsten carbide helical electrode performing orbital circular cutting (OCC) to evaluate the feasibility and optimization of quartz wafer dicing. Experimental studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of applied voltage, pulse duration, Z-axis feed rate, and duty factor on slot width, slot depth, slot surface quality and tool electrode wear. The results demonstrate that employing an OCC of micro-electrode facilitates the efficient flow of electrolyte into the machining zone, thereby enhancing discharge stability and slot quality. Compared to circular path cutting (CPC) with a rotating electrode, the proposed method reduces machining time by nearly four times and decreases material loss during circular quartz wafer cutting by approximately 50%. These findings indicate that the proposed machining approach provides high efficiency and high-quality quartz wafer cutting.