Key machining characteristics in ultrasonic vibration cutting of single crystal silicon for micro grooves

Abstract

Structured complex silicon components have been widely used in solar cells, biomedical engineering and other industrial applications. As silicon is a typical brittle material, ultrasonic vibration cutting (UVC) is a promising method to achieve better cutting performance than conventional techniques. High-frequency 1D UVC possesses higher nominal cutting speed and material removal rate than many 2D/3D UVC systems, and thus, it has great development potential in industrial applications of structured silicon components. However, few researchers have applied 1D UVC to the cutting of structured silicon surfaces, since its main drawback is tool marks imprinted by the vibration on machined surface. In this study, to uncover the key machining characteristics under the condition of 1D UVC, a series of tests involving diamond cutting grooves were first performed on the silicon surface. The machined surface and chips were subsequently measured and analyzed to evaluate the critical undeformed chip thickness, surface characteristics, and chip formation. Regarding the main drawback of 1D UVC, a novel theoretical model was developed for predicting the length of tool marks and evaluating the impact of tool marks on the surface finish. The results demonstrated that the critical undeformed chip thickness of silicon reached 1 030 nm under a certain vibration amplitude and that an array of micro grooves was generated at the plastic region with a surface roughness (R _a) as low as 1.11 nm. Moreover, the micro topography of the continuous chips exhibited discontinuous clusters of lines with diameters of dozens of nanometers, only composed of polysilicon. The novel theoretical model was able to predict the length of tool marks with low error. Thus, the impact of tool marks on the surface finish can be reduced and even eliminated with help of the model.

Keywords

Ultrasonic vibration cutting (UVC) / Single crystal / Silicon / Micro groove / Chip / Tool vibration mark

References

[1] Huo D, Lin C, Choong ZJ, et al. Surface and subsurface characterisation in micro-milling of monocrystalline silicon. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2015, 81: 1319-1331.

[2] Sreehari D, Sharma AP. On form accuracy and surface roughness in micro-ultrasonic machining of silicon microchannels. Precis Eng, 2018, 53: 300-309.

[3] Katahira K, Nakamoto K, Fonda P, et al. A novel technique for reconditioning polycrystalline diamond tool surfaces applied for silicon micromachining. CIRP Ann Manuf Technol, 2011, 60: 591-594.

[4] Romagnoli G, Feito AD, Brunel B, et al. Silicon micro-fluidic cooling for NA62 GTK pixel detectors. Microelectron Eng, 2015, 145: 133-137.

[5] Moreno M, Murias D, Martínez J, et al. A comparative study of wet and dry texturing processes of c-Si wafers for the fabrication of solar cells. Sol Energy, 2014, 101: 182-191.

[6] KantiBasu P, Khanna A, Hameiri Z. The effect of front pyramid heights on the efficiency of homogeneously textured inline-diffused screen-printed monocrystalline silicon wafer solar cells. Renew Energy, 2015, 78: 590-598.

[7] Rogov OY, Artemov VV, Gorkunov MV, et al. FIB-fabricated complex-shaped 3D chiral photonic silicon nanostructures. J Microsc, 2017, 268(3): 254-258.

[8] Yang L, EI-Tamer A, Hinze U, et al. Parallel direct laser writing of micro-optical and photonic structures using spatial light modulator. Opt Laser Eng, 2015, 70: 26-32.

[9] Pan A, Gao B, Chen T, et al. Fabrication of concave spherical microlenses on silicon by femtosecond laser irradiation and mixed acid etching. Opt Express, 2014, 22(12): 15245-15250.

[10] Yao Z, Hu Y. Direct Fabrication of sub-micron sized mirco-structure by interfering nanosecond laser beams. J Mech Eng, 2013, 49(6): 122-127.

[11] Park HK, Onikura H, Ohnishi O, et al. Development of micro-diamond tools through electroless composite plating and investigation into micro-machining characteristics. Precis Eng, 2010, 34: 376-386.

[12] Xie J, Zhuo YW, Tan TW. Experimental study on fabrication and evaluation of micro pyramid-structured silicon surface using a V-tip of diamond grinding wheel. Precis Eng, 2011, 35: 173-182.

[13] Xie J, Liu XR, Wu KK, et al. Evaluation on 3D micro-ground profile accuracy of micro- pyramid-structured Si surface using an adaptive-orientation WLI measurement. Precis Eng, 2013, 37: 918-923.

[14] Cheng J, Gong YD. Experimental study of surface generation and force modeling in micro-grinding of single crystal silicon considering crystallographic effects. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2014, 77: 1-15.

[15] Chen ST, Lin SJ. Study of an on-line precision microgroove generating process on silicon wafer using a developed ultra-thin diamond wheel-tool. Diam Relat Mater, 2011, 20: 339-342.

[16] Mukaida M, Yan JW. Ductile machining of single-crystal silicon for microlens arrays by ultraprecision diamond turning using a slow tool servo. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2017, 115: 2-14.

[17] Chavoshi SZ, Goel S, Luo X. Influence of temperature on the anisotropic cutting behaviour of single crystal silicon: A molecular dynamics simulation investigation. J Manuf Process, 2016, 23: 201-210.

[18] Abdulkadir LN, Abou-EI-Hossein Jumare AI, et al. Ultra-precision diamond turning of optical silicon—a review. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2018, 96: 173-208.

[19] Mir A, Luo X, Sun J. The investigation of influence of tool wear on ductile to brittle transition in single point diamond turning of silicon. Wear, 2016, 364–365: 233-243.

[20] Durazo-Cardenas I, Shore P, Luo X, et al. 3D characterisation of tool wear whilst diamond turning silicon. Wear, 2007, 262: 340-349.

[21] Karpat Y. Influence of diamond tool chamfer angle on surface integrity in ultra-precision turning of singe crystal silicon. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2019, 101(5–8): 1562-1572.

[22] Jumare AI, Abou-EI-Hossein K, Goosen WE, et al. Prediction model for single-point diamond tool-tip wear during machining of optical grade silicon. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2018, 98: 2519-2529.

[23] Zhang X, Arif M, Liu K, et al. A model to predict the critical undeformed chip thickness in vibration-assisted machining of brittle materials. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2013, 69: 57-66.

[24] Zhang J, Cui T, Ge C, et al. Review of micro/nano machining by utilizing elliptical vibration cutting. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2016, 106: 109-126.

[25] Zhu Z, To S, Xiao G, et al. Rotary spatial vibration-assisted diamond cutting of brittle materials. Precis Eng, 2016, 44: 211-219.

[26] Wang J, Yang Y, Guo P. Effects of vibration trajectory on ductile-to-brittle transition in vibration cutting of single crystal silicon using a non-resonant tool. Procedia CIRP, 2018, 71: 289-292.

[27] Brehl DE, Dow TA. Review of vibration-assisted machining. Precis Eng, 2008, 32: 153-172.

[28] Moriwaki T, Shamoto E, Inoue K. Ultraprecision ductile cutting of glass by applying ultrasonic vibration. CIRP Ann, 1992, 41(1): 141-144.

[29] Saito H, Jung H, Shamoto E, et al. Mirror surface machining of high-alloy steels by elliptical vibration cutting with single-crystalline diamond tools: Influence of alloy elements on diamond tool damage. Precis Eng, 2017, 49: 200-210.

[30] Zhang J, Suzuki N, Wang Y, et al. Fundamental investigation of ultra-precision ductile machining of tungsten carbide by applying elliptical vibration cutting with single crystal diamond. J Mater Process Technol, 2014, 214: 2644-2659.

[31] Nath C, Rahman M, Neo KS. A study on ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting of tungsten carbide. J Mater Process Technol, 2009, 209: 4459-4464.

[32] Arif M, Zhang X, Rahman M, et al. A predictive model of the critical undeformed chip thickness for ductile–brittle transition in nano-machining of brittle materials. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2013, 64: 114-122.

[33] Zong W, Sun T, Li D, et al. Tool wear mechanism involved in diamond turning of single crystal silicon. Nanotechnol Precis Eng, 2009, 7(3): 270-274.

[34] Mir A, Luo X, Cheng K, et al. Investigation of influence of tool rake angle in single point diamond turning of silicon. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2018, 94: 2343-2355.

[35] Xu F, Zhang X, Fang F. Characterization of single point diamond machined single-crystal silicon. Nanotechnol Precis Eng, 2013, 11(6): 485-491.

[36] Klopfstein MJ, Ghisleni R, Lucca DA, et al. Surface characteristics of micro-ultrasonically machined (1 0 0) silicon. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2008, 48: 473-476.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809(51775482)

Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003787(E2016203372)