With the ever increasing pressure on costs, many chip manufacturers are moving towards wafer reclaim for monitor wafers. This process reduces the cost of buying fresh wafers for monitoring less critical processes in the fab, and with the development of our new technology grinding wheels, allows the reclaim wafers to have similar surface characteristics as fresh wafers.
A new bond system developed specially for stripping metal layers provides ease of grinding using the same machine tool normally used for backgrinding. The new bond system XL073 is very effective in grinding off the metal layers without loading or forcing out. The process of reclaim now becomes simpler by using the same machine tools and similar set ups except for the grinding wheel. As frequent dressings are not required, the throughput is also quite high.
The wheels designed for thin wafer grinding are then recommended for a smooth surface finish and a fine topography. Please refer to fine wheels for thin wafer grinding.