Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Toshiaki Saka

Satoshi Fujii

Tomoki Uemura

Katsuhiro Itakura

Noboru Gotou

A method for separating chips from a diamond wafer comprising a substrate, a chemically vapor-deposited diamond layer, and microelectronic elements, with the microelectronic elements protected from thermal damage and degradation caused by the thermally decomposed cuttings produced during the processing steps. (1) Front-side grooves are formed on the chemically vapor-deposited diamond layer by laser processing using a laser such as a YAG, CO , or excimer laser each having a large output so that the grooves can have a depth 1/100 to 1.5 times the thickness of the diamond layer. (2) The thermally decomposed cuttings produced during the laser processing are removed by using a plasma. (3) Back-side grooves are formed on the substrate by dicing such that the back-side grooves are in alignment with the front-side grooves . (4) The diamond wafer is divided into individual chips by applying mechanical stresses.

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Itami, Japan

Toshiaki Saka