Abstract
The application of sapphire wafers has been expanding for LED boards and/or power devices. Due to the excellent mechanical properties, sapphire wafer is difficult to grind. On the other hand, ultrasonic-assisted grinding can be applied to machining of difficult-to-grind materials, and shows high-efficiency machining. However, as the cup grinding wheel is heavy, it cannot be applied to ultrasonic grinding. We have developed a grinding wheel vibration system, which was applied to infeed surface grinding of sapphire and silicon wafers. Although, high-efficiency grinding could be achieved for sapphire wafer, it could not be realized for silicon wafer.
