Instructions for the Disco DAD-2H/T Dicing Saw

Warning: The dicing saw operates at very high speed (30,000 rpm). Be very careful by keeping your fingers and samples away from the spinning spindle*. Always assume the spindle blade is in motion. Fragment from a broken blade may cause severe injury. Wear safety glasses for your protection during operation. Warning: Press the EM STOP button to stop all motion of the saw in the case of emergency**. This instruction is a general illustration for cutting Si wafers and glass slides. If you need to cut something different or if you feel the blade needs to be replaced, please contact MCF staff. 1) Sign

in the log sheet for the dicing saw.

Check status of the blade.

2) Turn on water supply valve behind the unit. Make sure waste water drain pipe is inside the sink behind the saw. 3) Turn on compressed air valve (located on the ceiling rail above the instrument). Compressed air will blow out from the waste line inside the waste barrel. 4) Turn on the power transformer located on the cart under the main unit. 5) Turn on the power breaker on the right side of the unit. 6) The unit will power up and show E EE.. on the display. Press the C button to clear the display. At this point the CUT-STRK light will be flashing. Under Mode display, C will be on, this means the dicing saw will perform cutting on both forward and backward stroke. Press the FIX button will change the C to A, this means the saw will only perform cutting on the forward stroke, then the saw blade will lift up on the backward stroke without cutting the sample. C or A mode can be selected based on sample type and cutting speed. 7) Enter the CUT-STRK type by entering a 1 or a 0. 0 indicates a square cutting pattern and 1 indicates a round cutting pattern. A round cutting pattern will fit the contour of a round silicon wafer. 8) Now enter the length of the cut stroke in millimeter. Then press the W key to write the CUT-STRK value into the machine memory. Once you press W, the CUT-STRK light should stop flashing, if not, you have entered an incorrect value. Note: The CUT-STRK length should be 10 mm longer than your sample size. If

you are going to cut a 4 inch wafer, you should enter 110 mm. For a rectangular sample use value 10 mm longer than the long axis. 9) Then the CUT-SPD light will be flashing and the box labeled BLOCK will show 1. (Block 1 and Block 2 refer to the two axes of cutting). The cut speed is entered by entering a predetermined number that is associated with a particular cutting speed. For standard Si wafers CUT-SPD 12 is a good value (cut speed 12 equals 7 mm/sec). For glass slides CUT-SPD 3 (1mm/sec) is a good number. The full range of cut speeds is from 0 to 58 (0.3 mm/sec to 300 mm/sec). After entering the CUT-SPD value, press W to write the entry into memory. 10) Now enter CUT-SPD for BLOCK 2 and press W. The cut speed is usually the same for both BLOCK1 and BLOCK2 but you may enter different values if appropriate. 11) The Y-IND light should now be flashing. The Y-IND value refers to the distance between cuts. Enter value for BLOCK1 and press W. 12) Enter value for BLOCK2 Y-IND and press W. If you enter the same value for BLOCK1 and BLOCK2 Y-IND, you will get squares pieces. 13) Now the Z-IND BLOCK1 light should be flashing. The Z-IND refers to the minimum height above the surface of the chuck that you wish to cut. If the sample is mounted on the blue dicing tape (0.08 mm in thickness) and you wish to cut through the wafer, then enter a value this is slightly smaller than the thickness of the tape (0.075 mm). This will make the saw cut through the wafer and 0.005 mm into the surface of the tape, thus ensure thorough cutting of the wafer. Press W to enter the value. To partially score a sample, you need to determine the sample thickness and add the tape thickness to get a total thickness. The total thickness minus the depth you wish to score will equal the number you should enter for Z-IND 14) Enter value for Z-IND BLOCK2 and press W. The Z-IND will usually be the same for BLOCK1 and BLOCK2. 15) Now Z-IND BLOCK7 will be flashing. BLOCK7 refers to the safety height of the blade. It is the height above the chuck where the blade will not interfere with the sample. This number should be greater than the sum of the tape plus the sample. It is usually set at 6 mm. Press W to enter the value. 16) Now Z-IND BLOCK8 will be flashing. This is a parameter that accounts for blade wear during cutting. This is not a problem at the low volume we are cutting so enter 0.005 mm and press W.

17) The -IND should now be flashing. It is the angle (in degrees) between BLOCK1 and BLOCK2. -IND at 90 degree will yield square or rectangular pieces. Enter 90 and then press W. 18) Now CUT-NO BLOCK3 will be flashing. This number is tied to Z-IND BLOCCK8 (blade wear parameter), to effectively turn off this feature enter 9999 and press W. This means after 9999 cuts the blade will move down 0.005 mm to compensate for the wear of the blade. If you are cutting hard materials and want to use the blade wear parameters correctly, consult MCF staff. 19) Now none of the lights should be flashing. To check the parameters you have just entered press SHIFT to scroll through the values. To change a value, press C/E, enter the corrected value and press W. Once you are satisfied with the parameters, you can go to the SETUP routine. Note: The CUT-SPD values will now show the mm/sec value instead of the code you originally entered. 20) SETUP will determine the blade diameter/zero height, the dicing saw slowly moves the blade towards the chuck until it touches the chuck and make electric contact. To properly run SETUP, the chuck needs to be clean and dry with no sample on it. Press SPINDLE to start spindling of the blade and press VACUUM to initiate sample chuck vacuum. Then press SETUP and the system will automatically perform the setup routine and determine the blade diameter. When finished, a beep will be heard. Press VACUUM to shut off sample vacuum. 21) When the SETUP routine is finished, move the saw blade all the way to the back. Press the INDEX button, and then press the Y button. Every time the Y is pressed, the blade will move back the distance determined by Y-IND. Continue pressing the Y button until the blade is moved all the way to the back. 22) Now prepare your sample. Use one of the tape frames and apply the blue dicing tape. Stretch the tape tightly across the frame. Make sure the tape forms a flat plane across the frame. 23) Use scissor to trim the blue tape from the edges of the frame. With a marker, draw a straight line on your sample where you want the dicing saw to perform the first cut. 24) Place your sample (Si wafer or glass slides) at the center of the tape. Turn the frame over, use the roller to squeeze out air bubbles trapped between the sample and the tape. Use the heat gun if necessary. Air bubbles trapped underneath the sample will reduce adhesion between the sample and the tape, and samples may be flushed away by cooling water during the cutting process. 25) Place the sample-loaded frame onto the chuck and center the sample as much as you can. Press VACUUM button, the vacuum will hold the sample

tightly to the chunk. The vacuum gauge should be in the green area. If not, remount your sample. 26) Press ILLUMINATION, turn on the video monitor, and the line generator. The microscope and the video monitor is used to align your sample. 27) Press Y to move the blade and microscope objectives forward until they are close to the edge of the sample or to the line you have drawn on the sample. You can use the X and X to move the sliding table to position your sample under the microscope. 28) Once the line is close to the microscope light, press the JOG/SCAN button. Then use the Y and Y buttons to move the sample back and forth in small amounts until the marked line is observed in the split image video screen. Press JOG/SCAN and the and buttons to rotate the sample until the two lines on the screen overlap with each other. 29) To test the alignment, use the X and X keys to move the sample left and right and make sure the marked line remains at the same horizontal position. The blade will cut between the two lines shown on the monitor. 30) Now use the Y-axis INDEX button and the Y or Y keys to move to where you want to start the first cut. 31) Press SEMI-AUTO (chilling water should now spray at the blade and the sample)***and the Y, the saw will start cutting and moves towards you for the next cut, or Y, the saw will start cutting and moves away from you for the next cut. The saw will continue to make cuts spaced by Y-IND BLOCK1 until you tell the unit to stop. To stop, press SEMI-AUTO again (the saw will continue to finish the current cut and then stop). 32) To cut in the BLOCK2 direction. Press the ROTATION button and then or to rotate the chuck to the BLOCK2 direction. Press INDEX and Y to move the stage back to where you want to start the first cut and press SEMIAUTO and the Y to start cutting. Press SEMI-AUTO again when the cutting is finished. 33) Press VACUUM to shut off chuck vacuum and remove the sample from the chuck. Use air gun to blow dry the chuck and wipe it with paper towel.

Shutting down the instrument: When you are finished using

the dicing saw please 1) Turn off the SPINDLE, ILLUMINATION, 2) Turn off video monitor, line generator 3) Turn off the breaker on the right side of the instrument,

4) Turn off the transformer, 5) Turn off compressed air and cooling water valve. Please make sure the chuck is clean and dry (using the compressed air gun [this will need to be done before shutting off compressed air] and/or paper towels).

Sign out log book.

* each flange set has holes for the wrench, so watch them to determine rotation. If spindle is off you can see holes static, if not - flange ring looks gray without holes take care its mean that blade is rotating with high speed. ** once the EM STOP button was pressed, the settings stored in the machine memory will lost, you need to input again all the settings. Switch off the power breaker on the right hand side of the unit, wait 1 min, then switch it back on and go through all settings. *** if water is not coming out press SEMI-AUTO button to stop cutting and contact MCF staff.