Effects of taping on grinding quality of silicon wafers in backgrinding

Taping is often used to protect patterned wafers and reduce fragmentation during backgrinding of silicon wafers. Grinding experiments using coarse and fine resinbond diamond grinding wheels were performed on silicon wafers with tapes of different thicknesses to investigate the effects of taping on peak-to-valley (PV), surface roughness, and subsurface damage of silicon wafers after grinding. Results showed that taping in backgrinding could provide effective protection for ground wafers from breakage. However, the PV value, surface roughness, and subsurface damage of silicon wafers with taping deteriorated compared with those without taping although the deterioration extents were very limited. The PV value of silicon wafers with taping decreased with increasing mesh size of the grinding wheel and the final thickness. The surface roughness and subsurface damage of silicon wafers with taping decreased with increasing mesh size of grinding wheel but was not affected by removal thickness. We hope the experimental finding could help fully understand the role of taping in backgrinding.