Residual stress analysis on silicon wafer surface layers induced by ultra-precision grinding

Grinding residual stresses of silicon wafers affect the performance of IC circuits. Based on the wafer rotation ultra-precision grinding machine, the residual stress distribution along grinding marks and ground surface layer depth of the ground wafers are investigated using Raman microspectroscopy. The results show that the ground wafer surfaces mainly present compressive stress. The vicinity of pile-ups between two grinding marks presents higher a compressive stress. The stress value of the rough ground wafer is the least because the material is removed by the brittle fracture mode. The stress of the semi-fine ground wafer is the largest because the wafer surface presents stronger phase transformations and elastic-plastic deformation. The stress of the fine ground wafer is between the above two. The strained layer depths for the rough, semi-fine, and fine ground wafers are about 7.6 μm, 2.6 μm, and 1.1 μm, respectively. The main reasons for generation of residual stresses are phase transformations and elastic-plastic deformation.