Abstract: “The multi-wire sawing of silicon using a steel wire coated with diamond grits (diamond wire) is an important process in the semiconductor and photovoltaic industry. The cut is performed in the industry by pushing a silicon ingot against a diamond wire web that moves in a pilgrim-mode (forwards and backwards). As the cut direction and cutting speed of the wire change multiple times during the operation, it is very difficult to perform a proper investigation of the cutting process. In order to study the multi-wire sawing of monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si), a new experimental setup has been proposed. Based on literature research and industry know-how, the main features necessary for the proposed wafering test rig have been defined as follows: i) use of a short wire looped segment; ii) cut with controllable constant wire speed and iii) permit to track specific diamond grains after each cut for wear analysis. In order to fulfill these prerequisites, the first step is to butt-weld diamond”

Keywords: diamond wire, endless wire saw, butt-welding, resistance welding, wafering