Sapphire Finishing
Maximum Polishing Efficiency with a High-Quality Finish
A pioneer in the development of alumina polishing slurries for sapphire finishing, Saint-Gobain Surface Conditioning continues to lead the way through innovative solutions that meet evolving needs in technically demanding wafer polishing applications.
Saint-Gobain’s extensive knowledge of abrasive particles and chemistries enables us to continuously adapt to the demands of the fast-growing sapphire wafer market by developing products that offer exceptional polishing performance on a variety of sapphire substrates. Our polishing slurries are optimized for performance in applications ranging from crystals for defense and aerospace to optical wafers for smart watches to cover glass for smartphones.
Responding to a growing market need for lower cost of ownership of sapphire wafers and windows, Saint-Gobain has applied its abrasive particle technology to develop new and creative solutions that change the landscape of traditional polishing. While it was once considered unthinkable to go from lapping and grinding directly to the final CMP step, Saint-Gobain’s new sapphire finishing slurry puts one-step polishing well within reach.
Understanding the Sapphire Finishing Process
Sapphire finishing involves an intricate series of processing steps — from slicing to grinding/lapping to pre-polishing to final CMP/polishing. Understanding the full scope and limits of each step is critical to maximizing processing speed, reducing cost and improving yield.
FinAl™ 9222 Alumina Polishing Slurry
Saint-Gobain’s newest innovation for sapphire finishing is FinAl™ 9222, nano alumina slurry specifically engineered for polishing C-plane wafers. With a superior removal rate that’s more than four times greater than that of colloidal silica, FinAl™ 9222 combines fast polishing with an excellent surface finish of less than 3 Angstrom Ra, providing wafer manufacturers with a lower total cost of ownership.
Saint-Gobain’s industry-leading abrasives technology allows us to control the phase, shape and size of the alumina particles to increase polishing speed and deliver a scratch-free surface with no visible defects. Designed for long-lasting performance, FinAl™ 9222 slurry recorded more than 10 hours of continuous polishing in production scale testing.
FinAl™ 9221 Alumina Polishing Slurry
Saint-Gobain FinAl™ 9221 nano alumina slurry comes with a smaller primary particle size abrasive than our FinAl™ 9222 slurry. With its smaller crystal structure, 9221 slurry provides precise control during sapphire finishing as well as aggressive cutting action.
FinAl™ O854US Pre-Polishing Slurry
Saint-Gobain FinAl™ O854US slurry is designed specifically for the diamond mechanical polishing (DMP) step leading into the final CMP step. O854US offers customers an average 15% – 25% improvement in cutting performance compared to other products on the market.
Saint-Gobain engineers are happy to demonstrate the benefits of using FinAl™ slurries for your most demanding C-plane sapphire finishing applications.
