Sustainable assessment of diamond wire sawing for monocrystalline silicon wafers: Conventional and electrophoretic cooling strategies

Abstract

Pursuing sustainable advancement in diamond wire sawing (DWS) is crucial for reducing environmental impact and improving manufacturing efficiency in silicon wafer production. However, the existing sawing methods lack eco-friendly cooling strategies that lower energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions while maintaining wafer surface quality. This paper evaluates and improves sustainability by integrating machinability characteristics, such as energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and surface roughness, while slicing monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) wafers. Traditional DWS (T-DWS) and electrophoretic-assisted reactive (ER-DWS) cooling strategies were implemented to assess and enhance sustainability. Results demonstrate that ER-DWS achieves a 14.16 % reduction in specific cutting energy, a 9.22 % decrease in total CO₂ emissions, and an 8.78 % improvement in surface roughness (Ra) compared to T-DWS. This study addresses the gap by proposing a sustainable cooling strategy in the DWS process, providing insights into eco-friendly and efficient wafer manufacturing techniques.