Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A method (202) for etching photolithographically produced quartz crystal blanks for singulation. In a first step (202), a quartz wafer is plated on both sides with metal and subsequently coated on both sides with photoresist. In a second step (204), the photoresist is patterned and developed and the metal layer on one side is etched through to form a narrow channel in the quartz defining a perimeter of a quartz blank. In a third step (206), the quartz channel is preferentially etched partially into the wafer along parallel atomic planes to provide a mechanically weak junction between the quartz wafer and the blanks to be singulated. In a fourth step (208), the photoresist layers are stripped from the quartz wafer. In a final step (210), the quartz blank is cleaved substantially along the bottom of the quartz channel to singulate the crystal blanks from the quartz wafer.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim