Machining/Grinding Silicon

CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC has years of experience manufacturing micron level tolerance products from Silicon. We leverage our in-depth dicing, drilling, milling, grinding, and polishing capability to manufacture the highest quality Silicon products. For those applications with exacting optical requirements, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC has the ability to clean, polish, and apply coatings.

Whether you need prototypes or volume production, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC is here to help. Please contact us to discuss your applications.

About Silicon

Silicon (Si) is one of the most common materials on earth. Its most prevalent engineering forms are Polycrystalline Silicon and Single Crystal Silicon. Polycrystalline Silicon’s primary application is as the raw material for producing Single Crystal Silicon. Single Crystal Silicon is the material that enabled semiconductors to become so ubiquitous. Being a crystal, Single Crystal Silicon not only has anisotropic thermal and mechanical properties, but it also has anisotropic etch rates, which makes it ideal for MEMs and other devices. Silicon has low optical loss in the infrared, but is opaque in the visible optical spectrum.

Even though Single Crystal Silicon has anisotropic properties, the material properties are presented as though the material is isotropic. The ranges provided in the table include variation of the material reported in the literature and the differences in properties along different crystalline planes.

Silicon Applications

  • Infrared sources and detectors
  • Microelectronics
  • Layered fluidic devices

Silicon Properties

 

Units

Single Crystal Silicon
Melting Point C 1690
Max Use Temperature in Air C 1350
Max Use Temperature
(Non-oxidizing)		 C
Thermal Shock (Quenching) C
Thermal Conductivity W/(m K) 125 - 163
Specific Heat  J/(K kg) 628 - 753
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion 1/C (x10^-6) 2.49 - 4.44
Color Gray
Moh Hardness  
Knoop Hardness 6.5 - 7
Density kg/mm^2 1100 - 1150
Porosity g/cm^3 2.33
Compressive Strength % of nominal 0
Tensile Strength MPa 120
Flexural Strength MPa 113
Fracture Toughness (KIC) MPa 300
Young's Modulus MPa m^1/2 1.0 - 6.0
Poisson's ratio GPa 112 - 150
Dielectric Strength 0.28
Dielectric Constant (@1MHz) kv/cm
Dielectric Loss Tangent 11.8 - 13
Resistivity ohm cm 0.01
Usable Transmission Range um 1.5 - 8
Refractive Index 3.42 - 3.49
The information provided in this table is for room temperature only, and is a compilation of publicly available data.  This information is provided for comparison purposes only, and is not intended to be warrantable.   Further, CiDRA® Precision Services, LLC disclaims any and all liability from errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

 

Please contact us if you would like to discuss your Silicon dicing, drilling, milling, grinding, polishing or any other machining applications.