Micro electrical discharge machining techniques of semiconducting silicon material

To expand the application of Micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM), the micro-EDM technology of semiconducting silicon material was researched in this paper. The micro-EDM characteristics of silicon material including erosion resistance index, doping content, and doping type as well as orientation characteristic of silicon were discussed. The micro-EDM process law of different doping types of silicon material with different process parameters was researched and compared with the machining process law of stainlees steel. The influence of different dielectrics on characteristics of silicon was also explored. The microstructure machining experiments on silicon wafer were carried out. Results show that the micro beam with the aspect ratio over 15 can be obtained easily. And micro beams with minimum width of 23 μm and 12 μm are obtained on an N-type silicon wafer with thickness of 420 μm and a P-type silicon wafer with thickness of 400 μm respectively. A micro hemisphere with the diameter size of 150 μm as well as a micro turbo with 24 blades and the outer diameter of 4 mm are machined on P-type silicon wafer successfully.