Study on grinding of LiTaO3 wafer using effective cooling and electrolyte solution

• Joint effects of piezoelectrics and pyroelectrics possibly generate cracks in grinding.
• The coolant temperature and wheel tooth geometry are two main factors dominating the performance of LT wafer grinding.
• Effective cooling and electrolyte solution make it possible to thin LT wafers less than 100 μm.

As a typical multi-functional single crystal material, lithium tantalate (LiTaO3 or LT) exhibits its excellent electro-optical, piezoelectric properties and has now been widely applied into many applications, such as electro-optical modulators, pyroelectric detectors, optical waveguide, piezoelectric transducers and SAW (surface acoustic wave) substrates. LT is known as a very important functional material, however the details of its machinability are not readily available yet. The content in this study is firstly focuses on the physical properties of LT like piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects and their influence on grinding performance. The obtained results are analyzed and discussed to understand its physical properties which have significant influences on their machinability in the grinding process. The crack initiation is possible to be dominated by internal stress which originated from self-polarization of the material itself. Hence, in order to suppress the physical effects induced by polarization during grinding of LT, control the temperature of coolant and increase the electrical conductivity of coolant are purposely tried in this study. The grinding results suggest that control of coolant temperature and use of electrolyte solution can effectively suppress the increasing rate of grinding torque and surface roughness, which in turn enhance the performance of LT wafer grinding. The LT wafers are eventually able to be thinned less than 100 μm.