Grinding characteristics of micro-abrasive pellet tools fabricated by a LIGA-like process

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the wearing and grinding characteristics of the micro-abrasive pellet tools with 4–6 μm diamond particles fabricated by a LIGA-like process that has micro-lithography with photoresist mold and nickel/diamond composite electroforming. The results showed that when the micro-pellet tool containing partial resist joint with a root on the substrate was designed and fabricated, the tool against alumina sandpaper in wear test showed lesser amount of micro-pulled-out pellets than the tools with flat joint type, which displayed the tool to have better adhesion strength. In addition, when the micro-diamond tools were used to grind silicon wafers, the surface appearance of wafers showed ductile behavior. The surface roughness of wafers ground with increased pellet tool rotation speed became better and Ra=0.05 μm was achieved.