Incident radiation induced subsurface damage for controlled crack propagation in material cleavage

A cleaving system employs a shaper, a positioner, an internal preparation system, an external preparation system, a cleaver, and a cropper to cleave a workpiece into cleaved pieces. The shaper shapes a workpiece into a defined geometric shape. The positioner then positions the workpiece such that the internal preparation system can generate a separation layer at the cleaving plane. The internal preparation system focuses a laser beam internal to the workpiece at a focal point and scans the focal point across the cleaving plane to create the separation layer. The external preparation system scores the external surface of the workpiece at a location coplanar to the separation layer. The cleaver cleaves the workpiece by propagating the crack on the external surface along the separation layer. The cropper shapes the cleaved piece into a geometric shape as needed.