METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUBDIVIDING A CRYSTAL WAFER

A body, such as a crystalline semiconductor body for the production of diodes, transistors, thyristors or other electronic components, is severed from a crystal wafer by placing the wafer face-to-face onto the surface of a griddle which has a slit along each cutting line. A sandblast is directed from a jet nozzle upon the top face of the wafer above the slit, and relative movement is imparted between griddle and jet nozzle in a direction lengthwise of the slit, simultaneously exhausting the sand out of the slit. In this manner, the crystal body is separated from the rest of the wafer along the slit. Preferably, the device for performing the method is provided with a griddle whose top surface has a group of parallel slits extending crosswise to another group of parallel slits, a comb structure, also with intersecting slits, being mounted above the griddle surface proper. Such apparatus is capable of simultaneously severing a multiplicity of individual bodies from a crystal wafer.