Wafer and boule protection during the blade return stroke of a wafer saw

The quality of the as-sawn surfaces of a wafer is improved by preventing the saw blade from striking the wafer surfaces during the blade return stroke by leaning the just-sawn wafer away from the blade and by slightly retracting the face of the ingot from the plane of the saw blade. A fluid-jet-induced deformation of the binding compound portion of the ingot is preferred as a means of leaning the wafer away from the saw blade. Using this technique a number of wafers may be successively sawn from an ingot and kept attached to the ingot by the binding compound without the surfaces of the wafers being scored during the return strokes of the blade.