Multi-Objective Optimization

of Wire-Electric Discharge
Machined Ultrathin Silicon

Divyanshu Bhartiya
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Bombay,
Mumbai 400076, India
Pinal Rana
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Bombay,
Mumbai 400076, India
Meinam Annebushan Singh
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Bombay,
Mumbai 400076, India
Deepak Marla1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Bombay,
Mumbai 400076, India
e-mail: dmarla@iitb.ac.in
Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/micronanomanufacturing/article-pdf/8/4/041006/6627576/jmnm_008_04_041006.pdf by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Deepak Marla on 07 October 2023
Wafers Using Response
Surface Methodology for
Solar Cell Applications
Recent investigations on the fabrication of ultrathin silicon (Si) wafers using wire-
electric discharge machining (wire-EDM) were observed to possess some inherent limita-
tions. These include thermal damage (TD), kerf-loss (KL), and low slicing rate (SR),
which constraints its industrial use. The extent of TD, KL, and SR largely depends on the
process parameters such as open voltage (OV), servovoltage (SV), and pulse on-time
(Ton). Therefore, optimizing the parameters that pertain to minimum TD and KL while
maintaining a higher SR is the key to improvement in the fabrication of Si wafers using
wire-EDM. Thus, this study is an effort to analyze and identify the optimal parameters
that relate to the most effective Si slicing in wire-EDM. A central composite design
(CCD)-based response surface methodology (RSM) was used for optimizing the process
parameters. The capability to slice Si wafers in wire-EDM was observed to be influenced
by the discharge energy, which significantly impacted the overall responses. The severi-
ties of TDs were observed to be mainly dominated by the variation in OV and Ton due to
the diffusion of thermal energy into the workpiece, leading to melting and subsequent
resolidification. For high productivity, the optimized parameters resulted in a SR of
0.72 mm/min, TD of 17.44 lm, and a kerf-loss of about 280 lm.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4049362]

Keywords: wire-EDM, silicon, ultra-thin wafers, central composite method, RSM

1 Introduction superior machining characteristics with the application of reverse

polarity in wire-EDM during the slicing of Si ingots. Takino et al.
The increasing demand of solar energy as an alternative power
[9] demonstrated the slicing of polished Si wafers using water and
generation source has led to an increasing focus toward ultrathin
oil as the dielectric medium to improve surface quality. They
silicon (Si)-based photovoltaic solar cells. Therefore, a need arises
observed that higher surface qualities were achieved with water as
to cut Si wafers effectively and efficiently. Currently, conven-
the dielectric fluid in comparison with that of oil.
tional techniques such as inner diameter (ID) sawing [1], free
Joshi et al. [10] carried out an experimental study to character-
abrasive wire saw [2], and fixed abrasive wire saw [3] methods
ize the surface qualities and machining capabilities of the wire-
were used to slice Si wafers. The thickness achieved using these
EDM Si wafers. Better machining characteristics were observed
processes were in the range of 180620 lm, with a kerf-loss (KL)
with higher open voltage (OV) and lower servovoltage (SV),
of 150–300 lm and a slicing rate (SR) of 0.42–1.1 mm/min [4].
which led to higher material removal along the wire feed direc-
These methods remove the material purely by mechanical abra-
tion. Besides, the extent of the recast layer and thermal damages
sion, which led to higher surface damage with microcracks. Gao
(TD) were observed to be in the range of a few microns to tens of
et al. [5] investigated subsurface damage during the diamond wire
microns [11]. The high severity of thermal damages further
sawing and reported it to be about 45 lm. Similar inferences were
demands extensive surface polishing/etching [12]. This could ulti-
also reported by Bismayer et al. [6] during ID saw of Si wafers.
mately lead to an increase in the manufacturing cost. Further, it
The high severity of subsurface damage associated with these
has been identified that the severity of the thermal damage, kerf-
methods requires prolonged polishing/etching, which led to higher
loss, and slicing rate were observed to be directly influenced by
material loss and processing time. This consequently increased
the discharge potential maintained during wire-EDM slicing.
the overall production cost.
Thus, proper optimization of the machining parameters is essen-
Wire-electric discharge machining (EDM) is another potential
tial to realize effective slicing of Si wafers using wire-EDM with
technique for the fabrication of ultrathin Si wafers [7]. However,
minimal thermal damage and kerf-loss while maintaining an
the low electrical conductivity of the material is a major concern.
appreciable slicing rate.
Despite this challenge, several researchers have successfully dem-
Response surface methodology (RSM) is an effective design
onstrated the viability of the process. Uno et al. [8] reported
and optimization tool to identify the individual and interactive
effects of the process parameters on the response variables [13].
1
Corresponding author. Numerous studies were conducted to date with regard to the opti-
Contributed by the Manufacturing Engineering Division of ASME for publication
in the JOURNAL OF MICRO- AND NANO-MANUFACTURING. Manuscript received July 1,
mization of wire-EDM parameters using RSM. Hewidy et al. [14]
2020; final manuscript received October 22, 2020; published online January 18, and Nandakumar and Mohan [15] used RSM to develop the math-
2021. Assoc. Editor: Ping Guo. ematical models and optimize the overall influence of the process

Journal of Micro- and Nano-Manufacturing Copyright V

C 2020 by ASME DECEMBER 2020, Vol. 8 / 041006-1
parameters in wire-EDM. Similarly, Joshi et al. [10] adopted the
RSM technique to perform single-objective optimization of the
process parameters during the Si wafer slicing and calculated the
value of slicing rate, kerf-loss, and thermal damage. Although var-
ious researchers have reported the capability of slicing Si wafers
using wire-EDM, multi-objective optimization of the process
parameters has not been reported. This work utilizes RSM-based
multi-objective optimization to investigate the impact of process
parameters on the overall machining characteristics. The incorpo-
ration of the multi-objective optimization will help identify the
process parameters for the slicing of Si wafers corresponding to
the most optimal machining scenario (high slicing rate, low kerf-
loss, and thermal damage), which can enhance productivity.
2 Experiments
Experiments were carried out to slice Si wafers at a different
set of process parameters using wire-EDM. In this section, the
details of the experimental setup and design of experiments are
presented.
2.1 Design of Experiments. This work employs RSM to
design and analyze the experiments with slicing rate, thermal
damage, and kerf-loss as the response parameters. A central com-
posite design (CCD)-based RSM was chosen because of its supe-
rior prediction quality over other designs. The axial points in the
CCD demarcate the values chosen for the considered factors. A
basic factorial design is created within these axial points, consist-
ing of a central point representing the mean value of all the fac-
tors. The axial points help estimate the curvature used for
circumscribing the cube formed by the factorial points with a cen-
tral point at the center. The RSM estimates the value of responses
at each point within the volume circumscribed by the CCD curva-
ture (see Fig. 1). The design consists of three controlled variables
(OV, SV, and Ton) and three responses, viz., SR, KL, and TD. For
the application of CCD, the chosen range of values of the con-
trolled variables was demarcated into five levels. With k factors in
an experiment, CCD proposes 2k factorial points, 2k axial points,
and a central point (Cp), culminating into 2k þ 2k þ Cp number of
experiments. Hence with k ¼ 3, the number of experimental points
is 23 þ 2  3 þ 1  4 ¼ 18; here central point was repeated four
times. Therefore, 18 different sets of parametric combinations
with two repetitions were chosen to carry out the experiments.
Following the experiments, the RSM was used to develop a
second-order equation based on the retrieved data and assist in
evaluating response surfaces and contour plots to understand the
effects of controlled variables on the responses. The accuracy of
the model was accessed by the repeated experimentation of the
central points, which measure the process variability to gain a bet-
ter error estimate. These central points also help identify the cur-
vature of the model and estimate the significance of each factor.
After modeling of the experimental data, the desirability function
was used for multi-objective optimization.
Fig. 1 Central composite design
041006-2 / Vol. 8, DECEMBER 2020
2.2 Experimental Setup. A wire-EDM setup (Accutex AU-
300i) was used to perform the experiments, which is shown in
Fig. 2. A polycrystalline Si ingot of thickness 30 mm, with 0.5 W
cm resistivities, was used as the workpiece submerged in a dielec-
tric medium (de-ionized water). A brass wire of diameter 250 lm
was used as a tool electrode. The present analysis followed a nor-
mal polarity with the tool as the cathode, and the workpiece as the
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anode, respectively. The dielectric was maintained at around
25  C temperature using a water chilling plant. The kerf-loss was
measured using an optical Rapid Eye microscope. Further, the
severity of thermal damages was measured using a field emission
scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Ultra 55, Carl Zeiss).
Preliminary experiments were conducted to identify the operat-
ing range of the process parameters, viz., OV, SV, and Ton. The
working range of the process parameters was chosen with wire
breakage as the limiting factor. The final working range was cho-
sen as 65–95 V for OV, 34–50 V for SV, and 0.3–1.2 ls for Ton,
with corresponding levels shown in Table 1. The reason behind
choosing this range is that at 65 V of OV and 0.3 ls of Ton, spark
produces minimal energy, below which there was no material
removal. At 95 V of OV and 1.2 ls of Ton spark produces maxi-
mum energy, above which there was frequent wire breakage. A
constant pulse off-time of 15 ls, wire tension 6.86 N, wire feed of
92 mm/s, and water pressure of 10 bar/kg were considered in this
study.
3 Optimization Methodology
The objective of this study is to optimize the overall process
parameters during Si-wafer slicing with regard to a high slicing
rate, low thermal damage, and kerf-loss. The design and optimiza-
tion were performed using open source R programing software.
The optimization methodology, along with the objective func-
tions, is summarized as:
(i) Find process parameters: X ¼ [OV, SV, Ton]
(ii) F ¼ f [maximize (SL), minimize (KL, TD)]
(iii) Given objective functions:
slicing rate (SR) ¼ f1 (OV, SV, Ton);
kerf-loss (KL) ¼ f2 (OV, SV, Ton);
thermal damage (TD) ¼ f3 (OV, V, Ton)
(iv) Subject to constraints:
65 V  OV  95 V;
34 V  SV  50 V;
0.3 ls  Ton  1.2 ls;
(v) Find individual desirability (d)
SRn  minðSRÞ
dðSRn Þ ¼
maxðSRÞ  minðSRÞ
maxðKLÞ  KLn
dðKLn Þ ¼
maxðKLÞ  minðKLÞ
Fig. 2 Experimental setup
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Machining parameters with their levels
Levels
Process parameters 2 1 0 1 2
Open voltage (V) 65 71 80 89 95
Servovoltage (V) 34 37 42 47 50
Pulse on-time (ls) 0.3 0.5 0.75 1 1.2
maxðTDÞ  TDn
dðTDn Þ ¼
maxðTDÞ  minðTDÞ
(vi) Find overall desirability (D) using
Di ¼ ½dðSRn Þ  dðKLn Þ  dðTDn Þ1=3
Here, X defines the set of process parameters, F is the primary
objective function related to the process parameters through the
function f, whereas f1, f2, and f3 are the single objective functions
for maximizing the slicing rate and minimizing kerf-loss and ther-
mal damage, respectively. The value of D varies from 0 to 1, with
values closer to 1 as the most desirable. The desirability function
aids in finding out the optimal value from the given set of 18
experimental points, which is one of its drawbacks as it does not
provide the optimum global value. Therefore, to counter this
drawback, RSM modeling is again performed with the overall
desirability as a function of OV, SV, and Ton. Thus, the new
objective function is
D ¼ f4 ðOV; SV; Ton Þ
Hence, the multi-objective optimization problem was converted
into a single objective optimization problem, and the optimal val-
ues of the process parameters were obtained.
4 Results and Discussion
In this section, a detailed analysis of process parameters’ influ-
ence on the machined surface, slicing rate, kerf-loss, and thermal
damage will be presented for wire-EDM slicing of polycrystalline
Si. The interaction of the parameters and their overall effects on
the responses will be identified and thoroughly analyzed. Further,
the results of multi-objective optimization to determine the opti-
mal machining conditions will be discussed.
4.1 Slicing Rate. Figures 3 and 4 show the variation in slic-
ing rate with the process parameters. The slicing rate was
observed to increase with an increase in OV, for a particular SV
and Ton. This condition was mainly attributed to the increase in
the discharge energy with an increase in OV, which resulted in
higher material removal along the machining direction. When OV
Fig. 3 Variation of slicing rate with SV and OV (Ton 5 0.75 ls)
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Fig. 4 Variation of slicing rate with Ton and OV (SV 5 42 V)
increases from 65 V to 95 V, the slicing rate was observed to
increase by roughly 2.5 times its initial value. Furthermore, for a
given value of OV ( 80 V), the slicing rate decreases with an
increase in SV (see Fig. 3). When SV increases, the interelectrode
gap also increases. This leads to a higher probability of spark con-
centration in the transverse direction, thereby lowering the slicing
rate. However, at higher values of OV ( 90 V), there is an
increase in the slicing rate with an increase in the SV. The
increased discharge energy mainly influences this phenomenon
with higher OV that relates to higher material removal along the
machining direction, even though associated with a bigger intere-
lectrode gap.
The variation in the slicing rate with SV was observed to be
quite minimal for the considered range of OV. Similar inferences
were also observed with the variation in Ton (see Fig. 4). The
limitation of the present experimental setup to incorporate a larger
Ton could have resulted in a small variation of the slicing rate
with varying Ton. Moreover, a small change (around 6%) in the
slicing rate can be observed from Figs. 3 and 4 while varying Ton
and SV when the OV was maintained between 80 V to 90 V.
Figure 5 depicts the variation of the slicing rate as a function of
Ton and SV. At the lower value of Ton, the slicing rate decreases
with an increase in SV, throughout the considered range. The
spark gap being a direct function of the SV, an increase in SV
decreases the concentration of the spark discharges from the
machining direction, which results in a comparatively lower slic-
ing rate. However, upon increasing the Ton, a varying trend of
increasing slicing rate was observed with SV. This is mainly due
to the reduced probability of clogging of the eroded debris in the
machining zone with an increase in the spark gap. Moreover, the
contradicting variation in slicing rate with Ton for low (34 V) and
high (50 V) SV was observed in this study. Such behavior was
mainly a consequence of the variation in the debris formation,
plasma flushing, and clogging phenomena with SV in the machin-
ing zone. A low Ton with high SV induces a higher flushing effi-
ciency of the debris particle, which increases the slicing rate.
While at higher Ton, the overall time to remove the eroded debris
Fig. 5 Variation in slicing rate with Ton and SV (OV 5 80 V)
DECEMBER 2020, Vol. 8 / 041006-3
reduces, leading to clogging over a small interelectrode gap and
hence lowers the slicing rate.

4.2 Kerf-Loss. The kerf-loss variation at two different set of

parameters is shown in Figs. 6(a) and 6(b). In order to increase
the accuracy of the results, the measurements were taken at four

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different locations. The average value of kerf-loss for OV ¼ 95 V,
Ton ¼ 1.2 ls, SV ¼ 34 V (first set of parameters) is 0.2710 mm as
shown in Fig. 6(a) and for OV ¼ 65 V, Ton ¼ 0.3 ls, SV ¼ 50 V
(second set of parameters) is 0.2903 mm as shown in Fig. 6(b). As
the wire diameter is 250 lm, the calculated interelectrode gap
from Fig. 6 is approximately 10 lm and 20 lm, respectively, for
the first and second sets of parameters. Fig. 7 Variation of kerf-loss with SV and OV (Ton 5 0.75 ls)
Figure 7 shows the variation of KL with varying OV and SV. A
gradual increase in KL was observed with an increase in OV for
lower SVs. This variation is mainly due to the increase in dis-
charge energy with OV, which leads to higher removal of material
from both the machining as well as transverse direction. However,
at higher SVs, the variation in KL was observed to be almost con-
stant throughout. At a lower value of OV, KL increases with an
increase in SV. This is mainly attributed to the higher probabilistic
discharge concentration in the transverse direction, leading to a
larger KL. However, for the case with higher OV, the KL initially
decreases and then increases with an increase in SV. Initially,
when the SV was maintained at a lower value and OV at a higher
value, profound interaction of the wire electrode and the work-
piece material occurs. This directly corresponds to larger material
removal and hence, larger KL as well.
For the machining scenario with larger OV (90–95 V), when Fig. 8 Variation of kerf-loss with Ton and OV (SV 5 42 V)
the SV increases, the intensity of discharges decreases due to the
increasing interelectrode gap, which correlates with the reduction
in KL, as observed in Fig. 7. Further increase in the SV increases ultimately leading to a comparatively larger KL, as reported in
the interelectrode gap to a sufficiently large value that the dis- Fig. 8.
charge concentration gets highly focused toward the transverse
direction. As a result, the KL concomitantly increases. In this
work, the SV in the range of 40–45 V was observed as the thresh- 4.3 Thermal Damage. The minimization of the severity of
old boundary over which the KL varies. thermal damage is an essential criterion for solar cell applications,
Figure 8 shows the variation in kerf-loss with OV and Ton. For with regard to the power conversion efficiency. Higher thermal
a given value of OV, an increase in Ton decreases the KL initially damage leads to higher recombination, which reduces the effi-
and then gradually increases beyond a certain threshold Ton value ciency of solar cells [12]. Figure 9 shows the variation in the ther-
(Fig. 8). This is because when Ton increases, the discharge energy mal damage obtained during the slicing of Si wafers using wire-
increases, which cause significant melting, vaporization, and ther- EDM. By measuring the difference in surface texture from the
mal spalling. As a result, the wire electrode has a higher probabil- base material, thermal damages were measured. The severity of
ity of moving in the machining direction. This leads to a reduced the net thermal damages was observed as a consequence of both
spark initiation and propagation in the transverse direction. There- the recast layer and the heat-affected zone, which extends beneath
fore, KL decreases. However, with a further increase in Ton, the the resolidified layer.
increased discharge energy generates high debris, which increases The variation in the thermal damage with OV is shown in
the chances of clogging in the machining gap. This leads to a Figs. 10 and 11. The severity of thermal damages was observed to
higher probability of spark generation in the transverse direction, increase with an increase in OV. When OV increases, the

Fig. 6 Optical images for measuring the kerf-loss (a) OV 5 95 V, Ton 5 1.2 ls, SV 5 34 V and (b) OV 5 65 V,
Ton 5 0.3 ls, SV 5 50 V

041006-4 / Vol. 8, DECEMBER 2020 Transactions of the ASME


Fig. 9 SEM images depicting the severity of the thermal damage for (a) OV 5 95 V, Ton 5 1.2 ls, SV 5 34 V
and (b) OV 5 65 V, Ton 5 0.3 ls, SV 5 50 V
associated discharge energy increases as well. Consequently, dif-
fusion of heat into the workpiece material increases, resulting in
higher melting, resolidification, and thermal affected zones. This
ultimately increases the thermal damages, as observed in Figs. 10
and 11. When OV increases from 65 to 95 V, there is a 21%
increase in thermal damage. For a given OV, the thermal damage
increases with an increase in SV (see Fig. 10) as well. The SV
being an interelectrode gap function, an increase in SV increases
the interelectrode gap maintained between the tool and the work-
piece. This leads to higher severity of spark concentration in the
transverse direction, which subsequently leads to higher thermal
damage. In the present analysis, an increase in SV from 35 to
50 V caused a 13% increase in the thermal damage.
A similar influence was observed with varying Ton (Fig. 11),
where an increase in Ton leads to higher discharge duration,
which increases the overall heat diffusion, ultimately leading to
enhanced thermal damages. The thermal damages were observed
to increase by about 133% when the Ton increases from 0.3 to
1.2 ls.
4.4 Machined surface. Figures 12(a) and 12(b) show the
SEM images of the machined surfaces at two different parameters
pertaining to the extreme conditions. The surface consists of cra-
ters, pores, and redeposited debris. A qualitative comparison of
the two surfaces suggests that the density of craters and the rede-
posited material is higher in Fig. 12(a) than Fig. 12(b). This is
because the spark energy increases with an increase in OV, and
the number of sparks increases with an increase in Ton. Therefore,
at higher values of OV and Ton, the material erosion is more
severe, as is evident in Fig. 12(a) with a higher density of craters.
Also, the discharge gap is smaller at lower values of SV. Due to
the narrow discharge gap at SV ¼ 34 V (Fig. 12(a)), the flushing
capability is poor, which subsequently leads to the redeposition of
Fig. 10 Variation of thermal damage with SV and OV
(Ton 5 0.75 ls)
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the eroded material. A combined effect of high material erosion
and poor flushing leads to a high amount of material getting rede-
posited on the machined surface, thereby leading to poor surface
characteristics, as seen in Fig. 12(a). In comparison, the crater
density is lower in Fig. 12(b) with a low amount of redeposited
material. Besides, the size of the craters is higher in Fig. 12(b)
because of wider interelectrode gap, which could be due to the
generation of a thicker (discharge) plasma.
4.5 Optimization. In order to find the optimal process param-
eters, the RSM package in the R language was used. The model-
ing approach described in Sec. 3 was used to find the response
variables (KL, SR, and TD) as a function of OV, SV, and Ton. Fur-
ther, desirability (d) values for each of the response variables
were calculated. Table 2 depicts the value of individual desirabil-
ity corresponding to each of the response variables at different
experiment conditions. From these individual desirability values
(d(KL), d(SR), d(TD)), overall desirability (D) for each experi-
ment is calculated. The parametric optimization resulted in
OV ¼ 84.32 V, SV ¼ 42.98 V, and Ton ¼ 0.62 ls. The values of
thermal damage, kerf-loss, and slicing rate corresponding to the
above set of parameters are 20.69 lm, 279.27 lm, and 0.6134 mm/
min, respectively. However, the obtained optimized parameter
cannot be directly used due to the associated limitations of the
present experimental setup in selecting the parameter values.
Thus, the nearest settings were considered to perform the final val-
idation (OV ¼ 83 V, SV ¼ 43 V, and Ton ¼ 0.6 ls). A moderately
higher slicing rate of 0.6560.04 mm/min, kerf-loss of 28063 lm,
and thermal damage of 1862 lm was observed during experimen-
tal characterization. This is the global optimum value for the pres-
ent experimental study and is observed to be well within the limit
of value obtained from optimization, thus validating the accuracy
of the optimization model.
Fig. 11 Variation of thermal damage with Ton and OV
(SV 5 42 V)
DECEMBER 2020, Vol. 8 / 041006-5
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Fig. 12 SEM images depicting the variation of machined surfaces in (a) OV 5 95 V, Ton 5 1.2 ls,
and SV 5 34 V and (b) OV 5 65 V, Ton 5 0.3 ls, and SV 5 50 V

Table 2 Desirability function of machining parameters with their levels and responses

OV (V) SV (V) Ton (ls) SR (mm/min) KL (mm) TD (lm) d(SR) d(KL) d(TD) D

71 37 0.5 0.487567 0.280165 15.376 0.4871387 0.3257900 0.8833069 0.5194782

89 37 0.5 0.709723 0.285455 14.64985 0.8775203 0.1100917 0.9306437 0.4479867
71 47 0.5 0.352299 0.288055 16.95243 0.2494403 0.0040774 0.7805415 0.0925943
89 47 0.5 0.760456 0.284265 15.8946 0.9666704 0.1586136 0.8495001 0.5069060
71 37 1 0.363306 0.280475 28.17383 0.2687822 0.3131498 0.0490329 0.1604034
89 37 1 0.758438 0.281475 22.71857 0.9631243 0.2723751 0.4046543 0.4734905
71 47 1 0.353294 0.288155 27.33565 0.2511887 0 0.1036728 0
89 47 1 0.779423 0.27974 20.8238 1 0.3431192 0.5281719 0.5659005
65 42 0.75 0.210349 0.26363 13.58592 0 1 1 0
95 42 0.75 0.748223 0.28509 28.926 0.9451740 0.1249745 0 0
80 34 0.75 0.437158 0.278325 19.862 0.3985580 0.4008154 0.5908704 0.4553123
80 50 0.75 0.447628 0.283335 23.65303 0.4169563 0.1965341 0.3437381 0.3042650
80 42 0.3 0.436205 0.2862 19.40879 0.3968833 0.0797145 0.6204146 0.2697496
80 42 1.2 0.434688 0.28593 22.10382 0.3942176 0.0907237 0.4447291 0.2514881
80 42 0.75 0.470267 0.26422 21.0883 0.4567384 0.9759429 0.5109295 0.6106856
80 42 0.75 0.501505 0.28602 20.7143 0.5116311 0.0870540 0.5353101 0.2878174
80 42 0.75 0.474608 0.285835 17.87622 0.4643666 0.0945973 0.7203208 0.3162923
80 42 0.75 0.497265 0.278690 19.89293 0.5041805 0.3859054 0.5888531 0.4856886

However, the observed global optimal value of thermal dam-
age, kerf-loss, and slicing rate is not suitable for high productivity
owing to the low slicing rate (0.65 mm/min) and high thermal
damage (18 lm). Furthermore, the overall variation in kerf-loss
for all the experiments is around 20 lm, which is insignificant.
Therefore, another case was taken into account that considered
slicing rate and thermal damages as the major desirability func-
tions. Following the optimization steps mentioned in Sec. 3, the
optimized parameters for high productivity are OV ¼ 87.84 V,
SV ¼ 35 V, and Ton ¼ 0.4 ls. The corresponding theoretical value
of thermal damage and slicing rate is 17.44 lm and 0.72 mm/min,
respectively. Therefore, performing the wire-EDM process at
these parameters can significantly enhance productivity.
discharge time higher is the heat penetration into the work-
piece. Thermal damage increased by 133% when Ton was
varied from 0.3 ls to 1.2 ls.
(4) The optimal parameters from the model were obtained as
OV ¼ 83 V, SV ¼ 43 V, and Ton ¼ 0.6 ls with the corre-
sponding value of slicing rate, kerf-loss, and thermal dam-
ages are 0.6134 mm/min, 279.27 lm, and 20.69 lm,
respectively.
(5) The thermal damage and slicing rate are the two essential
factors for improving productivity. The optimized parame-
ters for high productivity (high slicing rate and low thermal
damage) were OV ¼ 87.84 V, SV ¼ 35 V, and Ton ¼ 0.4 ls,
with corresponding thermal damage and slicing rate of
17.44 lm and 0.72 mm/min, respectively.

5 Conclusions
This work is an effort to optimize ultrathin Si wafer slicing
using wire-EDM with slicing rate, kerf-loss, and thermal damage
as the output characteristics. The following are the main conclu-
sions of the work.
(1) The slicing rate was mainly dominated by OV. This is
mainly due to the increased discharge energy with higher
OV, leading to higher melting and vaporization.
(2) A minimal kerf-loss of around 270 lm was observed in this
study with a brass wire electrode of diameter 250 lm. This
substantially aids toward minimization of material losses
and hence, overall consumption on a broader scale.
(3) The extent of thermal damage was observed to increase
with an increase in OV, SV, and Ton. Among these, Ton sig-
nificantly influenced the thermal damage, as longer the
Acknowledgment
The authors are greatly thankful to National Centre for Photo-
voltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), IIT Bombay, for allow-
ing the use of their facilities to carry out the experimental work.
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