The semiconductor market is constantly generating innovation cycles and posing a major challenge to manufacturers. The production process for wafers, the wafer-like disks needed for electronic (chips) and micromechanical components, as well as in photovoltaics, is long. It gets exciting when the opto-electronic components receive their finishing touches. They are lapped not just once, but many times. The saying "Meet me in my world" applies here. Helge Willers experiences what this means practically every day with his customers.

The sales director at Pureon talks to manufacturers of wafers and high-quality LEDs made of sapphire or silicon carbide. His customers also include companies that produce optical components, such as those built into microscopes, lasers, video projectors, POS scanners (sapphire glass) and even drones. All customers have very different factory requirements - yet at their core they are looking for the same thing: durable solutions.

"With us, customers meet knowledgeable industry experts with whom they can talk at eye level," explains the Sales Director. Together, they arrive at the optimal solution. In this respect, Pureon makes it particularly easy for its customers: they can access ready-made mixtures "ready to use" from the enormous range of products for the lapping and polishing process and test individual specifications themselves. "This is particularly attractive for engineers," Helge Willers knows. Only what is demonstrably suitable for the customer is purchased. What is important to the producers of the sought-after wafers?

The production is complex. Ingots, crystal growths of silicon carbide or the higher-quality sapphire, are used for production. The individual wafers are cut from these ingots with diamond saws. These wafers fulfill  - in the case of LEDs, for example - a kind of butler function: they are the carrier material (substrate) for the further, very complex epitaxy. To survive individual process steps undamaged, they still must be quite thick and robust.

The quality of the wafer depends to a large extent on how pure the crystal is and how defect-free the lattice structure is, as well as on the uniform thickness of the surface size and the surface quality. Wafer lapping removes surface defects from the front and back sides of the wafer. Backside lapping again removes material in several fine steps - making the wafer significantly thinner. What can the customer expect from Pureon?

Polycrystalline diamond has become widely accepted for wafer lapping. Pureon is the world's manufacturer par excellence for this type of diamond. The rough particle surface and optimal grain shape are ideal for lapping. The combination of a suitable diamond grade and Pureon's expertise in tailoring the formulation of the carrier fluid to the specific application makes all the difference to the result: the quality of the surfaces is optimal, productivity increases.

Oil- and water-based suspensions are available. Even if the oil base gives better results: oil requires more effort in cleaning the machines and in disposal. Pureon has everything in mind. "As a full-service provider, we can control quality throughout the entire value chain - from the production of diamonds to the creation of user-specific suspension formulations to final acceptance. This is what sets us apart," explains Helge Willers.

High quality, as achieved by Pureon, is based on the experts' knowledge, experience, and Swiss precision.