Usefulness of blank Si / GaAs wafers

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ray_parkhurst
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Usefulness of blank Si / GaAs wafers

Post by ray_parkhurst »

At the last electronics swap meet I picked up some blank Si and what I think are GaAs wafers. There are 3" and 4" Si and 2" GaAs. Some are polished one side, while others are etched to a matte finish.

My question is "what useful thing can be done with them?"

Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions!

Smokedaddy
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Post by Smokedaddy »

... frisbees?

palea
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Post by palea »

I used the one I had as a coaster for a while until it eventually and inevitably got accidentally broken. They can be entertaining for bouncing light around as well but the other main use seems to be showing people what a wafer looks like.

Some people DIY chip fab but that's uncommon.

dickb
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Post by dickb »

Maybe you can use the etched side to test a camera setup for perfect alignment, assuming it gives you enough detail to focus on..

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Seems these are of limited utility. Probably will e-waste them...

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

ray_parkhurst wrote:Seems these are of limited utility. Probably will e-waste them...
Before you throw them away, use them as practice pieces for cleaving wafers. That way, when you get a nice wafer full of dies, you'll be ready to accurately dice it into smaller pieces for more convenient photography.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Beatsy wrote:
ray_parkhurst wrote:Seems these are of limited utility. Probably will e-waste them...
Before you throw them away, use them as practice pieces for cleaving wafers. That way, when you get a nice wafer full of dies, you'll be ready to accurately dice it into smaller pieces for more convenient photography.
I'm already pretty good at that from my day jobs.

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

ray_parkhurst wrote:
Beatsy wrote:
ray_parkhurst wrote:Seems these are of limited utility. Probably will e-waste them...
Before you throw them away, use them as practice pieces for cleaving wafers. That way, when you get a nice wafer full of dies, you'll be ready to accurately dice it into smaller pieces for more convenient photography.
I'm already pretty good at that from my day jobs.
Haha, soon as I hit "submit" I wondered if that might be the case. Soz. :oops:

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