circular wafers
The round design provides better structural strength, reduces edge stress concentrations, and lowers the risk of breakage due to physical manipulation during processing.
Wafers are round mainly due to a combination of factors such as the natural shape of the silicon rods, production efficiency and yields, ease of subsequent process handling, maximized material utilization, and historical and technological heritage.
circular wafers
When cutting wafers from cylindrical ingots, a circular layout maximizes the efficiency of material usage and, although edge sections may not be available, is overall more adaptable to a continuous cutting process than a square design.
Specific notches or flat edges on the wafer are used to indicate crystal orientation and positioning, and these designs are easier and more standardized on round wafers.
Although square or rectangular wafers are used in the photovoltaic industry to minimize wasted space in packaging, round wafers are still dominant in integrated circuit manufacturing because of the maturity and efficiency of the manufacturing process.
