Silicon dioxide (SiO2) wafers are cleanest when they are new, right out of the box. One can either exfoliate onto the entire wafer in one sitting, or cleave the wafer and place the unused chips in a storage container.

½ inch width chips are a good size because this leaves a small amount of tape to hang off the sides of the chips when exfoliating, and can be pressed down onto the glass slide which the chips are on. There are ruled cleaving boards available to assist in cleaving.

1. Cleave silicon wafers by placing a small scratch every 1/2 inch and then, using two soft-tipped tweezers, apply a slight torque around the scratch. If it does not break easily do not force it – the scratch is probably not sufficiently long or deep enough. Sometimes diamond scribes become dull after extended use or misuse (place the caps back on them after using them and never let the tips touch a surface it is not meant to cut). Re-scratch and try again. Once the wafers are cut into “slices” these can be further cut down using smaller scratches 2 cotton-tipped applicators and a glass slide. Please see video below. Key takeaway: scratch the wafer as little as possible to avoid SiO2 dust on surface.

[need to take video of scratching with diamond scribe and then breaking with tweezers.]

[second video of breaking “slices” into squares using cotton swab/glass slide method]

2. blow the chips with N2 to remove large dust particles.

3. Use the O2 plasma cleaner to remove small organic particles still remaining on the chips’ surface. This completes the chip preparation.