On high quality turned silicon surfaces

A threshold barrier of I nm surface roughness for diamond turning of aluminum, a soft and ductile material, has been suggested by McKeown. This same result has been obtained now for silicon, a hard and brittle material. Surfaces of 1 nm roughness were obtained and three novel techniques are proposed in this paper. The surface integrity was studied in detail by using Atomic Force Microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope, and Stylus Surface Instrument. The diamond tool sharpness has a considerable influence on the machined surface, therefore a novel technique-brightness modulation for measuring accurately the edge of the cutter was proposed. Mirror surfaces were assessed by another novel technique-a measure of their reflectivity. A third technique, single grit diamond machining was carried out. It supplies a experimental evidence for verifying the obtained high quality turned surfaces. Results show that turning has an excellent prospect in machining brittle materials, especially as it has industrial applications.