Study of the mechanism of multi-channel discharge in semiconductor processing by WEDM

This paper studies the discharge characteristics of metal and semiconductor processing by WEDM, proves single-channel discharge in metal EDM and finds multi-channel discharge phenomenon in semiconductor EDM. The mechanism has been analyzed in this paper. The main reason for multi-channel discharge is the existence of body resistor and contact barrier; thus, there still exists a high potential difference between the electrode wire and the surrounding area of discharge points after the dielectric breakdown, and this potential difference can form a second discharge. The effects of multi-channel discharge on the processing efficiency of semiconductor EDM are also studied. The energy of each discharge channel is roughly equal, and thus the multi-channel discharge at the same time can increase the energy utilization ratio of the pulsed power supply and improve the processing efficiency. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.