On the ductile machining of silicon for micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), opto-electronic and optical applications

The role of hydrostatic pressure in the ductile machining of silicon is demonstrated experimentally using a single crystal diamond tool with a large negative rake (−40°) and a high side cutting edge angle (SCEA) (∼88°) and undeformed chip thickness in the nanometric range (∼50 nm) using an ultraprecision machine tool and a special machining stage inside a high external hydrostatic pressure (∼400 MPa) apparatus.