Breaking the “Cleaning” Barrier in Tungsten Wire Applications
FOTMA, a domestic company that has mastered core tungsten diamond wire technology and achieved large-scale production, boasts leading industry quality and sales for its tungsten diamond wire saws and carbon steel diamond wire saws, essential supporting consumables for strategic emerging industries such as solar photovoltaics and semiconductors.
Our research and development of tungsten diamond wire stems from a deep understanding of downstream technological trends. In recent years, the photovoltaic silicon wafer industry has rapidly evolved toward “larger size and thinner wafers,” placing stringent demands on cutting tools for thinner wires, high yield, low TTV, high speed, minimal wire breakage, and reduced wire consumption. Traditional carbon steel busbars are becoming increasingly inadequate in this thinning process. However, tungsten busbars, with their superior tensile strength, hardness, longitudinal elastic modulus, and corrosion resistance, offer greater potential for reducing wire diameters, making them an ideal target for technological breakthroughs.
However, transforming this potential into a viable product is not an easy task. The first key technical challenge the R&D team encountered was in the fundamental pre-processing step. We discovered that the drawing process for tungsten busbars uses different media than that for carbon steel busbars, making the conventional carbon steel wire pre-cleaning method inapplicable. “If this problem isn’t addressed effectively, the bond between the busbar substrate and the coating will be insufficient, directly impacting the stability and lifespan of the product at the customer end,” recalled a representative from the company’s R&D team. Faced with this challenge, the team didn’t simply apply existing solutions. Instead, based on a comprehensive analysis of tungsten busbar characteristics, they explored a process path from the ground up. Ultimately, they developed a groundbreaking pre-cleaning process specifically adapted for tungsten busbars, clearing the primary hurdle for the successful development and mass production of subsequent products.
Overcoming this initial challenge fully demonstrated the performance advantages of tungsten diamond wire. Compared to carbon steel diamond wire, it offers higher breaking strength, superior corrosion resistance, and improved toughness, offering significant potential for further reduction in wire diameter. In actual cutting applications, this translates to lower wire breakage rates, higher cutting efficiency, improved adaptability to high-speed cutting processes, and ultimately, higher yield rates. Field verification has shown that using tungsten diamond wire for cutting can increase unit yield by over 3%, significantly improving the profitability of downstream customers.
Collaborating with customers to streamline process adaptation
The value of scientific and technological achievements ultimately needs to be tested through market application. FOTMA’s tungsten diamond wire is not only suitable for cutting polycrystalline silicon and monocrystalline silicon, but is also widely used in cutting a variety of hard and brittle materials, including semiconductors, magnetic materials, and glass-ceramics. Since its initial development and market launch in 2021, tungsten diamond wire has achieved over 90% penetration in the crystalline silicon cutting industry, becoming a mainstream choice. Jucheng Technology has planned a total production capacity of up to 90 million kilometers per year for this product, demonstrating its firm confidence in its market prospects.
In the early stages of any innovative material’s promotion, there are inevitably concerns about not being able to use good materials, or not knowing how to use them. At the outset of tungsten diamond wire projects, customers generally expressed concerns: Would a thinner wire diameter increase the wire breakage rate during cutting? Would wire breakage be difficult to repair by welding? Would existing cutting process parameters require comprehensive adjustments? These concerns directly impact our customers’ production stability and cost control.
To effectively address these issues, we have adopted a strategy of in-depth customer service. We deploy a dedicated after-sales support team with extensive slicing technology experience to provide on-site assistance. This team provides comprehensive on-site technical support, from cutting process matching and parameter adjustment of the cutting fluid circulation system to optimizing the guide wheel slot angle. A typical example occurred during the initial supply period of 2021, when our technical team visited a renowned semiconductor company to assist with process optimization. Working closely with the customer’s engineers, they helped the customer design the appropriate guide wheel R angle and groove depth while simultaneously fine-tuning the tungsten diamond wire’s edge rate, edge height, and diamond abrasive grain shape and morphology. Through this collaborative approach, we ultimately successfully developed a stable slicing solution that achieves high throughput, low wire breakage rates, and excellent wafer quality, earning the trust of our customers.
Towards a future of “thinning wire” and multi-sector substitution
Looking ahead, FOTMA has a clear view of the development trends of tungsten diamond wire. In the photovoltaic industry, technological evolution will continue to advance toward thinner wires and higher breaking force, further enhancing the performance advantages of tungsten diamond wire. Furthermore, as a high-performance cutting carrier material, tungsten diamond wire demonstrates strong cross-industry application potential and is expected to gradually replace traditional carbon steel diamond wire in applications requiring higher precision, such as semiconductor wafer dicing and magnetic material processing. Our experience demonstrates that focusing on innovative breakthroughs in key foundational materials can provide solid support for the upgrading of the entire industry chain.
Post time: Oct-22-2025