What is the standard diameter of a modern logic wafer?	300 mm (12 inches).
What is the finished wafer thickness after all processing steps?	775 micrometers.
How many wafers does one ingot typically yield?	Roughly 3,000.
What orientation marker is ground into a modern wafer before slicing?	A notch (older wafers used a flat) ground along the ingot’s length to mark crystal orientation.
How long does the wire-saw slicing of one ingot typically take?	About eight hours of patient sawing.
What is ‘kerf loss’ in wafer manufacturing?	Silicon turned to dust by the wire saw — material permanently lost during slicing, a persistent annoyance in the industry.
What chemical mixture is used in the etching bath after lapping?	A mixture of hydrofluoric, nitric, and acetic acids.
What two components make up CMP slurry, and what does each contribute?	Colloidal silica (mechanical abrasion) suspended in alkaline solution (chemical attack) — the combination wears high spots preferentially.
What surface flatness does CMP achieve across the full 300 mm face?	Less than 1 nanometer of variation.
What is the smallest particle size that optical inspection scanners check for on a finished wafer?	Particles down to about 30 nm.