Germanium Wafer Slicing Machine
Automatic, high-throughput slicing of germanium ingots into wafers — same ~0.5 mm closed-loop kerf as the rotary-equipped models, on a leaner machine for shops that just need round discs at volume.
A high-throughput slicing workhorse
Same enclosed upright frame as the rotary models — stripped to a single job: slicing germanium ingots into wafers automatically, hours at a time.
The SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine ships as a fully enclosed upright unit on the same proven endless-wire frame as the rotary SGR series — with the rotary axis stripped out. The cabinet contains coolant mist and swarf, the observation window lets the operator watch a long automatic run, and a three-wheel guide system gives a longer wire path for stable slicing on tall ingots.
- Footprint ~1066 × 1066 mm · height ~1970 mm
- Weight ~650 kg — rigid frame for repeatable wafer thickness
- Interface side touchscreen + handheld controller (English PLC)
- Cooling water tank + circulation
- Power 220 V three-phase · 1.5 kW · 60 Hz
What the SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine does
One job, done well. Automatic slicing of germanium cylinders into wafers at production volume — without the price tag of features you don't need.
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Program slice thickness and quantity on the touchscreen — the machine runs unattended and supports different thicknesses inside one cutting job. Mix 3 mm windows and 8 mm lens blanks off the same ingot.
~0.5 mm closed-loop kerf
Same endless-wire kerf as the rotary models. On a $2,200/kg ingot that's roughly $200–$600 of germanium saved per ingot versus a core drill — every ingot.
Servo YZ motion, ±0.01 mm
Linear guides and ball screws on both axes give 0.01 mm feed resolution and ±0.01 mm repeatability — so wafer #1 and wafer #50 come off the same thickness.
400 × 400 mm worktable
A bigger table than the rotary SGR40 (Ø380). Fits longer ingots and tall stacks, and accepts workpieces up to 400 mm in height.
Three-wheel guide system
Two Ø250 mm wheels plus one Ø180 mm, giving a ~2580 mm wire path and a stable wire approach geometry for repeatable slices on tall ingots.
Water cooling + circulation
Built-in water tank with a circulation loop keeps the cut clean and the wire cool — and keeps coolant consumption predictable across long automatic runs.
See the SG40 endless wire saw in action
The germanium wafer slicing machine runs on the same closed-loop endless-wire technology as the rest of the SG family — set thickness, set count, start the job. Watch the wire, the cooling system, and the wafers come off the ingot in sequence.
▸ Working principle — endless diamond wire technology
▸ Slicing function — automatic Ge wafer output
Don't have an SG40-specific clip yet? We'll send a short slicing reel for your specific ingot diameter when you request a sample cut.
Why germanium kerf still matters at slicing volume
A 200 mm germanium ingot is worth $6,000 to $10,000 at today's $1,800–$2,400/kg spot price. Run that ingot through a core drill and you lose 30–40% of it to kerf and edge chipping before a single surface is ground. Most buyers compare slicing machines on parts-per-hour. With germanium, that's the wrong starting point — the material is so expensive that the width of each cut shows up as a line item on your bill of materials.
Here's the math we run for customers. A core drill removes an entire cylindrical shell on every cut — typical bit kerf is 5 to 10 mm. Push that through a $2,200/kg ingot and you waste $11–$15 of germanium per cut. An internal-diameter (ID) saw does better on kerf (0.3–0.5 mm) but leaves a 30–80 µm subsurface damage layer the polisher has to grind away later, plus concentric blade marks as the blade wears.
The SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine runs the same closed-loop endless wire as the rotary models in the family — unidirectional, kerf near the wire diameter (~0.5 mm), no reversing pattern on the cut face. For a shop slicing 50 ingots a month, that adds up to $10,000–$30,000 of germanium kept, every month. Same kerf as a rotary machine; lower CapEx because you're not paying for a rotary axis you don't use. For the surface-finish and TTV detail behind every slice, see our germanium wafer slicing process page.
One job, programmed once
Mixed thickness in a single run
The SG40 controller accepts a list of slice thicknesses inside one cutting job — for example, three 8 mm lens blanks followed by twelve 3 mm windows, all off the same germanium ingot. The Y/Z servos resolve to 0.01 mm and repeat to ±0.01 mm, so the actual slice thickness lands within a few microns of the programmed value across a long run.
What "automatic" actually means
Set the ingot on the worktable, square it to the wire, program the cut list, hit start. The machine handles wire travel, feed rate, and Z-axis indexing between slices. Cut surfaces come off the wire at Ra 0.6–1.2 µm with TTV around 8–15 µm over a 50 mm disc — clean enough that the grinder can usually skip a rough pass and go straight to face generation.
Before a long automatic run, verify the ingot is square to the wire — a 0.5° tilt over a 200 mm tall stack gives you a wedge-shaped wafer at the top of the job. We check it with a dial indicator on the wire approach before pressing start. The first wafer off any new ingot is also worth a thickness check; the wire settles into a steady cut after the first slice.
How does endless-wire slicing compare to core drilling and ID saws?
Short version: the wire wins on material yield and surface quality. It cuts one wafer at a time, so a multi-wire saw beats it on raw parts-per-hour on flat silicon, but for germanium — where kerf loss costs more than throughput — endless wire is the value choice. Here's the honest comparison.
| Method | Kerf | Edge chipping | Subsurface | Pcs/cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core drill | 5–10 mm | 0.3–0.8 mm | high | 1 |
| ID saw | 0.3–0.5 mm | moderate | 30–80 µm | 1 |
| SG40 closed-loop wire | ~0.5 mm | < 0.1 mm | low | 1 |
A 0.1 mm edge chip on the wire-cut wafer means the centering machine takes a 0.1 mm stock allowance instead of 0.5 mm — less germanium ground off, fewer passes. In our experience that downstream effect is bigger than the cutting-stage saving people focus on first.
The spec lists max wire speed at 52 m/s, but we run germanium at 30–45 m/s, feed 10–20 mm/min for slicing. Germanium cleaves on the {111} plane — it punishes aggressive feeds with cleavage chips at the entry and exit faces. Full material data is in Crystran's germanium datasheet.
Built for volume slicing of brittle optics
Why the SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine earns its keep when the same job runs every shift and every wafer has to come off the same.
SG40 technical specifications
Standard-configuration numbers for the SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine. Worktable and travel can be customized for larger ingots.
| Worktable size | 400 × 400 mm |
| Max workpiece height | 400 mm |
| Y / Z axis travel | 400 mm / 400 mm |
| Diamond wire diameter | 0.35–1.0 mm |
| Max wire linear speed | 52 m/s |
| Y / Z minimum feed | 0.01 mm |
| Y / Z repeatability | ±0.01 mm |
| Cutting / manual speed | 0–1000 mm/min (adjustable) |
| Guide wheels | 2 × Ø250 mm + 1 × Ø180 mm (3-wheel path) |
| Diamond wire length | ~2580 mm (endless loop) |
| Drive motor power | 1.5 kW (max 4500 RPM) |
| Power supply | 220 V three-phase · 60 Hz |
| Dimensions (L×W×H) | ~1066 × 1066 × 1970 mm |
| Weight | ~650 kg |
| Cooling | Water tank + circulation |
Read wafer-thickness tolerances against your finished-lens drawing per ISO 10110 — the centering and grinding stages inherit whatever the cut leaves them.
Which brittle IR materials can it cut?
The wire cuts anything softer than diamond, so the SG40 isn't germanium-only. We slice the following on the same platform, each with its own parameter set:
- Germanium (Ge) — 0.35–0.5 mm wire, 100–140 N tension, white mineral oil
- Silicon (Si) — mature, 0.42–0.5 mm wire
- Zinc selenide (ZnSe) & zinc sulfide (ZnS) — CO₂ laser and multispectral optics
- ngọc bích — 0.5–0.65 mm wire
- Optical glass (BK7 / K9) & fused quartz
Cutting something not on the list — chalcogenide glass, a specialty ceramic? Send a sample and we'll test-cut it before quoting parameters. We don't guess on materials we haven't run.
Where it fits in a germanium lens line
The SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine is the volume front end. It turns ingots into wafers; everything after — edge centering, spherical grinding, polishing, AR coating — works from the wafer it produces. Because the wire leaves a consistent TTV and a low-damage surface, the downstream fixtures set up against known inputs instead of re-tuning every batch.
Building the whole chain rather than just the slicing station? The germanium lens manufacturing solution page lays out the five-stage workflow and how the tolerance budget flows station to station. For the broader equipment range, start at the thiết bị sản xuất quang học hồng ngoại hub.
If your job mixes round wafers with prism, square, or polygonal blanks, the SGR40 germanium lens blank cutting machine adds a rotary axis — same closed-loop wire, same kerf, but with multi-shape capability. And if you need free-form CAD contour cuts (crescents, arbitrary curves), that's the SGI contour series, not this one.
Get a sample cut on your own germanium
Pick the SG40 germanium wafer slicing machine if you're cutting germanium ingots into round wafers in volume and want the leanest setup that still keeps wide kerf off your BOM. Send us your ingot diameter and length, target wafer thicknesses and counts, and monthly volume — we'll run a free test slice on your own germanium before you commit.
Vimfun · ISO 9001 · CE compliant · shipped to 20+ countries
Optics customers include Edmund Optics and Coherent.
Tel +1 (408) 571-8651 · daria@endlesswiresaw.com