Drilling Quartz Glass Wafers: Quartz Glass (CTE 0.59 x 10^-6 /K, 260 nm – 2.5 um); Drilling to +/-0.02 mm hole position. Single-piece prototypes to production volumes, quoted from your drawing.
Ask any process engineer what makes quartz glass difficult and the answer is specific: natural-quartz batches vary in metallic ppm, so semiconductor lots need certs per melt. Our drilling line is tooled around exactly that – diamond core drills, ultrasonic assist and laser percussion heads – holding +/-0.02 mm hole position on parts from 0.1 – 30 mm thick.
Specification envelope
| Material | Quartz Glass (GE214-equivalent, semiconductor grade) |
|---|---|
| Thermal expansion (CTE) | 0.59 x 10^-6 /K |
| Service temperature | 1,050 C continuous |
| Transmission range | 260 nm – 2.5 um |
| Density | 2.20 g/cm3 |
| Knoop hardness | 500 kg/mm2 |
| Refractive index | 1.459 @ 587 nm |
| Stock thickness | 0.20 – 60 mm |
| Maximum blank size | 450 mm diameter |
| Process | Drilling |
| Working tolerance | +/-0.02 mm hole position |
| Minimum feature | 0.15 mm laser / 0.5 mm mechanical |
| Surface finish | exit-chip controlled below 0.1 mm |
| Thickness window | 0.1 – 30 mm |
| Edge condition | optional chamfered hole entry |
| Wafer formats | 2", 3", 4", 6", 8" and 12" with SEMI flats or notch |
| TTV | under 3 – 5 um by format |
| RFQ inputs | PDF/DXF/STEP drawing, quantity brackets, surface and edge spec |
What the process holds
Drilling earns its place through through-holes, blind holes and countersinks at densities beyond 1,000 holes per part. Its boundary condition – hole-to-edge distance should stay above 1.5x thickness to protect strength – is the first thing our DFM review checks.
Beyond this page, Quartz Glass routinely runs through ultrasonic machining, laser cutting, coring, etching in our shop – most real parts combine two or three of these steps.
DFM notes from the shop floor
Before sending the RFQ, check these against your drawing:
- Material note: natural-quartz batches vary in metallic ppm, so semiconductor lots need certs per melt.
- Process boundary: hole-to-edge distance should stay above 1.5x thickness to protect strength.
- Over-specification is the quiet budget killer: a 20/10 scratch-dig face costs roughly three times an 80/50 face, so grade each surface individually.
The full rules live in our tolerance design guide and holes and edges design guide.
Where these parts end up
Orders for drilling quartz glass wafers cluster in semiconductor equipment (view ports, wafer carriers, plasma rings, chamber windows); laboratory instruments (cuvettes, sight glasses, stir-cell windows). Background reading on the underlying material science: ScienceDirect: quartz glass.
The fastest route to a quote is geometry: use the 3D builder below, draw a dimensioned 2D drawing from it, or open the site-wide custom glass machining 3D + 2D builder for fully custom parts.
Related reading on this site: precision glass grinding, high-purity quartz guide, JGS1 quartz glass.
Buyer questions, answered
How fast can prototypes ship?
Machined prototypes ship in 5 – 10 working days. Coated or bonded parts add 1 – 2 weeks depending on queue slots.
What files do you need for a quote?
A dimensioned PDF plus DXF or STEP geometry. If only a sketch exists, our drawing review service formalizes it before quoting.
Do parts ship with inspection data?
Dimensional reports, surface certificates and material certs per melt are available; specify the level on the RFQ.
What tolerances are achievable on Quartz Glass parts?
Ground features hold +/-0.01 mm and lapped thickness reaches +/-0.003 mm. Natural-quartz batches vary in metallic ppm, so semiconductor lots need certs per melt.
Specifications on this page were last reviewed by our engineering team in October 2026.