Wafer processing equipment operates within extremely tightly controlled mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic environments. Subtle geometric variation in tooling subsystems can carry significant consequences, and in high-volume production, even small dimensional drift across tooling batches can accumulate into measurable process instability.
 

Conventional machining methods remove material through mechanical contact, introducing localized stress, microburring, minor deformation and more. For geometries common in wafer manufacturing such as small micro-arrays of narrow slots, these effects may require secondary deburring or polishing steps that introduce additional variability.
 

Electrical discharge machining (EDM), while capable of producing complex shapes, inherently relies on localized thermal erosion, creating recast layers or altered surface microstructures that must be mitigated depending on the application and material. In tooling that interfaces directly with wafers or plasma environments, surface condition and edge definition are not cosmetic considerations; they directly influence field uniformity, gas flow behavior, and long-term dimensional stability.
 

PECM removes material through controlled electrochemical dissolution rather than thermal melting or mechanical shear. Because the cathode does not contact the workpiece, the process minimizes mechanically induced stresses and reduces the likelihood of burr formation in thin or high-aspect-ratio features. This is particularly advantageous in replicated feature arrays, where edge consistency and surface uniformity must be maintained across large surface areas.
 

Feature-to-feature consistency within a single part is only half the challenge: maintaining that same geometry across dozens or hundreds of tooling components over time is what ultimately determines process stability at the tool level. Voxel’s control of cathode geometry, pulse parameters, and electrolyte conditions allows replication of complex features with high repeatability, supporting both prototype validation and scaled manufacturing.