Lapping and Polishing All Materials



From R&D and prototype lapping and polishing to full production lapping and polishing, Valley Design can do it all. We process all types of materials from super hard such as Sapphire, to very soft such as polyimide and we handle sizes ranging from as small as .127mm square to large geometry lapping and polishing up to 1219mm.



Valley laps and polishes a wide variety of materials for multiple applications:

Large metal parts and tiny 1/16” square metal shims to +/- 20 millionths of an inch (.000020”)

to +/- 20 millionths of an inch (.000020”) SEMI standard wafers from 2” diameter up to 450mm diameter are available in lapped and polished ceramics, glass, fused silica and quartz, silicon, sapphire and stainless steel, polished to angstrom level finishes.

from 2” diameter up to 450mm diameter are available in lapped and polished ceramics, glass, fused silica and quartz, silicon, sapphire and stainless steel, polished to angstrom level finishes. Precise aluminum, stainless steel, and molybdenum mirrors can be lapped and polished flat to ¼ um and gold plated for IR applications.

can be lapped and polished flat to ¼ um and gold plated for IR applications. Ultra-thin Sapphire : A plane Sapphire 1cm square x 25um thick, R plane Sapphire to 50um thick, C plane Sapphire to 80um thick, polished surface finishes.

: A plane Sapphire 1cm square x 25um thick, R plane Sapphire to 50um thick, C plane Sapphire to 80um thick, polished surface finishes. Precision lapping and polishing of all materials: Teflon, PEEK, Silicon Carbide, Silicon, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Glass, Fused Silica, Quartz, Aluminum Nitride, 96% - 99.6% Alumina, Sapphire, Molybdenum, Germanium, Polyimides, Filter Glass, Macor, Steatite and many others.

Product applications with lapping and polishing required:

At Valley Design, we offer a world of precision through one of the most diversified lapping and polishing facilities in the world. Our experience over the past 37 years with all types of materials has enabled us to offer the best finishes and tightest tolerances in the industry. We also offer 4 axis CNC micromachining capabilities along with our lapping and polishing and dicing services, which makes Valley a one-stop shop for all your precision machining requirements.

Typical Tolerances:

Thickness tolerances: +/- .5um (20 millionths of an inch)

Parallelism: +/- .25um (10 millionths of an inch), to as low as 1 arc second

Flatness: λ/10 = 1/5 band





Typical Surface Finish Guidelines:



Lapped Polished 96% Alumina 10-20u” Ra 2-3u” Ra 99.6% Alumina 8-16u” Ra 1-2u” Ra Aluminum 20u” Ra 5-10nm Ra Aluminum Nitride 25u” Ra 2u” Ra Fused Silica 25u” Ra < 7 Å Ra (20/10 scratch/dig) Glass 25u” Ra < 10 Å Ra (60/40 scratch/dig) Sapphire 10-20u” Ra < 10 Å Ra (60/40 scratch/dig) Stainless Steel 15-20u” Ra < 50 Å Ra

To convert any of these measurements, go to our online conversion calculator

Any of these materials can be polished to higher levels of surface quality and are also available from stock . Contact us for all your precision lapping and polishing requirements.





