Villach, Austria–The SEZ Group announced today that it has produced 300mm wafers as thin as 80 microns, which the company reports have excellent uniformity and are four times stronger than those that have only undergone a grinding process to achieve that thickness. These results were achieved as part of the company’s effort to enhance wafer-thinning techniques and to quantify the strength enhancement of 200mm and 300mm wafers.

SEZ’s primary goal is to demonstrate that ultra-thin 300mm wafers can be produced with excellent strength. By using its proprietary stress relief applications, SEZ has been able to deliver an effective thinning process critical to 300mm processing. While the focus has been on 300mm process development, the company says that the results also can be applied to smaller diameter wafers.

A grinder manufactured by Disco Corp. was used to grind the wafers. “Traditional grinding techniques intrinsically result in damage to the wafer, but Disco’s ability to effectively thin wafers with minimal damage and excellent uniformity enables SEZ to produce a superior-strength wafer after our stress relief application,” explains Kuniaki Togasaki, chairman and CEO of SEZ Japan and member of SEZ’s corporate executive board.

“SEZ is actively working to determine the issues surrounding 300mm wafer thinning and to address those issues that are under our control,” says Herwig Petschnig, SEZ chief operating officer. “We will need the industry’s cooperation to resolve many issues once 300mm wafers have been thinned. Our Bernoulli handler can transfer ultra-thin 300mm wafers, but currently the wafer cassettes and assembly area tools cannot accommodate them. We are committed to working with our 300mm customers to address these issues and further enhance 300mm wafer thinning.”