Plasma-Therm announced today that it has entered into a new cross licensing agreement with ON Semiconductor to enable wafer singulation processes. The agreement includes cross licensing of technology that offers semiconductor manufacturers production solutions that accelerate the manufacture of next-generation devices.

“ON Semiconductor and Plasma-Therm co-developed a unique die singulation tool that utilizes a novel singulation approach patented by ON Semiconductor,” said Dr. Hans Stork, ON Semiconductor senior vice president and chief technical officer (CTO). “Under the terms of our new agreement, Plasma-Therm can now offer advanced die singulation equipment which utilizes ON Semiconductor’s patented process technology.”

The wafer singulation technology utilized in Plasma-Therm’s recently released MDS-100 enables a significant reduction of kerf widths and addresses the limitations of saws and laser techniques for thin and ultra-thin silicon wafers. ON Semiconductor is using the Plasma-Therm MDS-100 die singulation solution for production of its latest semiconductor devices. The benefit for a semiconductor manufacturer such as ON Semiconductor is higher yields and more active silicon per wafer.

Plasma-Therm recently released its MDS platform utilizing a plasma-based dicing technique.

“Plasma-Therm has been able to develop an important production-worthy solution for plasma dicing as a result of our co-development of this die singulation tool and our cross licensing agreement with ON Semiconductor,” said Abdul Lateef, Plasma-Therm CEO. “This collaboration has yielded a Plasma Dicing system that utilizes standard tape frames and tape that allows the quick adoption into production lines.”