MHI room-temp wafer bonder line grows with 300mm tool

January 16, 2012 — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) launched a fully automated 12" (300mm) wafer bonding tool, Bond Meister MWB-12-ST, capable of producing 3D large-scale integration (LSI) circuits at room temperature. The 300mm bonder targets production of memory chips and microprocessor units (MPU).

The first system was installed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan.

The Bond Meister MWB-12-ST uses a fast atom beam (FAB) gun instead of a traditional ion beam gun. The FAB gun irradiates atoms to activate a material surface for bonding. Whereas an ion gun radiates an argon ion beam, an FAB gun radiates a neutral atom beam of argon, offering about 20x more energy per particle. The FAB gun effectively removes oxide film on the surface of the bonding metal. Up to 20-ton weight loading is applicable for bonding.

The system bonds up to 5 300mm wafers continuously, performing wafer transfer and alignment for automatic bonding. It can preliminarily set the bonding conditions for each wafer individually, for small lot, mixed type production. Room-temperature wafer bonding eliminates heat stress and strain, reduces wafer processing time, and could enable more miniaturization in LSI designs. The tool can bond silicon and various metals.

Also read: MHI 8" wafer bonder produces 3D LSI ICs at room temp and MHI ships first 200mm MEMS bonder

AIST is an advanced public research institute involved in industrial technology fields, with technical expertise in room-temperature bonding. The MHI wafer bonder will be used in semiconductor-related work. Learn more about AIST at http://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html

Going forward, MHI will further intensify its proposal-based approach to potential customers to expand the adoption of room-temperature bonding as a key technology for 3-D LSI circuit production, the company reports.

MHI launched its room-temperature wafer bonding platform in 2006. MHI is involved in the engineering, manufacture and sale of ships, environmental improvement equipment, industrial machinery, aircraft, space systems, air-conditioner, etc. Learn more at http://www.mhi.co.jp/en/index.html.

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