Category Archives: Materials and Equipment

June 22, 2012 — SEMICON West is taking place July 10-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Following are new products for semiconductor packaging and test that will be at the show, from wafer bonders to LED die attach materials.

Automated temporary bonding/debonding system

The EVG850 TB/DB XT Frame from EV Group is an automated temporary bonding and debonding system for thin wafer handling, configured to address high-volume 3D IC and TSV manufacturing. The system temporarily bonds a device wafer to a rigid carrier wafer for safe and efficient processing of the device wafer. After subsequent processing (back thinning, lithography, metallization, etching, through via processing, etc.), the device wafer is debonded from the carrier substrate using various techniques dependent of the intermediate material. The system can be configured for LowTemp debonding methods like ZoneBOND technology with the required EZR (Edge Zone Release) and EZD (Edge Zone Debond) modules. A thermal-activated, mechanical slide-off is utilized for thermo-plast materials, while UV-exposure and lift-off debond is utilized for UV-activated tapes. It accommodates up to 9 process modules and boasts a continuous-mode operation with an ultra-fast handling system, up to 4 FOUP load ports, a material buffer in the form of a local FOUP storage system holding up to 10 additional FOUPs, and in-line metrology module option. EV Group, South Hall, Booth 719.

Electrochemical deposition tool

TEL NEXX’s new plating tool, Stratus Thunder, is used for electrochemical deposition of TSV, middle and interposer, lead-free, copper pillar, and RDL advanced packaging materials. Stratus Thunder features a low-cost vertical plating architecture and additional features improve its productivity by up to 50%. TEL, South Hall, Booth 1531.

Spray coater

The MAX-800 is a large format, high speed X-Y-Z spray coating system designed for the thin, uniform application of a variety of coatings and suspensions used in semiconductor packaging, display manufacturing, fuel cell manufacturing and medical device manufacturing applications.  The system features USI

June 21, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Process control and inspection tool supplier Rudolph Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:RTEC) acquired the assets of NanoPhotonics GmbH, adding inspection technology and an intellectual property (IP) portfolio to serve its advanced package inspection tool customers.

Rudolph plans to maintain and expand a technology center in Mainz, Germany, where NanoPhotonics is based, as operations are integrated into the company.

Rudolph gained all-surface inspection systems (wafer edge, backside and front side) for 200, 300, and 450mm wafers. The acquisition expands Rudolph’s offering into unpatterned wafer and mask blank inspection markets. Unpatterned wafer inspection is used for quality assurance and yield improvement at semiconductor manufacturers, silicon wafer manufacturers, and substrate suppliers for compound semiconductors. Mask blank systems are used by mask shops, manufacturers of process tool equipment, and mask blank manufacturers.

All-surface inspection will be critical in meeting the emerging requirements in advanced packaging markets, said Paul F. McLaughlin, chairman and CEO of Rudolph.

McLaughlin added, “Rudolph has extensive experience in the back-end manufacturing environment. We are taking NanoPhotonics’ sub-micron resolution capability and applying it to a market that we know very well.” In 2012, Rudolph sold its 1st back-end metrology MetaPULSE tool http://markets.financialcontent.com/pennwell.wafernews/news/read?GUID=20561207&Symbol=%24WNMEQ and in late 2011 reported a multi-system order for through-silicon via (TSV) metrology. http://www.electroiq.com/articles/ap/2011/10/rudolph-wins-tsv-inspection-systems-order.html

The acquisition is expected to be accretive within the first 12 months, adding approximately $2 million per quarter to Rudolph’s overall revenues. While terms were not disclosed, Rudolph noted that this all-cash transaction used <5% of its overall cash. McLaughlin emphasized that this is one of several planned steps Rudolph will take to expand its portfolio and drive its long-term growth strategies in both front- and back-end manufacturing environments.

Rudolph Technologies Inc. makes defect inspection, process control metrology, and data analysis systems and software used by semiconductor device manufacturers. Additional information can be found on the company’s web site at www.rudolphtech.com.

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June 20, 2012 — A major high-volume micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) maker has purchased a FOGALE nanotech T-MAP DUAL 3D 200A metrology tool for its US manufacturing facility. The tool will be equipped with 2 load ports and will be fully automated.

The T-MAP DUAL 3D will perform thickness, total thickness variation (TTV) and stress measurement.

With the microscopy capability, the tool will also perform in-plane registration and out-of-the-plane registration for wafer bonding alignment process control. A new out-of-the-plane overlay metrology enables 0.1µm accuracy.

The tool will also be able to measure critical dimensions (CDs) and the depth of high-aspect-ratio cavities.

FOGALE also recently installed T-MAP DUAL 3D metrology at SPTS, a leader in deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma etching process tools. SPTS will use the T-MAP DUAL 3D 300M for its application lab in Newport, Wales to perform metrology on through silicon via (TSV) formations.

FOGALE T-MAP DUAL 3D technology was also qualified by a major Korean IDM for back-side wafer processing from temporary wafer bonding to TSV reveal.

FOGALE nanotech provides high-accuracy dimensional metrology tools. FOGALE nanotech provides process control and characterization solutions for MEMS and semiconductor manufacturers and labs around the world. Learn more at www.fogale-semicon.com.

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June 20, 2012 — In mid-2011, semiconductor manufacturing and assembly equipment supplier Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) acquired Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. Now, the company is adding Varian’s former CEO Gary Dickerson as president.

Dickerson will be responsible for the day-to-day operation and performance of the company’s four business units: the Silicon Systems Group, Energy and Environmental Solutions, Display and Applied Global Services. He will report directly to Mike Splinter, chairman and chief executive officer.

Dickerson brings more than 30 years of semiconductor industry experience. "Gary is a seasoned and respected leader who brings a wealth of industry knowledge and an impressive track record of delivering winning products, high customer satisfaction and strong financial performance," said Mike Splinter.

Dickerson spent 7 years as CEO of Varian Semiconductor, during which time the company delivered record revenue and profits and ranked high in customer satisfaction.

Prior to Varian, Dickerson spent 18 years at KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLAC) where he held a variety of operations and product development roles before being appointed COO in 1999 and then president and COO in 2002.  Dickerson started his semiconductor career in manufacturing and engineering management at General Motors’ Delco Electronics Division and AT&T Technologies.

Dickerson has a BS degree in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri, Rolla and an MBA from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) provides equipment, services and software to enable the manufacture of advanced semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic products. Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.

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June 20, 2012 — DELO introduced the DELOMONOPOX AD268 epoxy resin to meet the low-cost, reliable-attach needs of radio frequency identification (RFID) device makers. The anisotropic, electrically conductive adhesive provides fast cure at chip attach, and is designed for flip-chip RFID packaging, as well as other packaging applications.

DELOMONOPOX AC268 reliably bonds chips, which measure down to 400

June 20, 2012 – Marketwire — Pure-play foundry Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company Ltd. and test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857, NYSE:ATE) co-developed a wafer-level, multi-site parallel test scheme for radio-frequency identification (RFID) semiconductor devices that meets industry-standard ISO 14443 guidelines.

RFID devices that comply with ISO 14443 standards are divided into two types: Type A and Type B, by the modulation/demodulation for the 13.56 MHz carrier wave. When in use, a proximity coupling device (PCD) sends a carrier signal at 13.56 MHz to the RFID device. The RFID device’s antenna receives the signal wave, which carries both transmitted data and the power that drives the RFID device. The RFID device then sends a return signal carrying response data back to the PCD.

Crosstalk among RFID devices during wafer-level testing can result in reduced production yields and low productivity. The foundry worked with Advantest’s T2000 test platform to develop a test solution that offers fast, accurate recognition and feedback for RFID devices. The result is a high-signal-quality, anti-crosstalk interface and an optimized algorithm within the test program to minimize the bit error rate and perform multi-site parallel testing.

This methodology is currently being used in mass production to test 32 RFID sites in parallel. Hua Hong NEC is seeing improved cost efficiency of volume-production testing and reduced bottleneck at RF test, with approval from the foundry’s key customers. Hua Hong NEC offers advanced production processing and test development capabilities for smart card and information security applications.

The companies are collaborating on a next-generation solution capable of 64-site parallelism.

Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company Limited is an 8

June 19, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Signetics Corporation approved plans to purchase additional semiconductor assembly process equipment — wafer grinders, wafer saws, die attach tools, and wire bonders — to grow its packaging capacity for mobile chips.

The capital expenditures (capex) are phase 4 of Signetics

June 18, 2012 – Marketwire — Semiconductor packaging and test services provider STATS ChipPAC Ltd. (SGX-ST: STATSChP) marked the milestone of 1 billion copper wirebonded semiconductor units shipped. STATS ChipPAC offers high-volume semiconductor assembly and dedicated engineering expertise to developing a copper wire bonding process to suit advanced, multi-die laminate and leaded packages including 3D packaging.

STATS ChipPAC

June 15, 2012 — Anritsu Company will demonstrate its broadband Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) system, which conducts single sweeps from 70kHz to 140GHz during wafer probe test, in its booth 807 at the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), June 19-21 in Montreal.

The demonstration will showcase Anritsu

June 14, 2012 – Marketwire — Light-emitting diode (LED) maker Luminus Devices Inc. is reducing thermal resistance in its Big Chip LED devices by 30% with new packaging technology.

Luminus Devices combined proprietary processes, new specialty materials and assembly equipment to achieve the thermal reduction. The thermal manangement improvement results in up to 20% higher brightness levels, while maintaining current reliability during operation. It also simplifies system-level design.

These higher-brightness LED chips will be used in applications such as projection displays, said Arvind Baliga, VP of engineering at Luminus Devices, where the chips can help shrink projector size and cost. Other possible applications include high-brightness wash lights and spot lights for entertainment.

Luminus is currently sampling products based on this new technology; production quantities will be available next quarter.

Luminus Devices develops and manufactures LED technologies and solutions. For more information, visit www.luminus.com

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