Take two with 300-mm Take two with 300-mm

09/01/1997

Take two with 300-mm

One common notion at the show was that the move toward 300-mm and 0.18-micron geometries has increased the demand for two other components of the total marketing package - minienvironments and CE marking.

Numerous companies have made minienvironments standard with their 300-mm devices. One example is Lumonics, which has designed its new WaferMark SigmaXC laser marking system for portable Class 1 minienvironment operation. Wafers enter the machine in a sealed pod. A pick-and-place robotic system with dual vacuum wand and optical alignment loads the wafer-filled pods into the system`s marking chamber. This extra attention to cleanliness comes at a price, however. "If we only moved from 200- to 300-mm, then the cost of the machine would have been about 20% more," noted Lumonics` Scott White. "But the cost doubled to incorporate the extra cleanliness on top of the bigger machine to accommodate 300 mm."

In the area of CE marking, ENI`s newest RF generators are being designed to meet CE standards - a cost effective approach that allows the company to sell the same products in both Europe and the US. ENI`s new electro-magnetic compatibility testing laboratory in Rochester, NY, tests products to emissions and immunity standards for both domestic and European (CE Mark) compliance.

Equipe Technologies Inc. incorporates both approaches. It is using minienvironments for all its 300-mm equipment, and is making its robotic wafer handling systems CE approved. - L.S.