The 2012 “Best of West” award was presented to Jordan Valley Semiconductor UK Ltd. for their QC-TT defect inspection system at a ceremony on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at the annual SEMICON West exhibition.
At a presentation ceremony in the Jordan Valley Semiconductor booth, Isaac Mazor, CEO of Jordan Valley Semiconductor, said, “One thing I’m really proud of is that it [the system] was developed in the U.K. It’s hitting significant needs for 300-millimeter and 450-millimeter [wafers].” Alon Kapel, the company’s director of sales and marketing, noted this is the second time in three years that Jordan Valley Semiconductor has won the “Best of West” award. He looks forward to claiming the prize again in 2013.
Jordan Valley Semiconductor UK Ltd. Receives “Best of West” Award for their QC-TT Defect Inspection System
The three finalists for the 2012 Best of West were:
The QC-TT defect inspection system from Jordan Valley Semiconductor UK Ltd. solves key issues in the use of 450mm wafers in a manufacturing environment, where wafers are subjected to more handling steps and the thermal stresses on larger wafers are much higher. This makes the wafers more prone to breakage, which can be predicted using the QC-TT. The system can also identify the slip and other crystalline defects in wafers, which may not have catastrophic effects on the substrate integrity but will contribute to a reduction in yield.
The NSR-S320F Dry ArF 193nm scanner from Nikon Precision, Inc. is based on the company’s Streamlign platform, to satisfy the demanding non-immersion overlay accuracy, stability, and ultra-high productivity requirements essential to cost-effective 22 nm applications and beyond. The Streamlign platform, which was first employed on immersion scanners, p rovides industry-leading overlay accuracy less than or equal to 3 nm with throughput greater than or equal to 200 wafers per hour (WPH).
X-Plane Analysis from Nordson DAGE, which is an option for the company’s DAGE range of X-ray inspection systems. It uses a tomosynthesis technique to create 2D X-ray slices in any plane of a semiconductor device or printed circuit board assembly. The user can get a very high level of detailed information about potential failures without the need to destroy the sample, usually necessary with traditional CT systems.