Rudolph Technologies,
Inc. (NASDAQ: RTEC), a worldwide leader in process characterization solutions
for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, announced today that it has received
multiple orders for its NSX® and WaferScanner™ Inspection Systems
from STATS ChipPAC Ltd. The systems will be used for high-throughput inspection
during each step of the eWLB (embedded wafer-level ball grid array) process.
Shipments commenced in 4Q09 and will continue through 1Q10.
“Rudolph offers thin wafer handling options for both the flagship NSX
2D wafer inspection system and the industry-standard WS3840 3D bump inspection
system. These handling options are designed to accommodate production level
throughputs, hence minimizing the cost of ownership for these tools.”
The eWLB manufacturing process, often referred to as fan-out wafer level packaging,
is an emerging packaging technology driven primarily by the wireless market.
The IC packages are thinner and smaller with higher I/O, which tend to be lower
in cost, higher performance, and more power efficient than many of the existing
packaging solutions.
“STATS ChipPAC has been ramping production capacity in Singapore to support
the strong demand we are seeing for eWLB. We have established an efficient,
cost effective manufacturing process to ensure eWLB is competitive with other
packaging solutions available in the market. The Rudolph inspection systems
are essential to our manufacturing process,” said Harry Kam, eWLB director,
STATS ChipPAC.
“The eWLB process is one of the hottest topics in advanced packaging
today, and we are just starting to see the first commercial adoption of this
new packaging technology for mobile phone applications,” said Rajiv Roy,
Rudolph’s vice president of business development and director of back-end
marketing. “Rudolph inspection systems are used during many steps in the
redistribution and back-end processes,” he said.
“The reconstitution step coupled with back-grinding introduces special
handling challenges because the wafers can warp,” Roy stated. “Rudolph
offers thin wafer handling options for both the flagship NSX 2D wafer inspection
system and the industry-standard WS3840 3D bump inspection system. These handling
options are designed to accommodate production level throughputs, hence minimizing
the cost of ownership for these tools.”
Rudolph offers a complete line of inspection and metrology systems for semiconductor
manufacturing applications. The NSX 115 automated inspection tool is optimized
specifically for the back-end manufacturing environment, and offers high throughput
and extensive flexibility in the detection and analysis of macro defects created
during wafer manufacturing, probing, bumping, dicing, or by general handling.
The WaferScanner 3840 uses proprietary laser triangulation technology to provide
fast and accurate 3D measurements of bump height and coplanarity. The open architecture
and scalable system provided by Rudolph’s Discover® software on the
NSX System can encompass all inspection tools on the fab floor. It is designed
to efficiently analyze the tremendous volume of data generated by high-speed
inspection tools to identify significant events, such as process excursions,
and provide process engineers with the information required to optimize the
manufacturing processes.
STATS ChipPAC Ltd. is a leading service provider of semiconductor packaging
design, assembly, test, and distribution solutions in diverse end market applications
including communications, digital consumer and computing. With global headquarters
in Singapore, STATS ChipPAC has design, research and development, manufacturing
or customer support offices in ten countries. STATS ChipPAC is listed on the
SGX-ST. Further information is available at www.statschippac.com.
Rudolph Technologies, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the design, development,
manufacture and support of defect inspection, process control metrology, and
data analysis systems used by semiconductor device manufacturers worldwide.
Rudolph provides a full-fab solution through its families of proprietary products
that provide critical yield-enhancing information, enabling microelectronic
device manufacturers to drive down costs and time to market. Rudolph offers
yield management solutions used in wafer processing and final manufacturing
through a family of systems for macro-defect inspection (detection and classification),
as well as transparent and opaque thin film measurements.