EV Group (EVG), a
leading supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology
and semiconductor markets, today announced that it has introduced the EVG560HBL
wafer bonder -- the industry's first fully automated wafer bonding system for
high-brightness light emitting diode (HB-LED) manufacturing.
The system features a new design for multi-substrate bonding and is capable
of throughput rates of an unprecedented 160 bonds per hour. Based on the successful
EVG500 wafer bonding series, the EVG560HBL is optimized to meet the unique requirements
of HB-LED manufacturers with the advanced automation capabilities that they
will need to increase their production capacity and yields.
The HB-LED market continues to grow at a rapid pace due to the rising number
of applications that can take advantage of the lower energy consumption and
myriad other benefits of LED devices. According to market research firm Strategies
Unlimited (Mountain View, Calif.), the HB-LED market will grow from $8.2 billion
in 2010 to $20.2 billion by 2014, driven mainly by the market for LCD display
backlights and lighting applications. To meet this increased demand, HB-LED
manufacturers must quickly ramp up to higher production capacity, as well as
optimize their manufacturing processes to ensure the highest yields -- both
of which drive the need for automated manufacturing solutions. This is especially
critical for the wafer bonding process, which is needed to transfer the active
LED layer from epitaxial substrates onto carrier wafers with thermal properties
better suited for HB-LED devices. With a dominant position in the wafer bonder
market and having served the HB-LED industry for many years, EVG is uniquely
positioned to leverage its expertise to bring the first dedicated automated
wafer bonding solution to this industry.
"Through continuous investment and innovation in equipment manufacturing
and process engineering expertise, EVG is bringing start-of-the-art processing
solutions for high-volume manufacturing applications to our customers,"
stated Paul Lindner, executive technology director, EV Group. "Leveraging
our 30 years of experience in developing wafer bonding solutions for advanced
micro-electronics manufacturing, the EVG560HBL is the latest result in our ongoing
efforts aimed at helping HB-LED manufacturers develop more efficient, cost-effective
and higher yielding devices to meet the demands of their customers."
EVG560HBL System Features
The EVG560HBL is a multi-substrate wafer bonder that offers a number of advanced
capabilities to enable high-volume HB-LED manufacturing, including:
- High-force capability, in-situ low-force wedge compensation and
proprietary compliant layer technologies -- all to ensure bond
uniformity across the entire wafer, which is essential for
high-quality, multi-substrate bonding
- Integrated pre-processing modules for low-temperature metal wafer
bonding, which enables higher throughput and provides less thermal
stress on the wafer stack, which in turn increases yield
- Warped/bowed wafer handling capability for maneuvering thin and
fragile substrates, which minimizes tool downtime and eliminates wafer
breakage issues
- Unique bond chamber design, which enables customers to change out
substrate sizes in less than 30 minutes, increasing tool flexibility
and lifetime while enabling easy maintenance and maximized tool uptime
- Cassette-to-cassette operation
- Mechanical wafer-to-wafer alignment
- SECS II/GEM interface
- Wafer ID tracking for advanced process control
The EVG560HBL is available for purchase immediately. For more information
about the EVG560HBL, please visit www.evgroup.com or download the EVG560HBL
product fact sheet. You can also learn more about the new system and EVG's other
HB-LED manufacturing solutions at SEMICON West (July 13-15) in San Francisco,
Calif., where Dr. Thomas Uhrmann, Business Develop Manager, will be presenting
"Wafer-level Packaging for Cost Reduction of High-brightness LEDs"
on Wednesday, July 14 at 3:00 p.m. during the Extreme Electronics' Solid-state
Lighting session, "More Lumens per Dollar: The Road to More Efficient HB-LED
Manufacturing -- Progress and Next Challenges in Back-end Manufacturing."