SPTS Technologies, a provider of sophisticated wafer processing solutions, has installed the Primaxx Monarch 3 vapor hydrogen fluoride (VHF) etch system at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) for dry etch release of MEMS structures.
The VHF etch system is installed at the Shanghai facility of SIMIT, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It is the company’s first VHF system to be commissioned in China. The dry etchant, HF vapor removes the sacrificial silicon oxide from MEMS structures and offers a number of advantages over traditional wet etching.
SPTS Technologies’ HF vapor etch technology uses a patented low pressure process that can pierce and release tiny features. It avoids attack and stiction on any bare surface of MEMS materials such as aluminum, thus delivering superior device yields. The Primaxx Monarch 3 system features a 3-wafer process module to improve throughput and maintains process repeatability, thus offering low system ownership costs and high uptime.
The Senior Director and General Manager for Primaxx Products Division at SPTS Technologies, Paul Hammond stated that the vapor HF dry etch technology is widely used in a broad array of MEMS applications, ranging from research and development to mass production. The company’s customers understand the productivity and yield benefits of the dry technology.
Yang Heng, a Professor at SIMIT, commented that one of the factors for choosing the Primaxx Monarch 3 system for the institute’s MEMS accelerometer project was its capability to release tiny features without stiction. SPTS Technologies exemplified process expertise with constant and repeatable results in a broad process window.
Source: http://www.spts.com