Jun 8 2010
Crossing Automation, Inc., a leading supplier of efficient, cost-effective front-end and back-end automation solutions and engineering services to high volume semiconductor equipment manufacturers, today announced that its SpartanTM equipment front end module (EFEM) has been selected by a leading manufacturer of lithography and metrology equipment for its second-generation metrology tool.
The Spartan EFEM was selected because of Crossing’s ability to customize the tool to meet the customer’s specific requirements, the ease of software integration with its metrology platform as well as Crossing’s ability to provide its ExpressSolutions™ engineering support to significantly reduce time to market. The order represents a new customer win for Crossing from a Tier-1 original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for its atmospheric wafer-handling technology.
“This design win strongly validates the technical merits of the Spartan as well as our commitment to OEMs through the service and support capability we deliver with every tool,” said May Su, vice president of product marketing for Crossing Automation. “Our ability to work with this customer to design and deliver customized interfaces significantly facilitated integration with its process and metrology modules, while the Spartan’s demonstrated performance benefits met the stringent requirements of the broader lithography process.”
With the Spartan, Crossing is able to deliver complete EFEM solutions with a simple, unified design that enables higher throughput, higher particle performance, optimized cleanroom space and lower cost of ownership. A key feature that contributed to the Spartan’s selection is its advanced passive backside contact (PBC) end effector design, which eliminates particles from edge contacts and minimizes backside particles through use of specialized polymer pads. The precision and reliability of its Wafer Engine™ robot offers an additional competitive advantage for the Spartan.
ABOUT CROSSING AUTOMATION:
Crossing Automation is a leading supplier of efficient, cost-effective front-end and back-end automation solutions and engineering services to high volume semiconductor equipment manufacturers. The company’s unique approach to automation solutions enables its customers to shorten time to market, lower development costs and reduce total costs. Through its front-end and back-end automation solutions, Crossing achieves critical manufacturing flexibility for OEMs and IC manufacturers alike.
Crossing’s End-to-End Automation Platforms
Crossing Automation’s ExpressConnectTM modular building block family of automation components delivers integrated atmospheric and vacuum substrate handling sub-systems with small footprints, low costs and high productivity for semiconductor manufacturing. Crossing also delivers a broad range of leading-edge, cost-effective 300 mm, 200 mm, and 150 mm component technologies to both OEMs and semiconductor manufacturers including isolation, robotics, and tracking. Crossing implements a system architecture that uses highly reliable linear transfer devices and simplified control algorithms to improve efficiencies and control reliability and is key to enabling a comprehensive, flexible, end-to-end automation solution.