Oct 10 2007
EV Group (EVG), a leading supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced the successful installation of its fourth IQ Aligner System for packaging applications at a major semiconductor manufacturing facility in Austria. This purchase further strengthens the customer's capacity for wafer-level packaging of MEMS and display devices, while underscoring the enabling, cost-effective nature of the IQ Aligner's core technology.
According to the chipmaker's facility production manager, "Increased throughput and reduced cost of ownership (CoO) for products formerly processed on the company's steppers made the IQ Aligner the best choice for a reliable and precise production tool." Allowing for maximum tool flexibility, the customer's IQ Aligners are continuously updated with new process capabilities. The first IQ Aligner originally started with standard wafer handling and was upgraded in the field to thin-wafer handling capabilities (wafer thickness down to 70 microns on 150-mm substrates), which was already included in the order for the following systems. The latest upgrade included special infrared (IR) capabilities for fully automated alignment of inner substrate-alignment keys on temporary bonded silicon wafer pairs.
The electronics-device manufacturing industry is increasingly grasping the potential for minimizing production costs by transitioning the processing of devices from steppers to proximity mask aligners. When evaluated head-to-head against competitive mask-alignment systems, the IQ Aligner has benefited from some key advantages, most notably its exclusive, contactless substrate wedge compensation technology, which eliminates all physical contact between wafer and mask for proximity exposure modes, and its new NanoAlign(R) capability for improved automatic alignment accuracy and reliability.
"Receiving the fourth repeat order for our IQ Aligner from this leading semiconductor manufacturer directly reflects the high-volume capabilities of the system," said Alois Malzer, product manager for mask aligners at EVG. "In addition, EVG achieved installation of the fourth system in the southern part of Austria within seven working days-from initial hook up to production release, illustrating the strength of EVG's support team to fully satisfy or exceed customer expectations."
Posted 10th Ocotber 2007