July 11, 2012 - PRNewswire - SEMICON West -- International consortium SEMATECH qualified the GEMINI automated wafer bonding system from EV Group (EVG) through its systematic, rigorous Equipment Maturity Assessment (EMA) implemented within SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect program and ISMI's EMA team. The assessments of several tools are designed to determine equipment readiness for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of 3D integration technologies. EVG’s GEMINI is the first to pass.
The EVG GEMINI automated wafer bonding platform is designed for meeting advanced wafer-level 3D IC integration requirements at the high-volume manufacturing level. It is fully automated with submicron alignment accuracy for 3D IC wafer-to-wafer integration.
The EVG GEMINI exceeded Level 3 equipment maturity requirements -- the highest assessment rating awarded before transfer of new manufacturing processes into pilot lines or HVM. Temporary adhesive bonding, silicon fusion bonding, and metal thermocompression bonding (TCB) processes have been investigated on the EVG GEMINI 300-mm wafer bonding system installed at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in Albany, NY.
SEMATECH could qualify wafer bonding alignment accuracy of <500 nm (3 sigma), proving that the EVG GEMINI already exceeds the wafer alignment specifications outlined in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) for 2018. Fusion wafer bonding was the first wafer bonding process to be implemented in high-volume manufacturing on 300mm wafers, and the EVG GEMINI FB is a version of the system tailored for aligned fusion wafer bonding.
“The EVG GEMINI system provides the technical basis to enable wafer-to-wafer integration for producing 3D stacked ICs. The temporary and permanent wafer bonding processes enable via-middle and via-last through-silicon-via (TSV) integration schemes,” said Sitaram Arkalgud, director of SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect program.
EVG has also implemented individual suggestions from assessment report into its continuous improvement program.
SEMATECH is an international consortium of leading semiconductor device, equipment, and materials manufacturers addressing critical industry transitions, technical consensus, research-to-production transitions, manufacturing productivity, and time to market. Information about SEMATECH can be found at www.sematech.org.
EV Group (EVG) provides wafer processing products for semiconductor, MEMS and nanotechnology applications. Key products include wafer bonding, lithography/nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and metrology equipment, as well as photoresist coaters, cleaners and inspection systems. The company co-founded the EMC-3D consortium in 2006 to create and help drive implementation of a cost-effective through-silicon via (TSV) process for major ICs and MEMS/sensors. More information is available at www.EVGroup.com.
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