September 6, 2012 - Rudolph Technologies says it has received an order for its MetaPulse G metrology system from "a premier global industry research center in Asia" for its advanced packaging process development activities.

The unidentified group will use the system, which shipped in August, for thin-film metrology performed in development and control of advanced wafer-level packaging processes that use metal structures, such as redirect layers (RDL) and under bump metallization (UBM) to route signals from the chip to the package.

"In addition to providing the fast and accurate measurements of thickness, density and roughness, its small spot size and ability to measure structures directly on product wafers allow users to see pattern dependent variations that are not detectable with monitor wafers," according to Tim Kryman, Rudolph’s director of metrology product management.

"We’ve seen phenomenal growth in the back-end for advanced macro inspection to satisfy new packaging approaches such as 2.5D interposer technology, and we see emerging opportunities for MetaPulse technology to be used for a variety of critical measurements and various materials characteristics," stated Ardy Johnson, Rudolph’s marketing VP.

Rudolph’s MetaPulse Technology uses a laser-induced ultrasonic sonar pulse to characterize thickness, density and other parameters of single layers or multi-layered stacks of opaque materials, non-destructively and without interference from underlying layers, according to the company. The MetaPulse G system delivers superior performance on all metal films, and is optimized for thin single- and multi-layer applications that are critical in advanced logic, memory and 3D packaging processes. Unlike optical and x-ray techniques, the technology can be used in active die without special test pads. Its 10×10 micron spot size assures measurement capability on product wafers in 30×30 micron or smaller test sites.


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