May 15, 2012 -- SPTS Technologies, wafer processing equipment supplier, installed a Sigma fxP physical vapor deposition (PVD) system at a Chinese foundry producing RF devices on gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates.

The PVD system will be used to deposit front and backside metal layers including integrated passives for producing monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs).

China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for mobile phones, and increasing counts of GaAs-based switches and power amplifiers (PAs) appear in every handset. The Sigma fxP system provides the critical capabilities for GaAs-based RFIC fabrication, used by the majority of leading RFIC device makers, according to SPTS.

The Sigma fxP is a single-wafer cluster tool designed for high-volume PVD processing, supporting various process chamber configurations and combinations to address a large variety of specific applications. Deposition process modules are based on a standard design that enables simple technology upgrades. Key applications for the Sigma fxP include thick Al alloys for power device and next generation CMOS bondpad, metal seeds for advanced packaging applications such as 3D-IC TSV & UBM/RDL, highly uniform aluminum nitride (AlN) for RF-MEMS devices and processes for the compound semiconductor industry such as RFICs on GaAs wafers.

SPTS recently won an order for micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) wafer processing tool, the Primaxx Monarch 3 dry release system, from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT).

SPTS Technologies (a Bridgepoint portfolio company) designs, manufactures, sells, and supports etch, PVD, CVD and thermal wafer processing solutions for the MEMS, advanced packaging, LEDs, high speed RF on GaAs, and power management device markets. For more information about SPTS Technologies, please visit www.spts.com.

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