News Article
ICOS vision systems and IMEC collaborate
ICOS Vision Systems Corporation and IMEC, research centre in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology, have agreed to work together under a two-year Joint Exploration and Development Program (JEDP), in the field of inspection and metrology for three dimensional (3D) packaging. According to market analysts, the market for 3D packaging will grow rapidly over the next years, driven by the quest for smaller and higher performance Integrated Circuits (IC's).
Research will be performed at the IMEC laboratories and ICOS will provide technology and equipment for inspection and metrology. The joint research program will concentrate on the development and optimization of several 3D packaging processes for IC's, including Wafer Level Packaging (WLP), flip chip, systems-in-a-package (SiP) and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and on the optimization of the 3D metrology methods for these applications. The program will be closely connected to IMEC's industrial affiliation program (IIAP) on 3D stacked IC's. The IIAP program brings together the researchers of IMEC and of world-leading suppliers of IC's, to jointly develop the technologies of future generation products.
"We are impressed with IMEC's research programs on semiconductor packaging and are delighted to join their international consortium," said Gust Smeyers, ICOS' Senior Vice President for Research and Development. "We look forward to working together with IMEC and the largest IC manufacturers around the world on the development of advanced 3D packaging processes. This program underscores our technical leadership in our field and our unrelenting commitment to invest in the technologies and products of the future."
"Packaging is becoming an increasingly important part of semiconductor manufacturing and we are expanding our research efforts in the packaging field, including a large research program on 3D packaging," said Gilbert Declerck, CEO of IMEC. "We are delighted to work with ICOS on the advancements of the 3D packaging processes and the metrology tools that are needed."
