EVG's s Wafer Bonding System Endorsed By SEMATECH For 3D ICs
The tool is the first to pass equipment maturity assessment used in the manufactures of DRAM or NAND flash memory and CMOS image sensor stacking
EV Group's GEMINI Automated Wafer Bonding System has
become the first product to pass a systematic, rigorous Equipment Maturity
Assessment (EMA) implemented within SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect program and
ISMI's EMA team.
The assessments of several critical 3D tools, announced by SEMATECH earlier this year, are designed to determine equipment readiness for high-volume manufacturing (HVM).
A fully automated wafer bonding system dedicated to 3D
IC wafer-to-wafer integration, the EVG GEMINI exceeded Level 3 equipment
maturity requirements. This 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 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, New York.
SEMATECH could qualify wafer bonding alignment accuracy
of less than 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 300-mm wafers. The EVG GEMINI FB, another version of the system tailored for aligned fusion wafer bonding, has been in HVM since 2009, significantly contributing to EVG's ongoing growth.
"EVG is the first company to pass ISMI's Equipment Maturity Assessment methodology," said Sitaram Arkalgud, director of SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect program. "3D is a major industry transition, and SEMATECH's 3D program members and supplier partners benefit by applying our methodology to refine their tools, thus accelerating the readiness of 3D interconnects for HVM introduction. "
"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," he continued.
Paul Lindner, executive technology director at EV Group, added, "During the EVG GEMINI system qualification phase at SEMATECH, adhesive wafer bonding, metal interconnect bonding, and silicon fusion bonding were all successfully qualified on SEMATECH's 3D IC demonstrators. We enjoyed working closely with the SEMATECH experts and ISMI's EMA team during the equipment maturity assessment and have already implemented individual suggestions from the report in our continuous improvement program."
The EVG GEMINI automated wafer bonding platform is
designed for meeting advanced wafer-level 3D IC integration requirements at the
high-volume manufacturing level. Wafer-level 3D integration is required for
applications such as DRAM or NAND flash memory stacking, heterogeneous stacking
of memory onto logic devices, CMOS image sensor manufacturing and
wafer-level-packaging (WLP) with TSV interconnects.
Advanced wafer bonding is key for manufacturing those 3D architectures with high reliability and productivity, requiring metal bonding (Cu-Cu and Cu-Sn-Cu), fusion bonding and adhesive bonding. The EVG GEMINI systems are designed to meet all of these advanced bonding requirements at the HVM level, providing stringent process controllability, process diversity, modular design, sub-micron alignment accuracy, high throughput and reliability.
