Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RTEC) announced that an outsourced assembly and test facility (OSAT) has ordered Rudolph’s exclusive StepFAST™ Solution for panel-level packaging production, which includes a repeat order for the JetStep® panel lithography system. Rudolph’s StepFAST Solution is a feed-forward adaptive shot technology that addresses process variations, die placement errors and dimensionally unstable materials that are common in existing and next-generation advanced packaging technologies. The elements included in the StepFAST Solution are Rudolph’s Firefly™ system for die position metrology, Discover® software for advanced analytics, and the JetStep system for exposure.
“Uneven die placement on reconstituted panels, followed by die shift from the compression molding process, is a critical challenge for fan-out panel-level packaging,” said Alex Chow, vice president of strategic marketing. “Measuring the die placement prior to exposure is necessary to achieve overlay and yield thresholds, but measurement is not enough. Rudolph’s StepFAST Solution utilizes Discover software to analyze the error components and generate the appropriate correction file and exposure map for the JetStep lithography system to execute. Discover software automatically determines the optimal field size for exposure based on the overlay specifications and actual die placement error.”
“We are extremely grateful to have collaborated with this customer as they developed their ground-breaking panel packaging line using their first JetStep panel lithography system,” said Rich Rogoff, vice president and general manager of Rudolph’s Lithography Systems Group. “Their repeat order for a second JetStep panel system, which includes our StepFAST Solution, is a verification that our customers need complete solutions that provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”
The StepFAST Solution is exclusive to Rudolph Technologies and can double lithography throughput while providing 90% improvement on registration with feed-forward advanced process control. The Firefly system performs 2D defect inspection and die position metrology in a single pass, feeding critical metrology data to the Discover software engine to initiate the StepFAST Solution process. The method also provides a means to balance productivity (throughput) against yield, adding an extra dimension of flexibility for optimizing profitability. Systems and software are expected to ship in the fourth quarter.
