VIDEOS
At SEMICON West 2024, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer caught up with Nordson TEST & INSPECTION’s Carla Furanna who provides some insights into the company’s products for front, middle and backend applications. Products highlighted at the show include WaferSense® semiconductor sensors, Quadra Pro™ Manual X-Ray System (MXI), and Gen 7™ Acoustic Micro Imaging (AMI) system. Additionally, the innovative SpinSAM™ AMI system was unveiled for the first time at the show. The new system delivers industry-leading throughput with unparalleled sensitivity for accurately locating defects in wafer based assemblies.
Kuehne+Nagel offers logistics services specifically designed for the semiconductor industry, with an extensive network at key locations, experienced personnel, and capacity to meet the strict requirements of semiconductor fabs. At SEMICON West 2024, Barry O’Dowd, global head of semiconductor logistics at Kuehne+Nagel talked to Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer about how the company’s certified services ensure the stability of the supply chain. O’Dowd said the emphasis is on providing reliable, safe, and cost-effective logistics solutions, from precise transportation and risk mitigation to professionally trained staff and preapproved suppliers.
Marposs offers a complete range of non-contact sensors used for thin-film metrology, wafer dimensional characterization, wafer inspection and packaging inspection. The company’s sensors can work inside automatic inspection machines to find defects and dimensional variation. At SEMICON West 2024, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talked to Frank Powell, business development manager at MARPOSS about new solutions for the semiconductor industry and the Solarius line of 3D measurement technology, including the new Polaris and Polaris Plus 3D systems.
At SEMICON West 2024, Advanced Energy further expanded on the theme of ‘Advancing the Angstrom Era’ by demonstrating its latest plasma power, high-voltage and critical temperature measurement and control technologies. Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talked to Dhaval Dhayatkar, a Senior Director of Marketing of Plasma Power at Advanced Energy, about the company’s latest products, including new, modular platforms that meet demands for high power, high efficiency and power density AC-DC solutions across semiconductor processing and test equipment.
Huber USA is focused on providing high precision thermoregulation solutions in research and industry, offering temperature control solutions for applications from -125°C to +425°C. At SEMICON West 2024, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talked to Huber semiconductor specialist Nate George about the company’s dynamic temperature control systems, including new Unistat 815 and TC100c CS chillers, classic heating and cooling circulators, its push into natural refrigerants, applications in deposition and etch, and its 4-year warranty, 24/7 service program.
Is your semiconductor plant seeking methods to enhance sustainability in wafer manufacturing and water reclamation? The semiconductor sector faces two challenges: waste reduction and water usage. The use of on-line water analytics can assist in overseeing water quality in both wafer manufacturing and reclamation/reuse procedures. This video underscores the significance of monitoring the levels of conductivity, TOC, and microbes to identify impurities that may lead to rejected wafers. Monitoring these parameters also ensures the purity of water to improve wafer quality and yield. Furthermore, this video emphasizes the importance of monitoring the levels of dissolved oxygen, TOC, and pH in waste streams to optimize water recovery.
Winnie Nabea, Global Product Manager at Mettler-Toledo Thornton, explains the importance of monitoring silica in ultra-high purity (UHP) water used in semiconductor manufacturing plants. Silica is one of the most critical indicators of the health of the water system. A rise in silica levels means the resin is approaching exhaustion and needs to be regenerated. If silica is not monitored, contamination of the ultrapure water can occur. She explains where silica should be monitored, outside factors that may cause silica issues, the best methods for monitoring silica, and how Mettler-Toledo is helping semiconductor manufacturers monitor the overall health of their water treatment plants.
At SEMICON West 2023, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. announced two new products, the eVerest™ RF power generator, and the eVoS waveform generator. eVerest™ enables highly configurable, multi-level power pulsing that can integrate into and improve any existing plasma power delivery systems. The eVoS asymmetric bias waveform generator is designed for direct control of substrate voltage and ion energy. Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talks to Juergen Braun, senior vice president of plasma power products at Advanced Energy about the new products.
At SEMICON West 2023, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer caught up with Nordson Test & Inspection’s Giancarlo De la Garza, Sales Director, Americas, who provides some insights into recent advances in the company’s WaferSense® product line and the new Onyx x-ray detector for the Quadra™ 7 Pro. The WaferSense offers wireless sensing of a range of parameters, including level, humidity, vibration, particles, resistance and gapping. The Onyx provides super high resolution with feature recognition of less than 100nm. The Quadra 7 Pro is complemented by the newly developed Revalution™ software, designed specifically for high-end semiconductor applications.
The Pomeranian region in Poland is an ideal location for semiconductor industry investment. It offers exceptional advantages, such as its strategic proximity to the Baltic Sea and extensive transportation options, as well as well-developed infrastructure of IT and semiconductor companies, such as Intel. At SEMICON West 2023, Mikolaj Trunin, deputy director of the Pomerania Development Agency talked to Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer about the region and its new industrial park.
Process Technology’s co-CEOs Jody Richards and Sid Srivastava share a vision of how the company is bringing new innovation to heating and power in the semiconductor industry, “Enabling our customers to achieve more with products that do more.” At SEMICON West 2023, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talked to the duo about the company’s sustainability efforts and new products, including the Lufran DI water recycling system, the SHX explosion proof heater for IPA, and the Dynatronix power supply for electrochemical deposition.
Cooling technology giant Trane was at SEMICON West 2023, and Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talked with Andy Alcorn, Senior Director of Global Accounts about the company’s sustainability goals and how they are helping semiconductor manufacturers meet goals related to decarbonization, Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, supply chain resiliency, water consumption and energy efficiency.
Plasma Power for the Angstrom Era
Preview AE’s newest innovation for a new era in #semiconductor technology. The shorter steps, frequent transitions, and longer recipes of the most advanced applications require an ambitious approach to #plasmapower delivery. Advanced Energy is once again breaking new ground, leveraging over four decades of expertise and progress, with a new solution to fill the need for transformational power delivery technologies. Watch the video and discover our newest solution, designed to empower innovative applications that move device architectures to ever-smaller dimensions. #PreparefortheAngstromEra
Frank Powell, who is in charge of business development in semiconductor for Marposs, and Patrice Belin, product manager for STIL, a division of Marposs, talk to Semiconductor Digest editor Pete Singer about the company, its products and their applications. Marposs Company provides precision metrology equipment in the form of probes, in-process gauges and non-contact sensors for process control and monitoring. The STIL group adds chromatic confocal and interferometry technology to the line-up. Applications include ingot slicing, lapping/polishing/CMP, back grinding and machine monitoring. Chromatic confocal tech is used to produce high-accuracy bump measurements.
At SEMICON West 2022, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. announced an expansion of its Luxtron® family of FluorOptic® Thermometry (FOT) solutions with a new converter platform and two proprietary phosphor formulations that enable high accuracy temperature measurement over an expanded temperature range for the most advanced semiconductor etch and deposition processes. Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer talks to Dhaval Dhayatkar, Senior Director of Marketing at AE about the new product and other news, and Frederick Pearsall, Product Manager, gives a demo of the AE electrostatic chuck system.
At SEMICON West 2022, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer caught up with Subodh Kulkarni, President and CEO, of CyberOptics who provides some insights into the the company’s next generation WaferSense® Auto Teaching System™ (ATS2) and new ReticleSense® Auto Teaching System™ (ATSR) that were introduced at the show. ATS2 and ATSR are multi camera sensors used with CyberSpectrum™ software to teach accurate wafer and reticle hand-off calibration for proper alignment and set-up of semiconductor tools. The sensors “see” inside to capture three dimensional off-set data (x, y and z) in real-time to quickly teach wafer and reticle transfer positions – all without opening the tools. Process and equipment engineers can conduct repeatable and reproducible setups and maintenance checks, speed trouble-shooting and eliminate technician-to-technician variation.
EMD Electronics’ Digital Solutions organization focuses on leveraging data in R&D, quality, and supply chain to solve industry challenges and accelerate learning cycles. Customers can proactively identify the parameters that matter for their fab performance before excursions occur. They can also gain better control of newly identified parameters to improve the performance of materials in their fabs, which can contribute to yield optimization. The learnings are also useful in R&D for new material innovation which accelerates the ramp up of next generation technology nodes. Watch this video interview with Kutup Kurt, Head of Operations, Digital Solutions at EMD Electronics to learn more.
Jim Cannon, Head of OEM and Markets at Mettler-Toledo, talks to Pete Singer about the many aspects of water analysis in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, including the measurement of resistivity, organic materials, dissolved oxygen, sodium and silica. How the company’s analytical instrumentation and various sensors are used in common applications is reviewed, including their role in new recycling strategies.
PerkinElmer offers a variety of impurity testing techniques, such as multi-quadrupole ICP-MS and tri-range IR, that empower semiconductor device manufacturers with the right tools to ensure contaminant-free products. At SEMICON West 2021, Aaron Hineman, inorganic product line leader, explains the company’s offerings.
Fit-Line’s Nexus Connect insert fittings ensure safe, reliable, leak-free connections and are a strong choice for use in high-purity and corrosive chemical semiconductor applications. George Alvarado, Vice President/General Manager at Fit-Line, talks to Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer at SEMICON West.
EMD Electronics recently announced approximately $1 billion in investments through 2025 in the US to accelerate growth opportunities in the electronics market. At SEMICON West 2021, Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer caught up with Kate Dei Cas, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Delivery Systems & Services, and Jeff Catlin, Head of Business Field, Patterning Solutions at EMD Electronics about the new investments, collaboration with customers and new challenges in EUV lithography.
CyberOptics’ new WX3000 Metrology and Inspection system, which Incorporates the company’s NanoResolution Multi-Reflection Suppression™ (MRS™) sensor, enables the combination of high speed, high resolution and high accuracy for wafer-level and advanced packaging. At SEMICON West, Subodh Kulkarni, President and CEO, explains how it works and what’s new in the company’s other product lines.
Atonarp’s new Aston mass spectrometer features a plasma ionization source that does not get attached by corrosive gases, plus a new self-cleaning ReGen mode. Martin Mason, VP Product Marketing at Atonarp, talks to Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer at this year’s SEMICON West.
Implementing Smart Manufacturing solutions is the fastest way to improve the supply chain issues semiconductor manufacturers are dealing with today. A Digital Twin based Smart solution provides for more effective use of capacity and production output that is better aligned up and down the supply chain. Watch this video interview with John Behnke, GM, FPS Product Line at Inficon to learn more.
Innovations in metrology can significantly boost yield, throughput, and efficiency for semiconductor fabs. Atonarp Aston™ is helping to drive this innovation forward, as a robust compact mass spectrometer designed from the ground up to be the workhorse metrology tool for gas monitoring and control in semiconductor manufacturing. High quantitative accuracy and real-time performance are combined with production-ready robustness and dependability, helping to increase process chamber throughput and maximize yields of high-precision, multi-layer material deposition and etch processes in production environments. With a high level of flexibility and an integrated plasma ionization source, Aston is a single tool ready to support the broadest class of semiconductor metrology needs, including the increasingly precise in-situ process management required in today’s industry.
Brooks Instrument proudly presents the theory of operation behind our pressure-based mass flow controller (P-MFC) from our GP200 series. This P-MFC has a unique design approach for enhanced process performance without the limitations of today’s traditional P-MFCs. A traditional
P-MFC approach includes an upstream pressure transducer, an upstream control valve, two individual pressure transducers, and a laminar flow element. The use of an upstream valve has many disadvantages. This design requires high pressure making it sub-optimal for critical low-pressure gases and low full-scale flow rate. This also means that the two individual pressure transducers must be perfectly matched. We can do better! To address the disadvantages, Brooks Instrument designed a patented integrated differential pressure transducer, GP200 P-MFC. The GP200 has one true differential transducer, instead of two, eliminating the need to match the two individual pressure transducers. This greatly reduces measurement uncertainty and improves accuracy particularly for critical low vapor pressure process gases. It’s downstream valve architecture will operate at much lower inlet pressures and across a wider range of pressures. The downstream valve also minimizes the bleed down effect and ensures that the device is insensitivity to dynamic outlet conditions.
Delphon is the materials incubator and advanced manufacturing center known for solving complex product development and manufacturing challenges by supporting innovation at its Gel-Pak, UltraTape and TouchMark divisions. Learn more about how we can help transform your ideas into new products.
Dr. Mohamed Saleem, Chief Technology Officer of Brooks Instrument, talks with Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer about a new differential pressure sensor-based Mass Flow Controller (MFC). He describes how the use of a differential pressure sensor — as opposed to using discrete pressure sensors for measuring pressure drop and computing flow — has an obvious advantage in that it mitigates the necessity of precisely calibrating and matching individual pressure sensors used in conventional pressure based MFCs. In addition, conventional pressure-based MFCs also suffer from flow inaccuracies with increasing downstream pressures as well as tend to be more sensitive to downstream pressure fluctuations. This will be a limitation when pressure-based MFCs are used for CVD processes in semiconductor manufacturing for certain process recipes as the downstream pressure can change from vacuum to above atmospheric pressures. He also talks about what Brooks Instrument is doing to meet the needs of sub- 5nm technology nodes, where gases need to be controlled to under 1 sccm. In the first video, Dr. Saleem describes how MFCs are used in the semiconductor industry and how they operate.
Dr. Mohamed Saleem, Chief Technology Officer of Brooks Instrument, talks with Editor-in-Chief Pete Singer about how mass flow controllers (MFCs) are used in the semiconductor industry, and key differences between older thermal-based MFCs and newer pressure-based MFCs. Most wafer processing steps, such as dry etch, chemical vapor deposition, ion implantation and diffusion, utilize a variety of gases, which can be corrosive and have low vapor pressures. These gases are delivered to process chambers by gas delivery systems of which MFCs are a key part. The advantages of pressure-based MFCs are that they reduce the complexity of gas delivery systems, which in turn, reduces the cost of ownership; they also are not sensitive to upstream or downstream pressure fluctuations which can affect critical dimensions and uniformity. In part 2, Dr. Saleem describes the new pressure-based technology recently unveiled by Brooks Instrument.
Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Semiconductor Digest interviews Tim Skunes, Vice President of Research and Development, CyberOptics Corporation. Tim discusses their innovative products including their In-Line Particle Sensor™ (IPS), WaferSense® Auto Resistance Sensor™ (ARS), and the NanoResolution MRS™ Sensor.
Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Semiconductor Digest interviews Scott Balaguer, Vice President & General Manager of the Semiconductor Division, NA at Edwards. They discuss the innovative Edwards Pavilion at SEMICON West Virtual 2020, the Best of West Awards submission (Edwards is the Best of West 2020 Winner for the product they discuss which was subsequent to the interview), and all the wonderful ways Edwards has been contributing to society.
Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Semiconductor Digest interviews Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, President and CEO, CyberOptics Corporation about the latest in Semiconductor, including the NanoResolution MRS sensor technology for Advanced Packaging Inspection and Metrology.
Watch Allyn Jackson, CyberOptics demonstrate the WaferSense Leveling and Vibration Combination Sensor for Semiconductor Front-End applications. Semiconductor fabs can significantly increase yields and tool uptime.
