Rudolph wins multiple orders for AWX unpatterned wafer inspection tools

FLANDERS, USA: Rudolph Technologies Inc, announced that it has won orders for its AWX FSI unpatterned wafer inspection system at both a major Southeast Asia-based OSAT facility and a key Korean memory manufacturer. In both cases, the systems were selected after direct comparison with entrenched competitors.

The AWX FSI inspection system is specifically designed to meet the needs of advanced packaging processes, such as TSV and other back-end processes. One system shipped in the third quarter and the second will ship in the fourth quarter of 2013.

"Many of the processes being brought into back-end and advanced packaging are similar to those used in the front-end of semiconductor manufacturing, however, the back-end of the line has its own specific requirements and cost of ownership thresholds," commented Rudolph's product manager, Reza Asgari. "While it was tempting to simply adopt equipment from the front-end, many of these processes have now evolved to the point that they require systems specifically-designed for the applications and the back-end environment to achieve optimal performance. Our AWX system combines the sensitivity, throughput, handling and data analysis that manufacturers need to optimize their processes and reduce cost."

Rudolph's AWX FSI system is a fully-automatic inspection tool for detecting particles, scratches, area defect and micro-roughness on unpatterned wafers. These systems can be configured in a range of sensitivity/throughput combinations, offering throughputs greater than 120 wafers per hour.

The automated handling of different open cassette types and a pre-aligner allows flexibility for using this tool in various environments with a range of wafer types and sizes. Sophisticated software analyzes and reports particles, scratches and haze, and enables automatic wafer sorting based on the inspection results.