From now on Plan Optik AG, the leading manufacturer of glass and quartz wafers, offers re-usable carriers for thin wafer handling which can be used for chemical release of device wafers.
There has been an ongoing wafer thickness reduction in the semiconductor industry since many years. The market has demanded smaller devices, cost reductions and increased numbers of functions. For this reason smaller package sizes need to be generated. The main drivers for this progression are consumer applications. The demand for smaller package sizes is also associated with technical advantages like better electrical performance or an improved thermal management. Thin wafers also enable 3D-packaging of sensors such as CMOS image sensors and others.
Producing thin wafers in high quantities is not easy. Due to their low thickness, semiconductor wafers are vulnerable to stress and breakage. Warping of the wafers during handling and processing causes a high yield loss or even makes it impossible to handle the wafers any more. This means a thin wafer handling technology with a high grade of flexibility on wafer and substrate sizes is needed.
One of the most common techniques is temporary bonding of thick device wafers to a rigid carrier with high accuracy by using a polymer based adhesive. The release (de-bonding) is done by chemicals which dissolve the adhesive after processing (including thinning) of the device wafer. To attack the adhesive through the carrier, a perforation of the carrier is necessary.
Plan Optik produces such carriers for chemical release by combining its blank glass carriers with tight tolerances and latest patterning technologies. More than 100,000 through holes of equal size can be implemented – providing a smooth and safe de-bonding.
Carriers for chemical release are available at a ttv as low as 1um and from many cte adapted materials. These carriers can be re-used up to 50 times.
In order to guarantee the highest quality, Plan Optik employs quality management systems certified as per ISO TS 16949, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.