News

12 July 2010

 

EVG launches first fully automated wafer bonding system for HB-LED manufacturing

Wafer bonding and lithography equipment maker EV Group (EVG) of St. Florian, Austria has introduced the EVG560HBL wafer bonder, which it claims is the industry’s first fully automated wafer bonding system for high-brightness light-emitting diode (HB-LED) manufacturing.

The system features a new design for multi-substrate bonding and is capable of throughput rates of what is claimed to be an unprecedented 160 bonds per hour. Based on the EVG500 wafer bonding series, the EVG560HBL is optimized to meet the unique requirements of HB-LED makers, with automation capabilities needed to increase production capacity and yields.  

The HB-LED market continues to grow rapidly due to the rising number of applications that can take advantage of the lower energy consumption and other benefits of LEDs, says EVG. According to market research firm Strategies Unlimited, the HB-LED market will grow from $8.2bn in 2010 to $20.2bn by 2014, driven mainly by the market for LCD display backlights and lighting applications. To meet this increased demand, HB-LED makers must quickly ramp up to higher production capacity, as well as optimize their manufacturing processes to ensure high yields, both of which drive the need for automated manufacturing solutions says EVG. This is especially critical for wafer bonding, which is needed to transfer the active LED layer from epitaxial substrates onto carrier wafers with thermal properties better suited for HB-LED devices.

“Leveraging our 30 years of experience in developing wafer bonding solutions for advanced micro-electronics manufacturing, the EVG560HBL is the latest result in our ongoing efforts aimed at helping HB-LED manufacturers develop more efficient, cost-effective and higher-yielding devices,” says EVG’s executive technology director Paul Lindner.

The EVG560HBL multi-substrate wafer bonder offers capabilities enabling high-volume HB-LED manufacturing that include:

• high-force capability, in-situ low-force wedge compensation and proprietary compliant layer technologies, ensuring bond uniformity across the entire wafer (essential for high-quality, multi-substrate bonding);

• integrated pre-processing modules for low-temperature metal wafer bonding, enabling higher throughput and providing less thermal stress on the wafer stack (which in turn increases yield);

• warped/bowed wafer handling capability for maneuvering thin and fragile substrates, which minimizes tool downtime and eliminates wafer breakage issues;

• unique bond chamber design, enabling change-out of substrate sizes in less than 30 minutes (increasing tool flexibility and lifetime while enabling easy maintenance and maximized tool uptime);

• cassette-to-cassette operation;

• mechanical wafer-to-wafer alignment;

• SECS II/GEM interface; and

• wafer ID tracking for advanced process control.

*At this week’s SEMICON West event in San Francisco (13–15 July), business develop manager Dr Thomas Uhrmann is presenting 'Wafer-level Packaging for Cost Reduction of High-brightness LEDs' during the Extreme Electronics' Solid-state Lighting session 'More Lumens per Dollar: The Road to More Efficient HB-LED Manufacturing -- Progress and Next Challenges in Back-end Manufacturing'.

See: EV Group Company Profile

Search: EVG Wafer bonding HB-LED

Visit: www.evgroup.com