Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:RTEC) announced today the availability of its new SONUS™ Technology, designed for measuring thick films and film stacks used in copper pillar bumps and for detecting defects, such as voids, in through silicon vias (TSVs). SONUS Technology is a non-contact, non-destructive acoustic metrology and defect detection technique that is designed to be of higher resolution, faster, and less costly than alternative techniques.
Copper pillar bumps and TSVs are key enabling technologies in the rapidly growing field of advanced packaging where 2.5D and 3D assembly schemes are driving the "More than Moore" roadmap. Rudolph has collaborated with TEL NEXX specifically to develop pillar bump and TSV plating process control based on SONUS Technology.
“SONUS Technology meets a critical need for measuring and inspecting the structures used to connect chips to each other and to the outside world,” states Tim Kryman, Rudolph’s director of metrology product management. “Copper pillar bumps and TSVs are critical interconnect technologies enabling 2.5D and 3D packaging. Plating process control for copper pillar bumping is directly related to the mechanical integrity of the interconnect and final device performance. Likewise, the quality of the TSV fill is critical to the electrical performance of stacked devices. Rudolph’s patented SONUS Technology offers the unique ability to measure individual films and film stacks to thicknesses of 100µm and detect voids as small as 0.5µm in TSVs with aspect ratios of 10:1 or greater.”
Arthur Keigler, chief technology officer of TEL NEXX, said, “We’re attracted by the opportunity SONUS Technology offers our mutual customers in the advanced packaging market. The ability to measure multi-metal film stacks for Cu pillar, and then continue to use the same tool for TSV void detection offers immediate productivity and cost benefits to manufacturing and development groups alike."
Kryman adds, “SONUS Technology builds on the expertise in acoustic metrology developed for our industry-standard MetaPULSE® systems used for front-end metal film metrology. Offering both improved time-to-profitability and yield improvement during high volume manufacturing (HVM) brings a compelling value proposition to advanced packaging customers. To that end, our relationship with TEL NEXX has been invaluable in bringing this technology to market.”
For more information about Rudolph’s SONUS Technology please visit: www.rudolphtech.com.
About TEL NEXX, Inc.
TEL NEXX is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, Inc. TEL NEXX brings exceptional
technical expertise to flip chip and advanced packaging capital
equipment. The two product lines provide the most efficient, yet
affordable, systems of their kind: Stratus for high throughput
electrochemical deposition of metals and Apollo for multi—layer physical
vapor deposition of metals. Additional information can be found at www.tel.com.
About Rudolph Technologies
Rudolph Technologies, Inc. is a
worldwide leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of
defect inspection, advanced packaging lithography, process control
metrology, and data analysis systems and software used by semiconductor
device manufacturers worldwide. Rudolph provides a full-fab solution
through its families of proprietary products that provide critical
yield-enhancing information, enabling microelectronic device
manufacturers to drive down the costs and time to market of their
products. The Company’s expanding portfolio of equipment and software
solutions is used in both the wafer processing and final manufacturing
of ICs, and in adjacent markets such as FPD, LED and Solar.
Headquartered in Flanders, New Jersey, Rudolph supports its customers
with a worldwide sales and service organization. Additional information
can be found on the Company’s website at www.rudolphtech.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”) which include the benefits to
customers of Rudolph’s products, Rudolph’s existing market position and
its ability to maintain and advance such position relative to its
competitors and Rudolph’s ability to meet the expectations and needs of
our customers as well as other matters that are not purely historical
data. Rudolph wishes to take advantage of the “safe harbor” provided for
by the Act and cautions that actual results may differ materially from
those projected as a result of various factors, including risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rudolph’s control. Such factors
include, but are not limited to, the challenges presented by the new
product development and marketing, delays in shipping products for
technical performance, component supply or other reasons, the company’s
ability to leverage its resources to improve its positions in its core
markets and fluctuations in customer capital spending. Additional
information and considerations regarding the risks faced by Rudolph are
available in Rudolph’s Form 10-K report for the year ended December 31,
2013 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As
the forward-looking statements are based on Rudolph’s current
expectations, the company cannot guarantee any related future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements. Rudolph does not assume
any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in
this press release.
Contacts:
Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
Steven R. Roth,
973-448-4302
steven.roth@rudolphtech.com
or
Guerrant
Associates
Laura Guerrant-Oiye, 808-882-1467
Principal
lguerrant@guerrantir.com
or
Trade
Press:
Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
Amy Pauling, 952-259-1794
amy.pauling@rudolphtech.com
or
TEL
NEXX:
Michelle Pesez, 512-424-1757
michelle.pesez@us.tel.com