Flanders, New Jersey (July 14, 2015)—Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RTEC) and DISCO Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, announce a collaborative partnership to deliver leading-edge hardware and software solutions to optimize the wafer saw unit processes. These comprehensive solutions will enable their customers to consistently improve the quality and productivity of their advanced packaging products. The complete wafer saw solution includes: DISCO’s fully automatic dicing saw for high-throughput, dual-cut processing, DISCO’s ablation laser saw and stealth dicing saw, Rudolph’s NSX® inspection system for post-saw inspection, Rudolph’s new Equipment Sentinel™ fault detection and classification (FDC) software for real time monitoring and feedback of DISCO’s dicing tools, and Rudolph’s Discover Enterprise™ yield management software for sophisticated wafer-to-process tool correlations.
The evolution of semiconductor device materials for advanced packaging has resulted in more stringent dicing process requirements. Process deviations and excursions during die singulation can result in chips and cracks that impact the long-term reliability of devices. The agreement between DISCO and Rudolph, which took effect June 1, 2015, will drive a new level of innovation in saw processing, including improved kerf control, chipping minimization and overall cost-of-ownership enhancement resulting in solutions that will accelerate advanced packaging adoption.
“With the increasing use of complex materials in today’s semiconductor devices, dicing is an increasingly critical process step. DISCO is committed to providing the highest quality wafer saw solutions to address our customers’ most demanding challenges. We continue to invest in our industry-leading wafer dicing equipment, leveraging advanced sensors and data acquisition technologies to provide even greater insight into the performance of our equipment,” explains Noboru Yoshinaga, executive operating officer, general manager, sales division at DISCO. “Through our collaboration with Rudolph we are able to turn data into valuable knowledge for our customers, making DISCO tools easier to ramp, monitor and control.”
“For the past year, our collaboration with DISCO has allowed us to understand and address the increasing challenges faced by our mutual customers resulting in a close partnership capable of providing comprehensive solutions to improve device reliability and data reporting, while at the same time lowering their costs and decreasing ramp times,” states Mike Plisinski, Rudolph’s executive VP and COO. “Demand for turnkey solutions is increasing and we are committed to continuing to develop and build on this success to meet that growing demand.”
According to Thomas Sonderman, VP and general manager of Rudolph’s Software Business Unit, “Our new automated FDC software, Equipment Sentinel, offers advanced packaging manufacturers significant benefits that, to date, have not been fully exploited by the industry. For example, the bi-directional correlation of equipment sensor data with diced product data gives users a comprehensive, easy-to-understand view of their process, allowing them to use predictive analytics to take immediate action, thus reducing product jeopardy and improving the overall effectiveness of their manufacturing operations. The savings that result from avoiding a single failure at a critical process step can easily justify the return on investment for this type of process control solution.”
For more information, visit www.rudolphtech.com and www.disco.co.jp.
About DISCO Corporation
DISCO Corporation is widely recognized as the world leader in precision cutting, grinding, and polishing technologies (Kiru, Kezuru, Migaku – KKM technologies). Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with more than 75 years of experience, DISCO has provided turn-key processing solutions to broad spectra of market segments in electronic industry as well as to customers from around the globe. Along with providing equipment and consumables utilizing abrasives, laser, plasma, surface planarization, and chemical-mechanical polishing processes, DISCO offers a variety of services including process optimization, on-site support, and joint development initiatives. DISCO’s core competency in KKM technologies firmly roots in a vast knowledge base of processes for myriad material systems. Relying on such expertise, DISCO has established a reputable record as a dependable provider to the backend of line operations. For more information, please visit www.disco.co.jp.
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.
