Wilmington, Mass. (September 12, 2017)—Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RTEC) announced today that its Firefly™ Inspection Systems, shipped to fulfill previously announced orders from multiple semiconductor manufacturers, are now qualified for production. The Firefly Inspection Systems provide high-resolution visual and non-visual inspection in a variety of advanced packaging processes, including fan-out wafer-level packaging, panel-level packaging, and wafer-level chip-scale packaging. Rudolph expects over $5M in revenue in Q3 2017 from the accepted systems. Additional Firefly System shipments expected in Q4 2017.
“This latest inspection technology enables us to go beyond the limits of traditional area-scan technology to offer our customers an extendable platform for sub-micron resolution at a high throughput across a broadening range of applications,” said Mike Plisinski, chief executive officer, Rudolph Technologies. “As expected, our Firefly systems are identifying defects that were previously undetectable. We will continue to collaborate closely with our customers to further enhance the platform and address our customers’ challenges.”
“The Firefly system features our patented Clearfind™ Technology to expose non-visual defects that traditional illumination cannot detect,” said Mike Goodrich, vice president and general manager of Rudolph’s Process Control Group. “Our customers regularly find defects that had been missed by conventional techniques, including missing or shorted redistribution layer (RDL) lines, un-etched organic film on under bump metallization (UBM) pads, and residual photoresist (PR) and polyimide (PI).”
Process control for advanced packaging is becoming increasingly more difficult as features, such as RDL, shrink to single-micron sizes, making them extremely hard to inspect due to nuisance defects caused by metal grains. Goodrich explained, “Clearfind Technology detects previously invisible defects, and when paired with Rudolph’s Discover® analytics software, provides comprehensive solutions for difficult process challenges. For example, on one customer’s product, the Firefly system detected thin RDL lines that were below specification and had been missed by traditional bright field illumination. When the customer used Discover’s advanced analysis of defects added at each layer, the wafer map enabled them to identify and eliminate the root cause of the problem.”
About Rudolph Technologies
Rudolph Technologies, Inc. is a leader in the design, development, manufacture, and support of defect inspection, lithography, process control metrology, and process control software used by semiconductor and advanced packaging device manufacturers worldwide. Rudolph delivers comprehensive solutions throughout the fab with its families of proprietary products that provide critical yield-enhancing information, enabling microelectronic device manufacturers to drive down costs and time to market of their devices. Headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Rudolph supports its customers with a worldwide sales and service organization.
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 benefit to customers of Rudolph’s products, Rudolph’s ability to successfully innovate, develop new technologies and products and deliver products and services consistent with our customers’ demands and expectations 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 company’s offered design enhancements may not necessarily translate into significant revenue and the challenges presented by the new product development and marketing. 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, 2016, 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: Investors:
Michael Sheaffer
Sr. Dir. Investor Relations
978-253-6273
Trade Press:
Amy Shay
952.259.1794
