Stealth Dicing Technology
L9570-01
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Stealth Dicing Technology
NOTICE
Web-based technical support service for stealth dicing equipment users
We are launching a website to release technical information on our stealth dicing (SD) technology (both in Japanese and English). Also starting up is a website service limited to stealth dicing equipment users, which provides useful information about laser processing "recipes" ideal for dicing various types of semiconductor wafer devices.
This service allows stealth dicing equipment users to easily find a new processing recipe which will be needed when dicing new wafer devices. This therefore helps to streamline the operator's task of creating new processing recipes. We also have a database that holds lots of technical know-how on laser processing we have acquired while developing the stealth dicing technology. This dedicated website service gives processing recipes that are an ideal match for many types of semiconductor devices in terms of wafer thickness, structure and chip size, etc. |
OVERVIEW
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"Stealth dicing" is a completely new laser dicing technology developed by Hamamatsu Photonics. Stealth dicing is an integration of optoelectronics and laser technology including laser machining equipment and IC thin film removal devices produced for the world’s markets based on long accumulated technology from Hamamatsu Photonics. This technology is applied to unit modules called "Stealth Dicing Engine" that can be mounted in wafer dicing equipment. |
| "Stealth dicing" is an innovative technology for cutting a silicon wafer into small pieces. In the stealth dicing process, a laser beam is irradiated onto an internal section of the wafer to selectively form a modification layer. An external stress is then applied by a technique such as tape expansion to cause cracks to extend from the modification layer and develop towards the front and backside surfaces of the wafer, so that it is split into small segments. By optimizing the optical system and laser characteristics, stealth dicing modifies the material with a laser beam at just selected and localized positions inside the wafer. This process causes no damage whatsoever to the wafer front and backside surfaces or to the dicing tape on the wafer backside surface. Stealth dicing also has none of the chipping waste on the front and backside wafer surfaces that are a problem in conventional blade dicing, and so forms finished chips having strong bend strength. Another advantage is that unlike machine-tool cutting, no waste particles fly in the air during dicing, thus eliminating problems with device contamination. |
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| In semiconductor manufacturing, there is a growing trend to use larger wafers, yet the wafer itself is extremely thin. It is important how many chips can be cut from one wafer or how accurately chips of highly sophisticated integrated circuits can be cut without being damaged. In the dicing process, the smaller and more sophisticated the final chip, the harsher the conditions it must undergo before becoming a finished product. Stealth dicing is indispensable as a technology that successfully clears all those harsh conditions. The term "process", as it implies, is a "consecutive flow" of individual tasks or steps. Among these steps, the dicing process involves drastic changes that may seriously affect the entire wafer fabrication process. However, there is no mistaking the fact that current market demand is for small, high-performance semiconductor finished products that can only be made from thin wafers. This push from the marketplace is precisely what is helping to promote and spread stealth dicing. In fact, starting with Asian markets, use of dicing equipment mounted with stealth dicing engines is steadily spreading through Japan, Europe and North America. |
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF STEALTH DICING TECHNOLOGY
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Dicing equipment using a stealth dicing engine also offers other advantages. For example, equipment power consumption can be cut up to 68 percent (under specified laser processing conditions). Moreover, stealth dicing is a fully dry process needing no purified water so that power consumption can be cut by some 77 percent when taking account of the production of purified water and the disposal of waste water. |
| For this reason the stealth dicing engine was granted the award for "Best Energy-Saving Device" from the Japan Machinery Federation in February 2007. Bestowing this award demonstrates that semiconductor manufacturers are aware of "Energy and Environmental issues" when they use stealth dicing engine in their equipment. The fact that the dicing process is stealth dicing will also be a major sales point for the semiconductor manufacturers because it proves that they are making semiconductor products that lighten the load on our environment. |
PATENTS
USA
USP 6992026, 7396742, etc. (a total of 5 patents) and 51 patents pending
Japan
Japanese patent Nos. 3408805, 3626442, 3761565, 3761567, 3761566, 3624909, 3670267, 3790254,
3822626, 3762409, 3867003, 3867107, 3867109, 3867110, 3867101, 3867102, 3867103, 3867100,
3867104, 3867105, 3869850, 3751970, 3867108, 3935187, 3935188, 3990710, 3935186, 3935189,
3990711, 4050534, 4095092, 4128204, 4142694, 4146863, 4167094, 4197693, 4198123, 4200177,
4237745, etc. (a total of 44 patents) and 83 patents pending
Taiwan
Patent I250060, I270431, I289890, I278027, etc. (a total of 10 patents) and 46 patents pending
Europe (EC)
Patent 163299728, etc. (a total of 2 patents) and 45 patents pending
Republic of Korea
Patent KR10-0667460, KR10-0715576, KR10-0749972, KR10-0766727, KR10-0781845, etc. (a total of 17 patents) and 36 patents pending
China
A total of 22 patents and 40 patents pending
Other Countries
Patents pending in Thailand, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Singapore, Israel, etc.
(As of April 1, 2009) |
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