Oct 5 2009
DCG Systems, Inc. today announced an exclusive agreement with Thermosensorik GmbH to develop and market a line of thermal products based upon its Focal Plane Array (FPA) infrared cameras. Thermosensorik cameras are employed in a wide variety of applications related to subsurface defect detection. The joint DCG Thermosensorik products are optimized for defect detection in semiconductor devices as well as in crystalline and thin film solar cells.
Besides marketing Thermosensorik's products ThermoSpector FA and ThermoSpector PV as stand-alone systems DCG will incorporate Thermosensorik technology into its new Enhanced Lock-in Thermal Emission (ELITE) product. The ELITE utilizes Lock-in Thermography (LIT) to locate line shorts, ESD defects, oxide damage, defective transistors and diodes and device latchups without requiring special light shielding boxes. Lock-in allows defects to be spatially resolved to a narrow area, and LIT data can then be accumulated for as long as necessary in order to resolve thermal emission sites down to the 1 micro-W range.
An important new application for this technology is the examination and location of buried defects within stacked-die packages. With both wire-bonded or Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology, it is critical to have the capability to discern a defect location in three dimensions in order to accurately know which die is affected. The ELITE's and ThermoSpector's effectively "unlimited" acquisition time allows thorough examination of the die stack.
"We evaluated many camera suppliers and found that the Thermosensorik technology was superior to all others," said Dr. Israel Niv, President and CEO of DCG Systems, Inc. "We are very pleased to be working with Thermosensorik and we are proud to start our collaboration with this fine partner in order to provide the semiconductor industry with the most sensitive thermal system in the market. Thermosensorik technology superiority is a great fit with the technology superiority of all other DCG products."
"Our strong customer base in Germany with more than 60 thermal imaging systems utilizing our unique real-time LIT technology motivated us to go for international markets," said Thomas Hierl, Managing Director and Founder of Thermosensorik. "In DCG we found the perfect combination of outstanding technical skills and international sales power. We are convinced that this partnership will give Thermosensorik access to the global semiconductor and photovoltaic industry."