Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTEC), a worldwide leader in process characterization solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, announced today that it has received an order for multiple back-end inspection tools from Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (ASE, TAIEX: 2311) (NYSE: ASX), the world's largest semiconductor packaging and test company. This purchase for automated NSX® Inspection Systems with Discover® yield management software reflects a trend to incorporate real-time process control into advanced back-end fabrication processes.
“Rudolph’s hardware and process control software solutions have consistently demonstrated industry-leading productivity and performance in outgoing quality assurance (OQA) operations,” said Ardy Johnson, Rudolph’s vice president of marketing. “More advanced capabilities are now required, such as the replacement of wire bonds with bump-based connections. Rudolph’s unique combination of 2D and 3D inspection hardware and analytical software is a compelling solution for ASE’s in-line process control requirements.”
Rudolph’s General Manager in Taiwan, Jimmy Lin, adds, “As back-end processes continue to grow more complex, manufacturers are increasingly replacing existing outgoing quality control procedures with advanced, in-line process control methodologies, which are already well established in front-end fabs. Rudolph is unique in offering a hardware and software ‘total solution’ for inspection and data analysis that provides the speed and accuracy required to control high-volume production processes. We see significant potential for growth in the back-end inspection market, a result of being inserted at multiple in-line applications, as advanced packaging technologies are more widely adopted.”
“The value of Rudolph’s tool set was enhanced by ASE’s decision earlier this year to install our Discover yield management software,” said Johnson “This defect analysis/data management system easily interfaces with existing fab databases, and delivers high uptime when linked to process tools.”
The order, referenced in Rudolph’s Sept. 16, 2009 release on back-end market recovery, began shipping in 3Q 2009.
Rudolph offers a complete line of inspection and metrology systems for semiconductor manufacturing applications. The NSX® 115 automated inspection tool is optimized specifically for the back-end manufacturing environment, and offers the highest throughput and greatest flexibility in the detection and analysis of macro defects created during wafer manufacturing, probing, bumping, dicing, or by general handling. The WaferScanner™ 3840 uses proprietary laser triangulation technology to provide fast and accurate 3D measurements of bump height and coplanarity. The open architecture and scalable system provided in Discover software can encompass all inspection tools on the fab floor. It is designed to efficiently analyze the tremendous volume of data generated by high-speed inspection tools to identify significant events, such as process excursions, and provide process engineers with the information required to optimize the manufacturing processes.