Surface Technology Systems plc (STS), a leader in plasma process technologies required in the manufacturing and packaging of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) and advanced electronic devices, today announced that they have sold a Pegasus Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE) tool to the Institut für Halbleiter- und Mikrosystemtechnik (IHM, or Semiconductor & Microsystems Technology Laboratory), part of the Technische Universität Dresden.
The Technische Universität Dresden dates back to the Technische Bildungsanstalt Dresden, founded in 1828 and thus ranks among the oldest technical-academic educational establishments in Germany. The university has about 35,000 students and almost 4,200 permanent employees, and is the largest university in Saxony. The IHM is involved in research into a wide range of semiconductor and microsystems applications, such as chip copper wiring, investigation of high-k materials (in cooperation with Namlab (www.namlab.com) and Qimonda (www.qimonda.com)), fabrication of microfluidic systems and sensors and bumping technologies for chip connection. They will be using STS’ DRIE technology in the development of advanced packaging solutions, in particular investigating the use of through-wafer vias for 3D-IC interconnects.
Dr. Christian Wenzel, senior scientist from TU Dresden stated, “IHM chose the Pegasus system for its superior silicon etch capabilities, and over the past decade we have developed a good working relationship with STS. We have consistently experienced excellent customer service, and appreciate that they continue to lead the field in enabling silicon wafer processing.”
Eizo Yasui, CEO of STS added, “We are very happy to receive this order from a long-standing customer, which underlines the importance we place on providing market-leading process technologies for 3D-IC packaging applications”