Plasma Power-Up: Boosting Yield, One Ion at a Time!

Hello, Semiconductor Squad! Get charged up because we're about to zap away your manufacturing woes with some plasma-powered magic. Hold onto your wafers, folks. It's about to get electrifying!

In the intricate world of semiconductor manufacturing, even the smallest details can profoundly affect performance, yield, and ultimately, the bottom line. Among the many techniques employed to optimize production processes, plasma surface treatment stands out as a crucial step in enhancing both the quality and efficiency of semiconductor devices.

Applications that benefit from plasma treatment:

• Underfill: When applied before the underfill process, plasma surface treatment increases wicking speed and fillet height uniformity, minimizes voids, and improves adhesion.
• Encapsulation & Molding: Plasma increases surface energy to improve the adhesion of mold compounds. The improved adhesion increases package reliability.
• Die Attach:?Plasma cleaning enhances adhesion to improve the bond between the die and the substrate. Better bonds improve heat dissipation. In addition, plasma removes oxidation from metal surfaces to ensure void-free die attachment.?
• Wire Bond:?Poor bond strength and low yield are often due to upstream contamination sources. Gas plasma technology can clean pads before wire bonding to improve bond strength and yield.
• MEMs: MEMs devices such as accelerometers, roll-over sensors, and airbag deployment sensors require advanced plasma treatment to improve yield and long-term reliability. Typical applications include device cleaning, photoresist descum, stripping of materials like benzocylcobutene (BCB), etching redistribution lines, and removing contamination.

From a cost perspective, the benefits of plasma surface treatment are evident in its positive impact on yield. Higher yields translate to more functional devices per wafer, reducing the cost per device and increasing profitability. Additionally, plasma treatment helps minimize the need for rework and enhances overall manufacturing efficiency by reducing defects and improving process reliability. Now, that’s a virtuous cycle!

You might know us best for precision fluid dispensing, but we also offer plasma treatment solutions to power up your process. Check them out or contact our sales team to learn more about your options. What are you waiting for? You know you want better yield!

Things are moving fast. As semiconductors continue to advance in complexity and performance requirements, the role of plasma surface treatment is poised to remain indispensable (see how we did that?) in meeting evolving market demands.

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