EDITION 4
ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR OPTOELECTRONICS PHOTONICS PACKAGING Solving new challenges Helping customers Leveraging
Enabling innovation in semiconductor
every day in Power Devices, MEMS and Wireless
take advantage of new opportunities in LED and VCSEL
know-how in optics and semiconductor
LAYERS 4 | 2018-2019 | CONTENTS
LAYERS magazine is produced by Evatec AG, Hauptstrasse 1a, CH-9477 Trübbach, Switzerland. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of going to press. Evatec AG cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. For any comments or queries contact allan.jaunzens@evatecnet.com. ©2018 Evatec AG. Editor-in-Chief: Allan Jaunzens. Design: Doubletake Design (UK). Photography: Peter Fuchs / www.fuchs-peter.ch
Contents
Contents 02-03 Welcome Evatec CEO Andreas Waelti & CTO Marco Padrun on investing in new infrastructure for the future.
04-05 Q&A CEO Andreas Waelti explains more about Evatec’s new business unit structure and how it meets the changing needs of the market and customers.
06-17 Corporate A selection of news stories about Evatec’s organisation and capabilities.
18-29 Advanced Packaging Meet the Advanced Packaging management team and read the latest customer and product news from the business unit.
30-65 Semiconductor
Meet the Semiconductor management team and read the latest customer and product news from the business unit.
66-77 Optoelectronics Meet the Optoelectronics management team and read the latest customer and product news from the business unit.
78-91 Photonics Meet the Photonics management team and read the latest customer and product news from the business unit.
92-93 Contacts
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LAYERS 4 | WELCOME
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Welcome
Investing in new infrastructure and developing our organisation to meet the changing needs of the market and our customers is just part of our daily business. The work which began one year ago with the creation of our first Competence Centre for Advanced Packaging continues, and we are well on track to complete our new Evatec Competence Laboratory (ECL), a dedicated facility offering 30 tools and 20 measurement techniques to help all our customers fast track their development
processes. We made changes in our market organisation too, moving to market-led business units, and we are confident that both these changes position us well to address the ever more complex challenges our customers bring. Within the following pages you can read more not only about these changes but also news and technology updates with special introductions on market trends by our guest contributor Yole Développement. Welcome to our fourth edition of LAYERS!
Marco Padrun CTO & Andreas Waelti CEO
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LAYERS 4 | WELCOME | ORGANISATION
CEO Andreas Waelti explains more about how the company is investing in the future as Evatec’s business continues to grow new facilities, new people and a new market organisation.
Q. Why did Evatec make changes this year? A. The pace of change in our markets gets quicker and quicker, and the solutions we provide more and more complex. We needed to optimise our organisation ready for the increasing complexity and such fast changing business environments.
Q. What changed in the new organisation? A. We made a transition to business units and structures focused on markets rather than on machines. The choice was a logical one – selecting our current core markets of Advanced Packaging, Semiconductor, Optoelectronics and Photonics. Each business unit is being led by one of our very experienced existing managers who are in turn supported by a dedicated team including applications and process specialists, product market managers and sales personnel with all the knowhow relevant to that market. A fifth group “Customer Service” is then focused on delivering the best support solutions in the industry. Other common functions like manufacturing remain shared across all business units to achieve the best efficiencies and economics.
Organisation
Q. What benefits are there for customers?
Q. What happens when a customer’s market interests span across several Evatec core markets?
A. We see lots of advantages going forwards 1. Our teams’ thinking will be centred on “markets” in just the same way as our customers. Putting teams together with the best market understanding means we are perfectly placed to offer the best production solutions for that market according to the needs of any particular customer.
A. That’s easy. Customers will just work with different teams as necessary to get the best support in each and every case. Flexibility in our thinking remains a core Evatec value and we are ready to work with customers in whatever way gets the best results for them.
2. Our new teams can also be better partners for customers, offering more know-how, more efficient information transfer between our two organizations and better support in developing and fulfilling their own technology roadmaps.
Q. Do customers now work with different partners than before at Evatec? A. Customers work through their local sales and service management organisation in just the same way as before for all day to day sales, order logistics and service support. In some cases however, their local sales contact or service specialist has changed as we made sure that the person with the highest level of knowledge for their particular market was assigned to them. As customers come to the factory over the coming months we look forward to introducing them to the new teams at Trübbach dedicated to their particular market but I’m sure they will already recognise lots of faces. Throughout Evatec’s history our people have always been encouraged to leverage their know-how supporting customers across many different applications.
Q. What other changes will customers see? A. One of the most exciting developments at our facility in 2018 is the development of our new Evatec Competence Laboratory (ECL) bringing together around 30 thin film production tools plus measurement equipment and scientists in one place. You can read more about it further on in this edition of LAYERS.
Q. How do you see the future? A. I am excited by the tremendous growth potential in our markets and see exciting new opportunities for the future working together with partners and customers. Each Business Unit already has its own roadmaps identifying business opportunites and any technology or infratstructure developments we need to secure them. Working in the new BU structure really does help us focus on the need of our customers!
EVATEC BUSINESS UNITS ADVANCED PACKAGING Wafer Level Packaging Panel Level Packaging
SEMICONDUCTOR OPTOELECTRONICS Power Devices Wireless MEMS Memory
LED LASER/VCSEL Micro Display
PHOTONICS Filters Functional Coatings
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CORPORATE NEWS The new Evatec Competence L aboratory (ECL) Evatec around the globe - Focus on North America Follow the Northstar Evatec Service - Helping our customers’ businesses grow
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LAYERS 4 | CORPORATE | ECL
ECL - IT’S THE PLACE TO BE! Evatec’s new laboratory is not only a showcase for our products but also a competence space. But what does “competence” mean? We understand “competence” as a combination of know-how, skills and capabilities. Evatec’s Competence Laboratory (ECL) will also be a place for know-how transfer, networking and teamwork. In this way the ECL team can better support customer samplings and process development at Evatec. ECL Manager Dominik Jaeger gives us a run down on the new facility.
ECL – The right thing for a growing company
ECL – A shared space for networking
A rapidly growing company like ours need a development facility that’s fit for the future. We are bringing equipment and people together in an environment that’s optimised for the best sample production, networking, information exchange and creative thinking. Move in to the laboratory will started at the end of 2018.
Areas like EML will be accesible to all business units (BUs) and create a great area of know-how exchange and ideas creation. Regular meetings “powwows” gathering invited experts in specific fields will encourage even greater knowledge transfer on specific topics to a broad audience within Evatec.
ECL – Meassurement techniques and skills
ECL – A laboratory with wide deposition capability
Housed within the ECL in the clean room (minimum ISO 6) will be the Evatec Measurement Laboratory (EML) containing a broad variety of measurement instruments. Its central location will reduce transport distances and risk of additional particle generation on the substrate, allowing for more precise and elaborate analysis, and ultimately faster development of processes. The EML will be a centre for experts in metrology housing tools as simple as mechanical steppers through to high-end nanotechnology tools such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD, D8 discovery, Bruker), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM, NP20X, Park), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM, Jeol) including Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy for element analysis. The AFM gives us information concerning surface topography with a resolution in the sub-nanometer range whilst XRD gives us insight into crystalline grains within a film, allowing determination of crystal structure, lattice distance, grain width, crystal quality and crystal orientation. Using X-Ray Reflectometry we are able to determine film thicknesses (from a few nm up to 150nm typically) and roughness, including the thickness of multilayer systems and their buried interface roughness. In addition we are able to measure instrument pole figures and reciprocal space maps for even more sophisticated analysis of our film structures. The EML will also provide technical and scientific support on any measurement tool enabling efficient sampling and R&D.
The laboratory will be home to over 30 deposition tools with more than 150 deposition and etch sources available giving access to processing of well over 100 different basic material types (targets and evaporation materials). Running reactive gas processes for the formation of oxide and nitride films will of course add many times over to the numbers of possibilities at our fingertips.
ECL – Tracking data at a glance Custom software for the ECL will allow for proper substrate tracking, data recording of all processes, predictive maintenance, and evaluation of big data that is collected on a centralised server at Evatec, but all with peace of mind of enhanced security and no outside connection.
ECL – Closer to a production environment Particles will be measured online in the clean room and also with the latest particle measurement technology on the substrates so that their origin can be identified and their numbers reduced if an issue is detected. A new clean centralised storage concept and tool arrangement in ballroom configuration will be closer to that used by many of our customers.
ECL
EVATEC COMPETENCE LABORATORY
Corporate
ECL BY NUMBERS
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SAMPLE TRACKING SOFTWARE
CLEAN ROOM QUALITY: DOWN TO ISO4 An environment closer to our customers’ real production facilities helps fast track development.
MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES: >20
≈30 >150
PROCESS TOOLS:
Etch, evaporation, sputter and PECVD capability.
DEPOSITION SOURCES
Substrate sizes: up to 500 mm x 500 mm Clean room area: >900m2 Total lab space > 2700m2
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LAYERS 4 | CORPORATE | FOCUS ON NORTH AMERICA
EVATEC NA INC.PROUD TO SERVE CUSTOMERS IN THE USA & CANADA Evatec NA Inc. Managing Director Dan Pace introduces his team and the developments in Evatec’s local sales and service organisation.
15 years of growth Our North America organisation has undergone huge change since I first joined Evatec in 2004. At that time our local office was in Manchester, NH and we employed just 5 people spread across sales and service. Today we have grown to an organisation of more than 30 personnel. With such an expanding team we needed to move offices and these days our home is in Florida while our team of sales and service personnel is spread right across the North American continent. They draw upon a combined experience of more than 80 years in the vacuum and thin film equipment business.
Corporate Focusing on the needs of the North American market The solutions we can provide to our customer base in North America are getting ever more complex and that calls for sales personnel that are specialised in individual markets. Having the highest technical and market knowledge makes them the best partner for our customers. Earlier in 2018 we designated each of our sales staff to focus on a particular market. Of course this means more travel around North America for our personnel as customers for each market are spread right across the continent, but we feel this is the best way to align with our customers and truly serve them in a way that they should expect from their suppliers. Actually, all of Evatec is now aligned this way and we believe this is the perfect solution with two important effects. First, and foremost, our customers’ have direct access to dedicated factory teams focused on their market through the Evatec sales staff and secondly, our sales staff become more aligned and focused on their customers’ market. This brings more efficient management of today’s business and ensures that future needs of our North American customers in each market segment can be collated and acted upon efficiently. The more direct feedback helps Evatec develop and implement future technology solutions that are market driven, supporting customers in implementing their own technology roadmaps. However, specialising doesn’t mean we aren’t
still flexible, and we still make the most of the many years experience sharing knowledge within the team, and supporting each other’s customers as the need arises.
Raising the bar in local customer service Good customer service is always on our mind. Finding qualified staff to support our systems requires candidates that possess many skills; vacuum, electrical, mechanical and good communications skills. We have invested heavily in the last 5 years - not only in building a larger team of skilled field service engineers supporting installations, service contracts, and retrofits, but also more recently in a growing local application engineering capability. Continuous knowledge transfer for our machines and processes to our local team from Evatec HQ is a clear objective for 2019 and beyond as we look to offer higher and higher levels of support locally. Our new head of Customer Service Ursula Slavens joined the team in October of 2017. Ursula already came with over 10 years experience in capital equipment but with a customer perspective. I felt it was a good idea to have someone leading the organisation with a customer’s mindset. A deeper understanding of what our customers’ needs are helps us serve them better. I am counting on Ursula to give us more structure in the service area as we grow. In periods of tremendous growth like Evatec is enjoying right now, we need to avoid being reactionary and focus on
a strategic approach. Ursula’s job is to ensure that we have the correct processes and procedures in place to manage this growth curve smoothly and efficiently as we continue but also to ensure that we also sustain our flexibility. She is actively bringing on new talent and taking care our existing talent is not burned out. So, the doors are open and Evatec NA Inc. is always looking to hire skilled staff or those willing to learn.
Back office logistics keeps everything running smoothly Back office functions like order processing and logistics are located at our NA headquarters in Florida. Just like in customer service, most of our team has been in this industry for many years. The team can not only arrange shipments of parts held in our local NA warehouse but also view stocks, pick and ship parts held in any of our 8 major warehouses around the world to customers in North America as the need arises.
Building for the future Building up our group has been a great experience and I’m lucky to be surrounded by a great team that is open to new ideas and supports each other. As fast as we complete one challenge, the next one comes up as we continue to grow in numbers, capabilities and work in fast changing markets. It’s a job that’s never over.. but its one that I love.
Ursula Slavens
Gary Playdon
Luis Rosado
“My job is to manage and develop our field resources to support whatever technologies and processes our customers want to run now or in future.”
“My department is often the first port of call for customers in North America when a problem comes up. My job is to help them fast, and if I cant, find someone within our organisation who can.”
“Our team’s goal is to get parts to customers on time, every time. We track our performance continuously always looking for opportunities to improve and speed up our processes.”
Head of Customer Service
Technical Support Engineer
Manager Order Processing
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LAYERS 4 | CORPORATE | NORTHSTAR
FOLLOW THE NORTHSTAR Delivering best customer value starts long before we deliver the final equipment to our customers. Evatec Management System (EMS) Manager Lucas Kaspar explains how EMS and Northstar are effective tools to help us do just that.
Business processes are key NorthStar & EMS
EMS Days
Efficient business processes are key to long-term competitiveness, avoiding any confusion, reducing mistakes and waste, accelerating project speed and of course freeing up resources for other value added tasks. To keep Evatec processes lean we have launched the EMS program where the NorthStar represents our “Vision”. It acts as a catalyst for the continuous improvement of our business processes under the EMS and a focus for our regular employee workshops.
Dedicated “EMS Days” are a perfect opportunity to take time for improvement of business processes without the distractions of daily business. We started with our first EMS Day in October 2016, and since that time they took place once a month. They offer small groups of employees the opportunity to work together focussing on the improvement of business processes in interdisciplinary teams. At the end of each EMS Day, the findings and recommendations are presented by the team to Evatec management for approval and action.
Our NorthStar represents an idyllic world where information can be accessed immediately, everythjing is available immediately but without the need for holding costly stocks, and of course where everything works perfectly. It identifies four “wastes” that we want to eliminate in the company: Zero Search Time Zero Lead Time Zero Defects Zero Stock Fully aware that we can never achieve our NorthStar completely, we can however seek and implement solutions that bring us closer to it. Within EMS, we encourage our people to bring forward and pursue ideas to reduce and eliminate waste and continuously optimise our business processes in the value chain to get to our NorthStar
An ongoing task Just as its name implies, “continuous improvement” is a never ending process but its one that makes a huge contribution to achieving our company vision of “delivering the best customer value” in the industry.
Corporate
NorthStar CASE STUDY
Zero Search Time Zero Lead Time Zero Defects Zero Stock
EMS Project “E-Gun Subassembly”
Understanding the issue
Finding a solution
Despite a mature product design and relatively high “target” stock levels, we recognised a history of recurring delivery difficulties with the E-Gun for our BAK Evaporators.
On one hand, we were not always able to provide the components at the required date for assembly due to a non-standard procurement concept, and on the other hand, we sometimes had quality issues due to a lack of documentation and complicated logistics processes.
Implementing new assembly layouts with material stock at the point of usage and new purchasing procedures for ESQ E-Gun bodies meant both improved availability and lower costs. Evatec’s Operations is always now ready to deliver up to 10 gun bodies a month to manage fluctuations in demand coming from sales, while at the same time avoiding excess inventory of individual parts or subassemblies.
In order to find out the causes for the delivery difficulties and to solve them in the long term, we built the EMS-Team “E-Gun subassembly”. Consisting of an assembly technician, a logistician, a supply manager and a quality specialist, we had all functions and competences at the table to analyse the problem, then define and implement a new supply and assembly concept.
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LAYERS 4 | CORPORATE | CUSTOMER SERVICE
EVATEC SERVICE HELPING OUR CUSTOMERS’ BUSINESSES GROW There’s a whole lot more behind Customer Service than getting quicker and quicker in delivery of spare parts and breakdown support. Head of Customer Service Thomas Germann explains how Evatec’s organisation and capabilities are developing, and how we help our customers grow by enhancing tool performance, capabilities and working life.
Corporate Investing in customer service capabilities
Helping our customers to help themselves
Evatec is growing and so is Customer Service. The last 12 months saw a period of huge growth for our organisation. We are now 30% bigger than we were just one year ago after investing heavily in our local organisations and especially in China, Taiwan and South East Asia. From spare parts logistics and field engineering support to customer training capabilities, we grew in every respect to enable quicker response times for our customers’ whatever they need.
Expanding customers’ own knowledge is another effective way to maximise tool performance, increase productivity and lower their cost of ownership. Training is available across the entire Evatec range. Further expansion to our group of professional trainers in the last 12 months means we are well prepared to help you get the most from your system. Many have specialist qualifications including Performance Based Equipment Training (PBET).
Reducing cost of ownership From our customers’ perspective its all about maximising daily machine output. In the case of breakdown that means minimizing time to repair. It starts with helping customers to help themselves. Giving customers access to our “online spare parts catalogue” unique to each of their machines with simple parts visualisation speeds up identification of the parts they need. Eight (8) bonded warehouses holding stocks of spare parts around the globe means delivery of parts quicker than ever, and more field engineers available locally than ever before in 2018 means shorter wait times until we are there to help. But there are other ways to maximise output too. Our engineers are also available to offer advice on ways to maximise throughput or yields through the many Continuous Improvement Programmes (CIP) we run together with our customers, tuning process sequences to shorten cycle times and optimising planned maintenance tasks and schedules to keep systems in peak condition.
Why retrofit?
Adding 99
Process Capabilities Process Reliability
Scope
Increasing 99
System Throughput
Extending 99
System Lifetime
Implementing 99
Custom Solutions
Training at a time & location to suit you Come to our headquarters in Switzerland or let one of our trainers come to you. Our specialists will discuss what’s best for you according to the training mix (classroom or ‘hands on’), relevant equipment availability and your staffing needs.
Typical retrofit examples
Get the most out of your Evatec system in a cost-effective way.
Increasing 99
Targeted training created just for you Whether its a group of your technicians coming together for a course in system operation and maintenance or a complete customised course for individuals or small groups, our training specialists can put together the right package for you.
Benefits
LLS Aligning Field Technology
CLUSTERLINE® BAK EBS 500 Control Upgrade E Gun Upgrade
Modification of rotary cage housing to enable installation of aligning system
New Brooks Series 8 controller with new aligner, new load lock elevator and I/O control
Replacement of older gun bodies, control electronics and powers supplies
Boost sputter rate Higher equipment for soft magnetic uptimes material deposition Extended by a factor of 2.5 platform lifetime by replacing obsolescent parts Easier use and extended “multisize” aligner capabilities
Higher precision and extended processes Lower thermal loads for sensitive substrates Lower materials utilisation Extended BAK working life
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LAYERS 4 | CORPORATE | CUSTOMER SERVICE
With sales and service organisations in 16 countries around the globe we are never far away. For more information or to find your local representative visit www.evatecnet.com/about-us/sales-service
4 Pillars of Sustainable Customer Service Spare Parts
On-site Services
Upgrades/Retrofits
Training
Maintaining Infrastructure for fast global delivery Ensuring high tool uptime for best cost of ownership
Offering self-sufficient local capability Accessing global knowledge base for timely support Working together with customers on Continuous Improvement Programs (CIP)
Adding capability and increasing useful life of customer existing installed base Enhancing tool productivity and reducing running costs
Building customer knowledge for enhanced uptime Delivering standard & custom trainings for each product line
Corporate
The future is “local” Delivering the highest level of customer service locally is at the heart of our thinking. Making help available locally in our customers’ own language and according to their local time zone means the fastest, most efficient communication and ultimately the best end result. Of course this means having spare parts available locally around the globe, but it also means backup from local Customer Service personnel with extended levels of knowledge of our customers’ tools and their applications. Our investment in local application engineering and other technical support capabilites is ongoing, and as part of our new Evatec organisation our team of Customer Service personnel will also be investing in developing their market understanding.
“Going global means being strong local”
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ADVANCED PACKAGING Advanced Packaging - Meet the Team Industry trends by Yole Développement A view from TFME’s CEO Panel processing update
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LAYERS 4 | ADVANCED PACKAGING | MEET THE TEAM
ADVANCED PACKAGING ENABLING FUTURE INNOVATION IN SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES ADVANCED PACKAGING Wafer Level Packaging Panel Level Packaging In this year’s Advanced Packaging chapter you can read about market trends, Evatec’s panel processing activities and TFME’s vision to be “The Best OSAT Partner in Intelligent Generation in the World”. Andreas, Roland, the rest of the BU team and I look forward to supporting you in the Advanced Packaging challenges to come.
Albert
Albert Koller Head of BU Advanced Packaging An electrical engineer, Albert has more than 25 years broad experience in the semiconductor equipment industry in development, sales & marketing and general management. At Unaxis and then Oerlikon he was responsible for the semiconductor business for 9 years prior to the acquisition of the business by Evatec AG. On joining Evatec in 2015 he became Head of Cluster Systems before starting in his current role leading the Advanced Packaging Group.
Advanced Packaging
Andreas Erhart Senior Product Marketing Manager Andreas trained as an industrial engineer before completing his executive MBA in the UK in 2005. He has more than 20 years of experience in international sales, marketing and business development in electronics and semiconductors including 10 years based in China & Taiwan. His focus at Evatec is on applications like UBM/RDL, Fan Out and other composite substrates including FO Panel Level Packaging.
Roland Rettenmeier Senior Product Marketing Manager Roland is a mechanical engineer and completed his executive MBA studies in Austria in 2005. He has been working in the electronics and semiconductor environment and driving international business development since 2001. He joined Evatec in 2017 and is concentrating on business development for emerging applications like EMI Shielding, IC-Substrate manufacturing and FO Panel Level Packaging.
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LAYERS 4 | ADVANCED PACKAGING | INDUSTRY TRENDS
INDUSTRY TRENDS: ADVANCED PACKAGING Fan-Out, the new boost for panel-level-packaging The semiconductor industry is breaking records and expectations are high for the market future. In this context, advanced packaging is transforming from follower of frontend industry to enabler of future semiconductor applications and products. This is because scaling and cost reduction is not possible just by continuing on the path the industry followed for the past few decades with Moore’s law. Advanced nodes do not bring the desired cost benefit anymore and R&D investments in new lithography solutions and devices below 10nm nodes are rising substantially. In order to answer market demands, the industry seeks further performance and functionality boosts in integration. Packages are now requested to bridge the gap and revive the cost/performance curve while at the same time adding more functionality through integration. They become enablers for new designs, new performances and new applications. In contrast with classical packages, advanced types of packaging illustrate the important emerging role for better packaging technologies and are already widespread in key markets requiring high-end performance. They are gaining more and more market share thanks to the needs of various applications to get better integration. They will continue to dominantly address high-end logic and memory in computing and telecom, with further penetration in analog and RF in high end consumer/ mobile segments, while eyeing opportunities in growing automotive and industrial segments.
Advanced packaging already represents roughly US$25 billion in 2018 and is experiencing a total revenue CAGR1 2017-2023 of 8%. This is higher than the semiconductor industry (4-5%), PCB2 industry (2-3%) and more generally the global electronics industry (3-4%)3. The advanced packaging market is dominated by large IDMs4 such as Intel and Samsung, 4 large global OSATs5 and foundry and packaging house TSMC, accounting for 60% of the advanced packaging market. These leaders are working on numerous advanced packaging platforms such as Flip-Chip BGA6, FanOut Packaging, 3D TSV7, etc… Each platform gaining a lot of momentum but having different potentials and different characteristics. At the moment, the fastest growing platform is Fan-Out with 36% growth and experiencing a diversification of its targeted applications. Since 2009, Fan-Out packaging has been wide spread in low-density applications, most of the time with single die, such as Baseband, Power management, RF8 transceivers, etc… essentially in mobile phones and to a lower extent in automotive. This addressed the high demand from telecom industry for a thin and cheap package, capable of embedding ICs9 while not being limited by chips’ surfaces. Comfort zone of the platform used to be low IO counts applications but its potential for larger IO counts applications and other markets has been demonstrated since then, thanks to the use of FO by Apple for their application processors.
The Fan-Out market is already large (US$1.2 billion in 2018) and amongst that, the high-density fan-out applications market is more than US$500 million. This could reach more than US$1 billion in the coming years if telecom players other than Apple are willing to switch to fan-out packaging, which is to be expected. With such potential, the market is asking for more innovation and development and, as often in manufacturing, the main parameter of interest is the cost. The main trend in fan-out packaging being investigated at the moment to drive down cost is carrier size evolution and many manufacturers are considering that option or recently started production on panel. This will take time but will impact the market positively since cost reduction will enable further acceptance of the platform. FOPLP10 is currently attracting huge interest in the industry because of its low-cost potential and is attracting players with many different business models, including OSAT, IDMs, foundries, substrate manufacturers and FPD11 players. Lots of players have been developing FOPLP technology, but after years of development/ qualification/sampling, three players are finally entering in production in 2018: Powertech Technologies (PTI), NEPES, and SEMCO. NEPES has been in low-volume production since 2017 and PTI has its first product released in the second quarter of 2018. ASE, in partnership with Deca Technologies, is in the advanced development stage and will commence volume production in 2019/2020. The FOPLP market is expected to reach roughly US$280 million in 2023 at a CAGR
Advanced Packaging 2018-2023 of 79%12. First applications targeted by panel FO are lowdensity packages with limited L/S (10-15µm) and high potential volume devices (Baseband, RF, PMIC, etc…). SEMCO is also targeting denser and more complex products such as application processors for Samsung. SEMCO invested more than US$400 million during the last two years and has finally begun production with integrated APE for Samsung’s new consumer product, the Galaxy Watch. Equipment availability for PLP13 is not a bottleneck today. Tools are available in the market to support various process steps in panel processing. However, certain tools that support high-density panel packaging are special and expensive. So, tool cost, not availability, is the bottleneck. For some panel-producing process steps (plating, PVD14, molding, die attach, and dicing), tools are readily available and can be adapted from the PCB15, flat-panel display, or LCD16 industries. However, for other key process steps inherent to advanced packaging (i.e. lithography), the development of new, upgraded tool capabilities is necessary to support such steps as fine L/S patterning on panel, thick-resist lithography, panelhandling capabilities, exposure field
size, and depth of focus. Over the last few years, these tools have been in development at equipment suppliers. Equipment suppliers are adopting different strategies for entering the PLP business: acquisition (for example, Rudolph Technologies has developed PLP-focused tools based on knowledge received through its acquisition of AZORES Flat Panel Display Panel Printer); by leveraging tool experience from other businesses and upgrading it (i.e. Evatec, Atotech, SCREEN); and by organically developing PLP tools from scratch (ASM). Also, some tool suppliers have a strong position in the FOWLP market but are skeptical of the PLP business and thus are taking a waitand-see approach. Ultratech, Applied Materials, Lam Research are part of this group. However, the issue of the standardisation of the panel size and assembly process is the biggest hurdle for equipment suppliers. Each player is developing its own process using different panel sizes and infrastructure (PCB/LCD/WLP/PV/Mix) catering to specific applications and customers. In this scenario it’s not profitable for equipment suppliers to design and manufacture equipment according to different customers’ requirements.
2017 - 2023 advanced packaging revenue forecast by packaging platforms in US$ B Source: Status of the Advanced Packaging Industry report, by Yole Développement, 2018 40
ED~22%
35
FO~15% FI~7%
Revenue (US$ B)
30
FC~7%
25 20 15 10 5 0
TSV~29% 2017 Flip-chip (FC)
2018
2019
Fan-in (FI)
Fan-out (FO)
2020
2021
Embedded die (ED)
2022
2023
Through silicon via (TSV)
CAGR 2017-2023
Advanced packaging has entered its most successful era boosted by needs for better integration and end of Moore’s law. Among the different platforms, Fan-Out packaging appears to be one of the most dynamic at the moment and needs a new wave of cost reduction for even more widespread adoption. This shall be achieved thanks to the move towards panel scale once the challenges have been addressed by the industry.
1. CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate 2. PCB: Printed Circuit Board 3. Source : Status of the Advanced Packaging Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018 4. IDM : Integrated Devices Manufacturer 5. OSAT : Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test 6. BGA : Ball Grid Array 7. TSV : Through Silicon Via 8. RF : Radio Frequency 9. IC : Integrated Circuits 10. FOPLP : Fan-out Panel Level Packaging 11. FPD : Flat Panel Display 12. Source : Status of Panel Level Packaging report, Yole Développement, 2018 13. PLP : Panel Level Packaging 14. PVD : Physical Vapor Deposition 15. PCB : Printed Circuit Board 16. LCD : Liquid Crystal Display
As Technical Project Development Director at Yole Développement (Yole), Jérôme Azémar is supporting the development of strategic projects, following leading customers of the company within the semiconductor industry, from manufacturing to packaging. His mission is to develop Yole’s business and technical knowledge in the industry, maintain long term relationships with its accounts and meet their expectations. Santosh Kumar is currently working as Principal Analyst and Director Packaging, Assembly & Substrates, Yole Korea. He is involved in the market, technology and strategic analysis of the microelectronic assembly and packaging technologies. His main interest areas are advanced IC packaging technology including equipment & materials. He is the author of several reports on fan-out / fan-in WLP, flip chip, and 3D/2.5D packaging.
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LAYERS 4 | ADVANCED PACKAGING | A VIEW FROM TFME’S CEO
“Aiming to be the Best OSAT Partner in Intelligent Generation in the world”
Dr. Bill Shi, CEO of TFME, explains his vision for the company and the importance of close partnership with key suppliers to meet the growing future technology demands of TFME’s own customers. Working hard to fulfill our ambition TFME has the vision to become a worldwide leading company in the Semiconductor Packaging & Testing industry, and with more than half of the global top ten semiconductor manufacturers as our major customers already and a global customer base of more than 300 I believe we are well on our way. Quality and reliability of product are key success factors (KSFs) of semiconductor industry, especially within advanced packaging. As a market leader, TFME focuses on developing innovative technology, smart manufacturing and differentiated solutions to provide high quality, reliable solutions that meet our customers expectations. For example, we were the first China based corporation to realise the mass production of 12 inch 28nm mobile phone
processor chip backend processes, including Bumping, CP, FC, FT and SLT. 10nm processes are already qualified and 7nm processes are now under qualification. But achieving our vison requires constant development, working together with equipment and material suppliers to enhance the levels of technology and service we can provide. Doing that not only from our existing locations but also from additional overseas locations in future is also essential to support international customers. TFME currently has 5 manufacturing facilities in China, and one in Penang Malaysia, and is definitely looking for good opportunities to expand it’s footprint in other countries to be “local“ for those customers too.
Advanced Packaging
Offering broad capability is key TFME already provides a broad range of technologies and solutions Advanced Packaging such as WLCSP (Cu / Au bumping), FOWLP SiP, 2.5D / 3D packaging Packaging solutions for Memory, MEMS, Optical and RF device manufacturing In the “More than Moore” revolution, TFME is able to provide solutions with best in class Cost & Performance supporting customer’s needs for the emerging 5G, AI and intelligent generation. Smart manufacturing such as initiatives to use environmentally friendly manufacturing technologies help us reduce materials consumption, waste and costs and that’s where we rely on close cooperation with partners to help improve our process capabilities
Choosing the right equipment suppliers In such a dynamic semiconductor industry, it is very important for us to cooperate with equipment suppliers who can be our long term partners to deal with all the challenges we face. Of course we need thin film technology suppliers with a proven track record who can not only provide hardware and process support for today, but also the technologies we need for future develpments in advanced packaging. Suppliers that have good local support close to our manufacturing faciities and that are flexible in thinking to work together finding customised solution are both crucial for us in choosing our long term partner. We want to work closely together with our suppliers in order to build up a long term Win-Win partnership!
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LAYERS 4 | ADVANCED PACKAGING | A VIEW FROM TFME’S CEO
Evatec’s HEXAGON in action at TFME
Why Evatec?
Investment never stops
TFME has more than 20 years’ working experience with Swiss equipment suppliers, starting with ESEC in 1990s and more recently with Evatec. We chose Evatec for its long history and reputation for providing best in class technology and innovation solutions in the advanced packaging industry. Evatec has a high market share, a big worldwide installed base and was qualified by most of the leading companies / T1 players in the advanced packaging industry. In addition, Evatec’s continuous investment in R&D and “Swiss Made” quality gave us confidence that they would be a strong long term partner.
We will continue to invest in advanced packaing technologies such as WLCSP, FOWLP, SiP, 2.5DF/3D in alignment with the semiconductor industry roadmap. Combining that with our continuing strategy to build our team with international talent and extend our manufacturing footprint to provide “local“ service to international customers should keep us well on track to becoming a worldwide market leader:
We already have a successful co-operation working on applications such as WLCSP and FOWLP to improve our process capability and lower our manufacturing cost. We very much appreciate the commitment, proactive support and tailor made solutions just for us. In addition to the technology support that Evatec provides, we also gain both now and in the future from their developing customer service organisation which evolves to support our growing location base in China and overseas.
“We are definitely looking for further cooperation opportunities with Evatec as our long term partner.”
Advanced Packaging
About TFME
The company
The products
TFME, TongFu Microelectronics Co. Ltd, was established in October 1997 and an IPO in Shenzhen Stock Exchange on August 16, 2007. Our company has two major shareholders: Nantong Huada Microelectronics Group Ltd. and ICF (The Big Fund) since March 2018. The corporation specialises in IC assembling and testing, and is one of China’s top three IC Package and Test Enterprises. In 2017, TFME ranked 7th globally with revenues around US$ 1B. TFME have 6 production bases: The Headquarters in Nantong, Nantong Tongfu, Hefei Tongfu, TF-AMD Suzhou, TF-AMD Penang, Xiamen Tongfu. Through development and acquisition, TFME has become the local semiconductor multinational corporation and the leader of China IC Package and Test Industry. At present we have more than 13,000 employees. TFME owns several advanced packaging & testing technologies such as WLCSP (Copper Pillar and Gold Bumping), Fan-Out Wafer Level Package (FOWLP), Flip chip, BGA, SiP etc. We provide traditional Package & Test technologies such as QFN, QFP, SO, TO and solutions for automotive electronics and MEMS products etc.; Testing technique such as: Wafer Test and System Level Test.
Fan-out wafer level package for AP/BP application AP/BP: application processor/baseband processor
12 inch (10nm) Cu Pillar Cu bump array Size max to 75 x 58 mm FCBGA for high performance computing application NB-ITO module
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LAYERS 4 | ADVANCED PACKAGING | PANEL PROCESSING UPDATE
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LAYERS UPDATE
PANEL PROCESSING – WHEN SIZE MATTERS !
Advanced Packaging
It’s already a year since Evatec’s market introduction of the PNL 500 panel level processing tool to the Advanced Packaging market. Process Engineer, Johannes Weichart gives us an update on capabilities and performance levels of the latest tools off the production line as customer process demands and production cost targets get even tougher for 2019 and beyond.
The PNL 500 proves itself
The PNL 600 is on its way
The PNL 500 tool already proved itself over the last 12 months in customer production lines as well as working as a sampling platform for future customers in Evatec’s own Advanced Packaging Competence Centre (APCC). Important product quality criteria like good contact resistance performance, adhesion, yield and reliability could all be achieved on various customer substrates for the Fan Out Panel Level Packaging (FOPLP) or the advanced Printed Circuit Board (PCB) markets.
Due to growing demand in the panel market for even bigger substrates, Evatec will soon have solutions ready for exactly that. The next generation PNL 600 will allow processing of panels with a size of more than 600mm and be based on the same process technologies as the ones proven for the PNL 500 tool. But bigger definitely doesn’t mean slower, and the new tool will also have processing capabilities of more than 20 panels / hour.
Our approach of static processing has met and exceeded our expectations. 1. While other suppliers chose solutions with moving sources to achieve high uniformities, Evatec decided against this approach to keep the particle count at an absolute minimum and allow for more efficient cooling of substrates. Particles bigger than 2.5µm are in the low two digit regime on the full panel. 2. The newly developed dual frequency CCP etch source reported in last years LAYERS enables full face etching either with a clamped substrate or also clamp-less, depending on customer needs. We could also improve etch uniformity and rate over the last year as shown in figure 1 – although applicable rates do of course depend on the substrate to be processed and its heat dissipation characteristics.
Fig. 1: Etch rate (SiO2 etching) and uniformity on a glass test panel. SiO2 etch uniformity, mean = 201.15 Å, Sigma 1 = 4.68, Unif Max,Min = 8.85%. Rate = 1.68 Å/s
3. Similar improvements could be achieved for the PVD sputter source. Evatec’s concept of using rotary cathodes over a stationary substrate has several advantages including a very low CoO due to low target costs and high target utilisation (~80%), easy maintenance and very efficient target and substrate cooling for best product results. With further advances in magnet design and processing know how, uniformities and rates could also be improved significantly as shown in figure 2. 4. Advanced control capabilities on our tool like prevention of arcing / plasma damage are also key to achieving the best process yields. The process sources have already proven in the field that long term production is possible without processing errors.
Fig. 2: Uniformity of the copper layer. Cu film thickness, mean = 201.30 Å, Sigma 1 = 1.83, Unif Max,Min = 4.60%. Resistivity: 2.58e-8 Ohm m
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SEMICONDUCTOR Semiconductor – Meet the Team Power Devices Industry trends by Yole Développement Nexperia – A vision for 2020 Wide Band Gap technologies by Yole Développement MEMS Industry trends by Yole Développement Vaisala – Technology to keep our airports safe PragmatIC – Reinventing electronics for mass market applications Thin-film integrated passive devices (IPD) AlScN update Wireless Industry trends by Yole Développement Magnetron sputter epitaxy of AlScN Stress improvement for FBAR electrodes
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEET THE TEAM
SEMICONDUCTOR SEMICONDUCTOR BUSINESS UNIT SEMICONDUCTOR NEW CHALLENGES EVERY DAY! SEMICONDUCTOR Power Devices SEMICONDUCTOR Wireless Power Devices MEMS MEMS Memory Wireless Memory
Our Semiconductor chapter covers technology and applications across Power Devices, MEMS and Wireless – from the latest thin film integrated magnetic passive devices for RF applications to high performance sensor technologies that keep our airports operational 24/7.
Silvan
Silvan Wuethrich Head of BU Semiconductor Silvan qualified as an engineer for system technology in Switzerland, specialising in micro and nanotechnology. He joined Evatec as an application engineer on his graduation in 2006 before holding positions in both project and product management for the BAK Box Coater. He was responsible for all Evatec’s Batch Systems business before becoming Head of BU Semiconductor.
Semiconductor
Maurus Tschirky Senior Product Marketing Manager Maurus is responsible for activities within the MEMS market segment with a particular interest in advanced functional materials such as piezoelectric and magnetic materials. Prior to joining Evatec in 2015, he held a number of positions in the PVD-equipment industry in application, system engineering, project and product management. He holds a Masters in Business Engineering / International Marketing.
Hans Auer Senior Product Marketing Manager With a degree in electrical engineering from Switzerland Hans took his first position in vacuum and thin film technology in the equipment engineering team at Unaxis in 1981. Now with 35 years experience in engineering, product and business management in the semiconductor industry he is responsible for Evatec’s Power Device business.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | POWER DEVICES | INDUSTRY TRENDS
INDUSTRY TRENDS: POWER DEVICES The power electronics market is definitely in excellent health The power electronics industry is enabling mega trends and will reach almost US$41.5 billion in 2023. This market showed impressive general growth in 2018 to achieve US$34.4 billion revenue at the end of the year. To be more precise, the discrete device market and the power IC1 market will grow with a CAGR2 20172023 of 2.7% and 4.6% respectively, whereas the power module market will have a CAGR2017-2023 of almost 8%3. There are several reasons for this growth, but as confirmed by the 18% increase in 2017 in year-on-year global IGBT4 module sales, the major drive comes from dynamic EV/HEV5 power market6. Currently EV/HEV represents 29% of IGBT modules consumption, while by 2023 Yole Développement estimates it will represent over 43%. A similar situation is found in MOSFETs7 for EV/HEV applications, with a 5.9% market increase in 2017 over 2016. MOSFETs are widely used in various EV/HEV converters, in battery chargers handling roughly 3 to 6 kW, in 48V DC/DC8 converters and in micro-inverters for the stop-start function9. Power ICs for automotive is forecast to reach US$2 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 6.2% from 2018 to 2023. This is possible not only because of the expected increase in power trains to cater for the increase of EV/HEV sales, but also due to the addition of ADAS10 which is the predominant safety product offered both by luxury automobile makers such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, etc. and for mass market
passenger vehicles such as those offered by VW, Toyota, Honda, Ford, etc. For a long time, the semiconductor industry also profited from the growth of the PV11 segment, in part due to an accelerated installation boom in China, but today the status of this industry is different and future growth will be partially dependent on Chinese government subsidies. However, the growth of the PV market in other geographical regions will also lead to an increasing market for the forecast period. Motor drives is another big segment pushing the growth of the IGBT module market due to aggressive regulation targets. In fact, Yole Développement forecasts a CAGR of 4.6% for motor drives from 2017 to 2023. The computing and storage market, including laptops and data servers is the second biggest market for MOSFETs, which is expected to achieve $1.7B by 2023. The network and telecommunications market will get a boost thanks to the arrival of new communications technology such as 5G, with a CAGR20172023 of 7.8%. Yole Développement forecasts Power ICs will benefit from multiple key end markets to deliver a 4.6% CAGR2017-2023, in line with the general trend of the overall semiconductor industry. New directions in power electronics driven by the new requirements of EV/HEV are just a few examples of how technology is evolving. There are still several issues with cost, product
shortage, integration and reliability, but step by step the supply chain is stabilizing, passive components and drivers are being developed, and automotive qualification is starting. It is still too early today to say how mainstream module technology will look like in an electric car in 10 years. However innovations are accelerating the evolution of power electronics, and other industries will no doubt be able to take advantage of these costeffective emerging technologies. The power electronics industry, which represents a large ecosystem from semiconductor to packaging material suppliers and from passive components to converter system designers, is definitely in excellent health.
1. IC: Integrated Circuit 2. CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate 3. Source: Status of the Power Electronics Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018 and Introduction to the power IC market 2018 report, Yole Développement, 2018 4. IGBT: Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor 5. EV/HEV: Electric and Hybrid Vehicles 6. Source: IGBT Market and Technology Trends 2017 report, Yole Développement, 2017 7. MOSFET: Metal Oxide Semiconductor FieldEffect Transistor 8. DC: Direct Current 9. Source: Power MOSFET 2017: Market and Technology Trends report, Yole Développement, 2018 10. ADAS: Advanced Driver Assistance Systems 11. PV: Photovoltaic
Semiconductor
2017 - 2023 power electronics driving application evolution Discrete and module IGBTs & MOSFETs markets Source: Status of Power Electronics Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018
2023 US$ 13.2B
2017 US$ 10.4B US$ 1.35B US$ 1.4B
US$ 2.0B
US$ 2.3B
$US 2.68B
CAGR: 4%
US$ 0.7B
US$ 1.51B US$ 1.52B
US$ 2.5B
US$ 3.7B
US$ 3.16B
Computing & storage
Industrial
Home appliance
Others
Consumer [1]
EV / HEV
[1] Consumer segment includes Portable & wireless and Audio & Image applications
Dr. Ana Villamor serves as a Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics at Yole Développement. She is involved in many custom studies and reports focused on emerging power electronics technologies, including device technology and reliability analysis (MOSFET, IGBT, HEMT, etc.). In addition, Previously Ana was involved in a high-added value collaboration on SJ Power MOSFETs, within the CNM research center for the leading power electronic company ON Semiconductor. During this partnership, and after two years as Silicon Development Engineer, she acquired extensive relevant technical expertise and a deep knowledge of the power electronics industry. Dr. Villamor is author and co-author of several papers as well as a patent.
US$ 0.8B
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | POWER DEVICES | NEXPERIA - A VISION FOR 2020
$2BIL THE ROAD TO
Michael Müller Director Metallisation and Stefan Schwantes, General Manager Waferfab, Nexperia HH talk about the company’s vision for 2020 and the importance of working closely together with key partners like Evatec for successful realisation of the company ramp up plans.
Semiconductor
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LION Our markets are growing
The combined market for Discretes, Logic and MOSFET products is expected to reach $10 Billion by 2020. Working in a market that’s growing is always great as it brings opportunity for us to grow too, but we know that our competitors will be just as keen to grab that extra business as we are, so having the right strategy is essential to make sure we achieve our goal of being a $2 Billion company by 2020.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | POWER DEVICES | NEXPERIA - A VISION FOR 2020
Building on Nexperia’s existing values Our focus remains on efficiency, producing consistently reliable semiconductor components at high volume to meet the stringent standards set by the Automotive industry. That means delivering small packages, produced in-house, combining power and thermal efficiency with best-in-class quality levels. Continuing to be adaptable to global mega trends in the Automotive Industry like electric vehicles will be essential to our success. Alongside efficiency and quality, our customers value reliability and a consistent supply they can trust. We offer the highest capacity in the industry for various packages, and continuously invest in new capacities. We work at every step to safeguard the long-term availability of our manufacturing processes and products, to ensure secure supply for our customers. Delivering complete customer satisfaction will also be key.
Investing in manufacturing The majority of our capital investment over the coming years will go into expanding our production capacity. In terms of thin film technology that means increasing capacity for front and backside metallisation processes on Evatec’s CLUSTERLINE® primarily at our Hamburg facility and a continued move from 6” to 8” processing. It’s a given that these processes will need to run at increasingly tough repeatability specifications and yield on tools running at ever higher uptimes.
Continuous improvement is a way of life Working together with key suppliers in partnership is the only way to achieve long term success. We need suppliers who will be there in the long term, offering not only hardware but also process know-how, global support wherever our manufacturing is based, and the capability to offer customised solutions just for Nexperia. The collaboration between today’s Nexperia and Evatec companies goes back much further than the origins of these company names of course. The first equipment to come out of the then Balzers’ factory was installed at Philips in Hamburg 40 years ago and today more than 15 Evatec systems are in 24/7 production in Hamburg. This long term collaboration led to several customised solutions, for example a worldwide unique process for sputtering and alloying a gold layer on ultra-thin silicon substrates in one process step. The “OEE” improvement programmes we run with major suppliers continuously monitor existing tool performance. Though today’s OEE programme together with Evatec we improve operating procedures on our side, implement hardware upgrades to improve existing process performance, introduce new processes or address obsolescence and ensure the best tool uptime across our complete installed base. Evatec has consistently achieved a supplier rating on the highest level over the last years.
Recognising good performance At the Nexperia Supplier Day in April 2018 we were pleased to present Evatec with the award in the “Front End Equipment” category, recognizing the strategic relationship, outstanding performance and Evatec’s commitment to our ambitious growth plans and priorities. Reaching good understanding needs regular communication and the executive management of our two companies meet twice a year to ensure our expectations are clear.
“Working together for 40 years”
Semiconductor
About Nexperia Delivering benchmark solutions for today’s market requirements in semiconductors Nexperia leads in ultra-small, thermally enhanced packages
Nexperia offers the best solutions for Automotive Discretes, Logic, MOSFETs
» Everything is getting smaller
» Safety & multimedia electronic content
» Convergence of technologies
» Connected car (CtoC, Ctx)
» Increased electronic content
» Electrification of the car (braking, steering etc.) » Replacement of e/m relays by higher reliability MOSFETs
Miniaturisation
AECQ-100 / 101
Power efficiancy
ESD / EMI Protection
Nexperia delivers the benchmark in low power consumption devices
Nexperia offers the best protection solutions for every interface
» Extended battery lifetimes
» High-speed data rates
» Less heat in integrated applications
» Connected devices and media
» Environmental regulations
We are a dedicated supplier of Discretes, Logic and MOSFETs devices. Originally part of Philips, we became a business unit of NXP before becoming an independent company at the beginning of 2017. Our company has 11,000 employees across Europe, USA and Asia, operates out of 5 manufacturing facilities (two front-end, three back-end sites) in Hamburg, UK, China, Malaysia and the Philipines to produce around 85 billion components annually from a portfolio of 10,000 active products to serve our global customer base.
More than 15 CLUSTERLINE® 200 in production in Hamburg.
applications everywhere
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | POWER DEVICES | WIDE BAND GAP TECHNOLOIES
WIDE BAND GAP (WBG) TECHNOLOGIES A STATUS REPORT: SiC & GaN The strong dynamics of the power electronics industry is leading to ramp up in use of WBG1 based materials, in particular SiC2 and GaN3 as Si4 approaches its limits. Devices based on these materials are leading a next generation of energy efficiency and performance due to their intrinsic properties. In particular, GaN on Si power devices are more suitable for high frequency applications while SiC is better for high power density and high temperature inverters.
A market that is booming Although still relatively small compared to the Si power device market, the SiC market has already reached a relatively significant size compared to GaN due to its more mature technology. In 2017, the SiC power device market was estimated at more than US$300 million5, roughly ten times that of GaN power devices. In fact, nowadays we can affirm that end-users are beginning to adopt SiC as the final solution whereas several years ago the market was still very small. Today, 82% of the SiC market is driven by diodes used in PFC6 for power supplies, and in hybrid modules for applications such as PV7. Yole Développement (Yole) expects that the transistor market will still grow with a CAGR2017-20238 of 56% with the introduction of these devices into applications such as EV/HEV9, including charging infrastructure, partly due to the implementation of full SiC modules. Indeed, this is a hot topic in the overall industry, where we see all the car manufacturers and their Tier One suppliers developing SiC solutions. We can already find
SiC devices in EV/HEVs in the main inverter of Tesla Model 310, and in the OBC11 from BYD. From industry feedback, it seems clear that the automotive segment will increasingly adopt SiC over the next 5-10 years. By contrast, the GaN market is still some way behind, with a 2017 market estimated at at lower than US$20 million12. This is due to the lack of maturity of the devices. The main applications for GaN in the near future are fast charging adapters, as well as other high-end applications where the high performance of GaN is required such as LiDAR or wireless power. Last year we began to see some movement in the industry showing the potential market for these applications.
Technology developments for WBG devices The end user is interested in buying a solution that is cost effective and reliable, without considering the underlying technology: Silicon, GaN or SiC devices. For the cost conscious, device manufacturers claim that the total cost of the system will be about the same or lower than Si solutions. Where reliability is concerned, no standards have currently been specified for GaN and SiC. As from the end of 2017, however, a JEDEC committee (JC-70) was created to set these standards. It is expected that once the JEDEC standards are specified, market competition will increase as end-users will be more confident that the technology is reliable. In addition to the cost and reliability aspects, both GaN and SiC technologies still require some
additional development. In packaging, for example, some changes in terms of substrate or encapsulation materials need to be made to SiC modules compared to the standard IGBT module in order to sustain the highpower density. In terms of device processing, it is not straightforward to change from Si to SiC or GaN for power electronics. There are different requirements for clean rooms for both these materials. For GaN (GaN-on-Si), different equipment is needed for the epitaxial growth (MOCVD13 manufacturing process), as well as every step where the surface of GaN is exposed, e.g., for contact etching.
About the authors Dr. Hong Lin has worked at Yole Développement, as a Senior Technology and Market Analyst, Compound Semiconductors & Emerging Materials within the Power & Wireless division since 2013. She specialises in compound semiconductors and provides technical, strategic and economic analysis, and is the author or co-author of various SiC and GaN market reports. Dr. Ana Villamor serves as a Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics at Yole Développement. She is involved in many custom studies and reports focused on emerging power electronics technologies, including device technology and reliability analysis (MOSFET, IGBT, HEMT, etc.).
Semiconductor GaN power device - Target application overview Source: Power SiC: Materials, Devices and Applications report, Yole Développement, 2018
Industrial GaN will compete directly with SiC. there is the need for high reliability and the cycle time to develop those technologies is about 3-5 years.
EV/ HEV
UPS UPS Server Data Centre
PV
GaN Envelope Tracking
LiDAR
Consumer In the coming years volume production of GaN for AC adapters for consumer applications will begin
Power Supply
High End Applications where GaN has a high performance benefit. It is a market that has started smoothly already.
Wireless Power Other App
Power vs frequency on electronics: power device technology positioning in 2018
Switching power (kW)
Source: Power SiC: Materials, Devices and Applications report, Yole Développement, 2018
SiC
103 102 101 100
Co mp etit i Ga zone on N/S iC/ Si
Thyris tor Si Bipolar
IGBT / IPM
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
WBG : Wide Band Gap SiC : Silicon Carbide GaN : Gallium Nitride Si : Silicon Source: Power SiC report, Yole Développement, 2018 6. PFC : Power Factor Correction 7. PV : Photovoltaic 8. CAGR : Compound Annual Growth Rate 9. EV/HEV : Electrical Vehicles and Hybrid Electrical Vehicles 10. Source : Tesla Model 3 Inverter with SiC Power Module from STMicroelectronics report, System Plus Consulting, 2018 11. OBC : On Board Charger 12. Source: Power GaN report, Yole Développement, 2017 13. MOCVD : Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition
GaN
MOSFET
103
104
105
106
Operating frequency (Hz)
Supply chain for GaN and SiC devices As well as developments in the both the device and market, an industrial supply chain for both SiC and GaN power devices has also had to be established, from wafer to epitaxy, bare die manufacturing, discrete/ module packaging and system end users. The SiC power devices chain comprises companies with different business models: Vertically integrated companies from substrate to module, such as Wolfspeed and Rohm; Vertically integrated companies from bare die to end system such as Mitsubishi and Fuji Electric; Numerous players also occupy
a fragment of the supply chain, such as substrate suppliers, epi suppliers, device manufacturing and packaging. A similar ecosystem for GaN power devices can be defined with different co-existing business models. We see established Si power players such as Infineon, On Semiconductor or Panasonic on one hand and start-ups using foundry models on the other. Indeed, a foundry model is clearly developing which is facilitating both SiC and GaN fab-less and fab-lite companies in launching SiC and GaN products, thereby making the technology more accessible to the industry. For SiC power devices, the foundry model is currently driven by X-Fab supported by Power America.
But other foundries are also entering the market. On the GaN side, semiconductor giant TSMC is leading the business, partnering with different GaN start-ups such as Navitas and GaN systems. SiC and GaN power device markets are still young compared to the well establish Si power device market. The fast-evolving markets are seeing plenty of activity and changes from participants. We see players moving up and down the supply chain. Ever increasing industry development is coming, according to Yole. In terms of market ranking, the competition becomes more and more fierce day by day. The future will tell who has the last laugh.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | INDUSTRY TRENDS
INDUSTRY TRENDS: MEMS The future of MEMS1 and Sensors: beyond the human senses! 2017 has been quite good year for the MEMS markets and although the MEMS industry reached maturity, it is still expected to grow at a significant rate: 18% in value and 27% in units, over 2018-23. In 2023, the MEMS market should be a US$31 billion market with 88 billion units. Moreover, with new mega trends such as robotic cars, autonomous vehicles, AI2, AR/VR3, 5G, and Industry 4.0 … the demand for sensors will grow as for MEMS. It is still a domain with a lot of innovation as new devices are in R&D (speakers, gas sensors, hyperspectral imagers …). This wave of innovation is also confirmed by the good 2017 business year realised by most of the MEMS foundries. This business is highly dynamic, as shown by the shuffle of the MEMS players ranking in 2017/2016 where RF4 MEMS players are moving to higher ranks. Over the years, sensors have shifted from detectors to awareness sensors. In the 1970s, sensors were first developed and used for physical sensing: shock, pressure, and then acceleration and rotation. As more effort was been put into R&D, the use of MEMS shifted from physical sensors to light management (e.g. micro mirrors), and then to uncooled infra-red sensing (e.g. microbolometers). It opened the way to the first sensor that can sense beyond human senses. After physical/light sensing, MEMS development has been driven by sound, with microphones. Nowadays,
MEMS and sensor developments are aiming to go far beyond human capability with sensing in ultra-sonic, hyperspectral and radio-frequency. We can imagine a next generation of sensors that can be used for emotion/ empathy sensing in the long term. Over the years, my MEMS industry experience made me realised that the MEMS business has moved through three different eras: 1. The “detection era” in the very first years (simple sensors to detect a shock, a level) 2. The “measuring era” when sensors could not only sense and detect but also measure (e.g. a rotation) 3. The “global perception awareness era” when sensors are increasingly used for a mapping of the environment (e.g. 3D with LiDAR, air quality with environmental sensors, gesture recognition and biometry). This is possible thanks to sensor fusion of multiple parameters together with artificial intelligence. This trend has been possible thanks to the implementation of numerous technological breakthroughs over the years: new sensor designs, new processes and materials, new integration approaches, new packaging, sensor fusion and new detection principles.
1. 2. 3. 4.
MEMS: Micro Electro Mechanical Systems AI: Artificial Intelligence AR/VR: Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality RF: Radio Frequency
With almost 20 years of experience in MEMS, Sensors and Photonics applications, markets, and technology analyses, Dr. Eric Mounier provides deep industry insight into current and future trends. As a Fellow Analyst, Technology & Market, MEMS & Photonics, in the Photonics, Sensing & Display division, he is a daily contributor to the development of MEMS and Photonics activities at Yole Développement, with a large collection of market and technology reports as well as multiple custom consulting projects: business strategy, identification of investments or acquisition targets, due diligences (buy/sell side), market and technology analysis, cost modelling, technology scouting, etc.
Semiconductor
2017 – 2023 MEMS market forecast by segment Source: Status of the MEMS Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018
Year 2023 – US$ 31 billion
Automotive US$ 3.3B
Medical US$ 1.2B
Telecom US$ 600M
Industrial US$ 2.8B
Aeronautics Defence US$ 100M US$ 700M
Consumer US$ 22B
CAGR = 17.4% (Compound Annual Growth Rate)
Year 2017 – US$ 12 billion Telecom US$ 71M
Aeronautics US$ 67M
Industrial US$ 1.15B
Medical US$ 700M
Defence US$ 500M
Automotive US$ 2.6B
Consumer US$ 6.6B
How do we perceive the external world? Source: Status of the MEMS Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018
Smell 4%
Touch 1%
Audio is the next innovation!
Taste 1%
Psychological study in 1994 by Hatwell (Hatwell, Y., 1994,. Traité de psychologie experimentale. Paris, P.U.F.) showed that 83% of our external world perception is through our vision, followed by hearing which represents 11% of our perception.
Hearing 11% Vision 83%
Thus, a high quality image is greatly valued for the user. Today the smartphone bill of materials for camera modules is $10 per unit. The next most-used sense is hearing. We believe the next innovation in MEMS and sensors will be audio for sound and voice control. Gas sensors could quickly follow microphones as valued functions for consumer applications.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | KEEPING OUR AIRPORTS SAFE
Semiconductor
OBSERVATIONS FOR A SAFER WORLD 38 million flights every year from 40,000 airports around the globe, carrying 2.5 million passengers every day and all relying on safe procedures to get them in and out of the air. Offering Manager Kari Luukkonen from Vaisala explains how Vaisala technology does just that at airports with some of the most challenging conditions in the world.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | KEEPING OUR AIRPORTS SAFE
A world full of sensors
Sensor manufacturing challenges
Vaisala's history may have begun over 80 years with commercialisation of a single “radiosonde” product, designed to measure temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction in the upper atmosphere but today the company produces over 6,000 products. From high end humidity and carbon dioxide measurement for demanding industrial applications, to air quality measurement that protects our citizens, all these sensor technologies help us to better understand and influence our environment. There is no better example of where sensing takes a centre stage than at airports around the world. Over the last 40 years Vaisala has installed weather systems at airports in over 100 countries.
The accuracy of measurements is the key in our instruments and systems and the sensors at their heart are critical. Vaisala sensors are designed for harsh and extreme conditions and customers’ expectations are that performance of the product is stable in all conditions. To ensure repeatable, accurate sensor performance in demanding conditions, our sensor manufacturing processes and our manufacturing equipment must also be reliable.
Keeping our airports operational We all expect our airports to remain operational whatever the weather and that demands a whole series of measurements. Fig 1. illustrates some typical measurements and the principles employed.
Demanding Heights and Low Temperatures Located well over 4 km above sea level, Daocheng Yading Airport in China is the highest civil airport in the world. The challenges posed by its altitude and low temperatures even on a runway over 4000m in length make it unprecedentedly difficult for aircraft to approach and land at the airport. Aircraft performance in extreme conditions is reduced and its essential to measure the airport’s outline weather parameters, such as wind, pressure, temperature and humidity, as well as specialised aviational parameters like runway visual range. Winds can be much stronger at high altitude making it crucial to measure their strength and impact on airport operations. Accurate measurement of clouds height is critical as they can be very close to the ground while reliable measurement of atmospheric pressure in thin air conditions is needed to understand any impact on engine performance. To do their job properly, the sensors must be protected against windblown particles such as sand which could otherwise affect the measurement accuracy in the windy conditions and the sensor technologies themselves must also be suitable for operation in varying climates from the tropics to the arctic or where temperature shift between day and nighttime is large. In the case of Daocheng Yading we use high-power heaters that compensate for the effects of the cold climate as well as the accumulation of snow.
The goal for our sensor manufacturing equipment is to keep the overall system uptime high and maintenance low. All sensors have thin film technology at their heart and we use custom thin film processes and substrate handling in our evaporation and sputter systems. The challenges are to maximise process yields and in handling peaking demand across the many sensor types in our portfolio.
Vaisala – at an airport near you Next time you are at an airport taxing for take off in windy, low visibility or other harsh weather conditions I hope you will take a look out of the window. It may well be Vaisala technology that’s keeping you safe.
About Vaisala We deliver products and services for environmental and industrial measurement from our headquaters based in Helsinki, Finland. Our company employs approximately 1,600 people and exports 98% of its production to over 150 countries. Innovation and the desire to meet challenges are at Vaisala’s core. To do this the company spends 12% of its annual net sales revenue in R&D. To find our more go to www.vaisala.com
Semiconductor
Measurement Barometric pressure
Relevance for aviation Aircraft altitude reading
Measurement principle PTB330 uses micromechanical BAROCAP sensor that uses dimensional changes in its silicon membrane to measure pressure. As the surrounding pressure increases or decreases, the membrane bends, causing changes in the capacitance of the sensor. thereby increasing or decreasing the height of the vacuum gap inside the sensor. The opposite sides of the vacuum gap act as electrodes, and as the distance between the two electrodes changes, the sensor capacitance changes. The capacitance is measured and converted into a pressure reading.
Temperature & humidity
Aircraft take-off/landing speed Aircraft maximum loading weight
Using HMP155, air temperature is measured by a platinum type (PT100) sensor and relative humidity is measured by a thin film type sensor HUMICAP®180R(C). Changes in humidity is detected by a change of capacitance in the polymer layer of the sensor.
Windspeed & direction
Aircraft take-off/landing ground speed (headwind) Landing safety (crosswind)
WMT700 series uses ultrasound to determine horizontal wind speed and direction. The measurement is based on transit time, the time it takes for the ultrasound to travel from one transducer to another, depending on the wind speed. The transit time is measured in both directions for a pair of transducer heads. Using two measurements for each of the three ultrasonic paths at 60° angles to each other, WMT700 computes the wind speed and direction.
Cloud height
Pilots ability to see airport (vertical) Approach method: Visual (VFR) or instrument (IFR)
The CL31 employs pulsed diode laser LIDAR technology, where short and powerful laser pulses are sent out in a vertical or near-vertical direction. The reflection of light, backscatter, caused by clouds, precipitation etc. is measured as the laser pulses traverse the sky. The resulting backscatter profile, i.e. signal versus height, is stored and processed and the cloud bases are detected.
Visibility & RVR
Pilots ability to see airport (horizontal) Approach method: Visual (VFR) or instrument (IFR)
FS11 transmits pulses of infrared light and detects the light scattered by airborne particles. The intensity of the received pulses is measured and converted to Meteorological Optical Range (MOR) using algorithms of FS11 sensor.
Lightning
Lightning damage, Microbursts / Wind Shear, severe turbulence Ground personnel safety, no refuelling
TSS928 detects optical, magnetic, and electrostatic pulses from lightning events to report cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning within 30 nautical miles (56 km).
Fig 1
“Thin film technology is at the heart of each and every sensor we make.”
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | A NEW APPROACH TO ELECTRONICS
ENABLING TRILLIONS OF SMART OBJECTS
PragmatIC is reinventing electronics for mass market applications. Its unique technology platform delivers ultralow cost flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) thinner than a human hair that can easily be embedded into everyday objects. Revolutionising Near Field Communications (NFC) using PragmatIC’s unique technology looks set to change the shopping experience for millions of consumers in the years to come. PragmatIC’s CTO Richard Price tells us how.
Semiconductor
In Store
At Home
End of Life
Product information
Product information
Product information
- Authentication - Ratings / reviews / testimonials - Product contents - Product story (source-to-shelf) - Multiple languages - Complementary products - Brand story
- Product tutorials - Extended product information - User manual - FAQs - Assembly instructions
- Add ratings / reviews - Product recommendations
Promotions - Discount coupons - Loyalty points
Product engagement - Product registration - Direct feedback to brand - Connect with other product users (social media)
The power of tagging and tapping Embedding NFC enabled tags into supermarket products offers brands the opportunity to transform everyday items into key marketing assets, influencing purchasing behaviour and building direct connections with customers in an ever more competitive landscape. Consumers can benefit from interactive personalised experiences, with access to product information before, during and after purchase, simply by tapping their NFC enabled smartphones.
Re-order - Online - Where to buy - Automatic stock check
Disposal - Recycling information - Automated waste sorting
The solution for mass market tagging is now here Around 80% of smartphones are already NFC enabled and current estimates suggest there will be a total installed base of around 3.5 billion capable handsets by 2019. That means there’s plenty of consumers ready to use the technology. However, so far campaigns have been limited to premium products or special promotions. Although conventional tagging technology based on classic silicon integrated circuits (ICs) has indeed achieved cost reductions of over 50% in the last 10 years, at around 10¢ per tag the costs still remain a factor of 10 too high for brands in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. Plus, from a practical perspective, the “hard” silicon-based tags can be susceptible to impact damage and in some cases require compromise on the packaging itself. That’s where PragmatIC’s FlexIC technology now steps in. Tags based on FlexICs are ultra-thin and flexible. Unlike silicon-based tags they can be integrated invisibly on any type of packaging and unlike other approaches like barcodes and QR codes they are also smaller, can be integrated behind labels and packaging without affecting brand identity and offer much greater functionality. Most importantly of all though, they offer the potential to achieve that all important 1¢ manufacturing cost target essential for the FMCG industry.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | A NEW APPROACH TO ELECTRONICS
Bringing the technology to market PragmatIC has developed FlexLogIC™ - its own complete “fab-in-a-box” manufacturing line for its customers to produce FlexICs economically at high volumes. This is a fully automated system which PragmatIC can deliver, install and set up, even at manufacturing locations such as label and packaging facilities with little or no experience in the semiconductor industry. The detailed material recipes, end-to-end process flow, in-line quality monitoring and feedback control loops are implemented within the equipment and software design to ensure reliable production without operator intervention. All the technologies required, like PVD and lithography are implemented in a self-contained clean environment. Capital investment is 100 to 1000
times less than for a conventional silicon IC fab and set up time is typically 6 months. That compares with a typical silicon IC fab calling for billions of dollars in upfront investment and a 2 year lead time. The upfront design costs for FlexICs are also considerably lower, so new flexible electronic solutions can be developed, tested and rolled out in weeks rather than months, and the end products brought to market much more quickly. The production cycle is less than a day. This reduction in both cost and time lends itself well to a scalable distributed production model. Compared with silicon ICs, where a few huge foundry companies produce most of the world’s supply, the FlexLogIC model can support a large number of global manufacturers, across multiple locations, each one closer to the original product manufacturer.
Semiconductor
“A trillion objects by 2025” From pilot line to mass production
The future
The roadmap is clear. PragmatIC is already demonstrating its capabilities with customer trials through its own FlexLogIC “fab-in-a-box” production line at a state-of-the-art production facility in the UK. Evatec have been a technology partner from the early stages of our thin film process development. The Evatec CLUSTERLINE® with its inbuilt flexibility provides PragmatIC with a tool that not only supports the initial FlexIC products but also enables further evolution of PragmatIC’s technology platform.
NFC tags in consumer products are just the start. PragmatIC sees lots of potential in areas such as authentication and even medical sensing. Automotive technology is also a huge area where FlexIC technology could make its mark. RFID technology is already in widespread use, especially where the products have a relatively high value, but the much lower cost of FlexICs opens up many more possibilities for low value high volume products. The idea of trillions of smart objects could really become a reality.
The production line has capacity for 1 billion ICs per year and future lines will have even higher capacity. Overall PragmatIC expects to see a trillion smart products in the market by 2025.
Just watch this space! About PragmatIC PragmatIC is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a new billion-unit production facility in NETPark, Sedgefield. For more information visit www.pragmatic.tech
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | THIN-FILM INTEGRATED PASSIVE DEVICES (IPD)
BREAKTHROUGH IN THIN FILM BASED INTEGRATED MAGNETIC PASSIVE DEVICES FOR RF APPLICATIONS The integration of on-chip passive devices (e.g. inductors and transformers) with magnetic materials into silicon technology has been for decades a major challenge in the move towards monolithic solutions for wireless communications, RF integrated circuits, power delivery and management, and EMI noise reduction. Senior scientist Dr. Claudiu Valentin Falub explains how the LLS EVO II allows engineering of superior soft magnetic multilayers that ultimately led to ultra-low profile integrated magnetic solenoid micro-inductors with record inductance density and quality factor.
Semiconductor
Thin-film integrated passive devices (IPD) Integrated Passive Devices (IPDs) are attracting an increasing interest due to constant needs for lighter, smaller, faster, “smarter”, and more economical and sophisticated mobile devices. IPDs are multiple passive components sharing a substrate and a package, which can be designed as flip-chip mountable or wire bondable components, and are generally fabricated on silicon, silicon-oninsulator (SOI), GaAs, sapphire, or glass substrates using standard wafer fabrication technologies, such as thin film and photolithography processing. A variety of functional blocks, e.g. impedance matching
circuits, harmonic filters, couplers and baluns, power combiner/divider, etc. can be realised by IPD technology (see Fig. 1). Inductors and transformers are the passive electrical components that can store energy in the magnetic field created by the current passing through them, and form together with the resistors and capacitors the building blocks of the IPDs. Depending on the final application, there are planar (2D) and 3D inductor designs. The miniaturisation of these components has, however, been a major challenge for decades. Hence, integrated thin film magnetic cores with high magnetic permeability (µr) were proposed, since the inductance
(L) of magnetic-core inductors (and corresponding solenoids associated with magnetic-core microtransformers) is proportional to µr. Subsequently, Intel demonstrated that planar inductors with magnetic cores can be integrated with 130 nm and 90 nm CMOS processes [1,2]. More recently, magnetic-core 3D inductors were fabricated using CMOS manufacturing equipment and process by Ferric and TSMC [3]. The figure-of-merit (i.e. quality of the inductor) is given by the quality factor (Q), which is a dimensionless number defined by Q = 2πf×L / (Rdc + Rac + Rd), where f is the frequency, Rdc is the DC winding resistance (winding loss) that scales with the wire cross-section
Fig. 1: Applications of the thin-film integrated passive devices (IPD). Left: IPD technologies for telecommunications, e.g. RF, digital and mixed signal devices, and ESD/EMI protection, which are usually realised on 8” or smaller substrates. Some typical IPD devices found in a mobile phone are depicted by yellow circles. Right: complex system-onchip (SOC) technologies, e.g. RF CMOS and on-chip power converters, which have to be realised on 12” wafers since they need to be compatible with Si CMOS technology. Air-core spiral coils depicted by yellow circles occupy a substantial chip area, illustrating the need to shrink these components for the next generation mobile devices.
Fig. 2: Ferromagnetic core allows for a much higher inductance density, but the quality factor is reduced due to various losses associated with the magnetic material. The inset in the low left corner shows the equivalent circuit of a “real” inductor, where L is the inductance, R is the series resistance associated with various losses, and C is the turn-to-turn and turn-to-core distributed capacitance. The inset in the top right corner indicates that inductor’s maximum quality factor can be increased by either lowering the series resistance (blue curve), or by increasing the resonance frequency (green curve).
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | THIN-FILM INTEGRATED PASSIVE DEVICES (IPD)
and total length, and the specific resistivity of wire material (e.g. copper, gold), Rac is the resistance associated with the core loss (eddy currents and hysteresis) and skin effect, and Rd is the resistance associated with the dielectric losses caused by the capacitance of the coil turns with the wire acting as dielectric. Typically, Q-factor is plotted against frequency (f), as shown in the inset of Fig. 2. For a given inductor size and core permeability, the Q-factor curves converge on the low frequency of the curve, where the losses are primarily determined by the DC resistance of the wires, and the frequency dependence of Q-factor is almost linear. By increasing the frequency, the Q-factor curves start to diverge and reach a peak (Q = Qmax) at a frequency where the copper and magnetic-core losses are equal. For a chosen core material the frequency at which this peak occurs is inversely proportional with the core size. Thus, for larger cores Q-factor reaches a maximum at lower frequency; moreover, larger cores have higher peak Q-factor than smaller cores. Beyond this region the magnetic-core losses prevail and Q-factor drops rapidly.
A high Q-factor is the inductor’s most desired feature, and hence in the design and manufacturing process the series resistance (R) and distributed capacitance (C) should be as low as possible (see Fig. 2). Since, depending on the inductor design used (2D or 3D) one can increase Q by making the windings larger and using thicker metal layers (i.e. longer and thicker wires) at the expense of size, and using lower resistivity metals (e.g. Cu or Au instead of Al). Another method of improving Q-factor is to increase the resonance frequency of the inductor (see Fig. 2), which can be realised by increasing the spacing between the turns of the inductor (i.e. lower C) also at the expense of size, lowering the dielectric constant of the material between inductor’s windings, using higher resistivity substrates and thick oxide layers between the substrate and metallic layers, and increasing the ferromagnetic resonance frequency of the magnetic-core material. The latter can be realised by selecting materials with high saturation magnetisation (Ms) and by increasing the anisotropy field (Hk) [4].
Fig. 3: Schematic diagrams of the LLS EVO II batch sputter system with 5 process modules that can operate, one or more at a time, in order to fabricate thin films based on single or multiple materials. To induce the inplane magnetic anisotropy in the sputtered thin films, aligning filed systems can be mounted in the cage housing (i.e. outside vacuum) in front of each magnetic target.
Fig. 4: Schematics of an integrated 3D inductor for on-chip RF applications, the magnetic core of which consists of a sputtered multilayer based on a low-loss soft magnetic material. The inset shows a cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of a CoTaZr/Al2O3 soft magnetic multilayer sputtered on 8” Si/200nm-SiO2 wafer. To lower the hysteresis and eddy current losses the ~80 nm thick CoTaZr layers are laminated with 4 nm thick Al2O3 dielectric interlayers.
Semiconductor
FIG. 5: a) Q-factor vs. frequency for a 100 µm x 400 µm magneticcore solenoidal inductor depicted in the optical micrograph. b) Peak Q-factor vs. inductance density of integrated inductors on Si substrates from published on-chip inductor measurements (adapted from Reference [2]). The colors represent the frequency of the peak Q-factor.
Soft magnetic thin films at LLS EVO II The vertical batch sputter system LLS EVO II (see Fig. 3) is a very versatile economical tool for depositing micrometer thick soft magnetic on substrates up to 200 x 230 mm. This system has several knobs for tuning the in-plane anisotropy of the sputtered soft magnetic layers. Thus, the performance of the magnetic cores can be tailored by appropriate choice of the magnetic material (saturation magnetization, electrical resistivity) and dielectric interlayer (dielectric constant) [5]. Further tailoring of the soft magnetic multilayer properties can be done by tuning the process parameters (e.g. pressure, power, deposition temperature, angular distribution) [6]. Last but not least, since in the LLS EVO II system the substrate cage rotates continuously during deposition, so that the substrates face different targets alternatively, each ferromagnetic sublayer in the multilayer stack may consist of a fine structure comprising alternating nanolayers with very sharp interfaces. Adjusting the thickness of these individual nanolayers by changing the cage rotation speed and the power applied to each cathode,
allows to engineer new, composite ferromagnetic materials [4,7,8].
Integrated passive devices with record quality factor Ultra-low profile integrated magnetic solenoid inductors and transformers were fabricated at CEA Leti on 200 mm high-resistivity silicon wafers with back-end-of-line (BEOL) process [9]. Bottom and top conductors were formed by electroplating with 10 µm thick copper, 5 µm line width, and 5 µm spacing between the lines. In order to have a good insulation and to reduce topology, the lines were embedded into a thick polymer. Then, the magnetic film consisting of a multilayer with alternating 80 nm thick CoZrTa amorphous soft magnetic layers and 4 nm thick Al2O3 dielectric interlayers were deposited by dynamic sputtering under a linear magnetic field using a LLS EVO II system (see Fig. 4). Finally, the wafers were grinded to reduce the silicon thickness down to 100 µm. By varying the core size, i.e. width (l) and length (L), and the winding pitch, a record inductance surface density of 3500 nH x mm2 in the 1 MHz to 3 GHz frequency range with a record peak Q-factor
of 23 (see Fig. 5). This breakthrough sets a new benchmark of quality for cost-effective manufacturing of soft magnetic multilayers on silicon, and can therefore help manufacturers meet exacting standards for next generation thin film based integrated passive devices. REFERENCES [1] D.S. Gardner, G. Schrom, P. Hazucha, F. Paillet, T. Karnik, S. Borkar, Integrated On-Chip Inductors with Magnetic Films, IEEE Trans. Magn. 43, pp. 2615-2617 (2007). [2] D.S. Gardner, G. Schrom, F. Paillet, B. Jamieson, T. Karnik, S. Borkar, Review of On-Chip Inductor Structures with Magnetic Films, IEEE Trans. Magn. 45, pp. 4760-4766 (2009). [3] N. Sturcken, R. Davies, H. Wu, M. Lekas, K. Shepard, K.W. Cheng, C.C. Chen, Y.S. Su, C.Y. Tsai, K.D. Wu, J.Y. Wu, Y.C. Wang, K.C. Liu, C.C. Hsu, C.L. Chang, W.C. Hua, A. Kalnitsky, Magnetic thin-film inductors for monolithic integration with CMOS, Proc. of the IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), 11.4.1-4 (2015). [4] C.V. Falub, Innovate the soft magnetics for tomorrowʼs RF passive devices, LAYERS, vol. 3, pp. 50-55 (2017). [5] C.V. Falub, R. Hida, M. Meduňa, J. Zweck, J.P. Michel, H. Sibuet, D. Schneider, M. Bless, J.H. Richter, H. Rohrmann, Structural and ferromagnetic properties of sputtered FeCoB/AlN soft magnetic multilayers for GHz applications, IEEE Trans. Magn. 53, pp. 202906/1-6 (2017). [6] C. V. Falub, H. Rohrmann, M. Bless, M. Meduňa, M. Marioni, D. Schneider, J. Richter, M. Padrun, Tailoring the soft magnetic properties of sputtered multilayers by microstructure engineering for high frequency applications, AIP Advances 7, pp. 056414/1-7 (2017). [7] C.V. Falub, M. Bless, R. Hida, M. Meduňa, Innovative soft magnetic multilayers with enhanced in-plane anisotropy and ferromagnetic resonance frequency for integrated RF passive devices, AIP Advances 8, pp. 048002/1-14 (2018). [8] R. Hida, C.V. Falub, S. Perraudeau, C. Morin, S. Favier, Y. Mazel, Z. Saghi, J.P. Michel, “Nanolaminated FeCoB/ FeCo and FeCoB/NiFe soft magnetic thin films with tailored magnetic properties deposited by magnetron sputtering”, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 453, pp. 211-219 (2018). [9] J.-P. Michel, H. Sibuet, N. Buffet, J.-C. Bastien, R. Hida, C. Billard, B. Viala, P. Poveda, A.-S. Berneux-Dugast, C.V. Falub, Ultra-low Profile Integrated Magnetic Inductors and Transformers for HF Applications with IEEE Trans Magn. (submitted).
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | AlScN UPDATE
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CLUSTERLINE® 200 II IS READY
LAYERS UPDATE
MASS PRODUCTION OF HIGH SCANDIUM CONCENTRATION Al(1-x)Sc(x)N FILMS!
Semiconductor
Evatec’s Dr. Bernd Heinz explains the latest step forward in delivering an economical mass production solution for high performance piezoelectric films. Why AlScN?
The challenge
Its strongly enhanced piezoelectric response [1] makes aluminum scandium nitride (AlScxN) a very promising candidate for use in next generation RF filter devices, microphones and speakers, energy harvesting devices, piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducers and many other sensors and actuators. The industrial use of AlScxN requires a reliable deposition technology to control the growth of films in the correct (002) textured wurtzite structure within tight specifications regarding uniformity and repeatability. Further, the process has to be mastered on multiple substrate and electrode materials due to the wide variety of possible applications.
In a previous edition of LAYERS, we reported AlScxN films grown using Evatec Multisource Technology – a unique solution for deposition of AlScxN films by co-sputter of metallic aluminum and scandium targets. It enables the deposition of films with any desired Sc concentration independent of the availability of AlScx compound targets. For single target deposition of high uniformity AlScx compound films, targets with the size of 300mm diameter are required to coat 200mm substrates uniformly. Until now such targets have only been available with a limited Sc concentration below 10at%. Quite recently, target manufacturers succeeded in providing the first 300mm prototype targets to Evatec with a high scandium concentration. This article will report on AlScxN films sputtered from 300mm single compound targets with a nominal Sc concentration of 30at%. The obvious advantages of using larger compound targets instead of co-sputtering technology is the increased productivity (by a factor of 5) and significantly better film uniformity – in particular thickness and stress.
Please note that AlScN technology is subject to a number of patents and/or patent applications. Evatec recommends that customers check the patent situation within their field of business carefully and secure licenses if necessary prior to the start of their commercial production.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | MEMS | AlScN UPDATE
Results Standard AlN deposition technology available on the Evatec CLUSTERLINE® 200 II single wafer production tool was used for the AlScxN trials. Films were deposited on 200mm substrates with a film growth rate of about 1nm/s at a temperature of 300°C. The Sc concentration in the films was verified by EDX analysis. It turned out that the in-film Sc concentration is slightly higher than the nominal target composition. Depending on the specifics of the available targets, Sc concentration values of 31at% to 34at% were measured in the films. The piezoelectric response for an AlSc31N film sputtered from
a 300mm compound target is highlighted in Fig. 1 where it is compared with selected films made by different methods on the Evatec CLUSTERLINE® 200 II. All values were determined using a Piezotest PM300 tester. Each data point represents the average value of d33 measured at different positions on each substrate while the bars indicate the variation of the piezoelectric response within one substrate. The increase of the d33 values with increasing scandium content is in good agreement with the piezoelectric response reported by Akiyama [1]. The value of 16.1 pC/N for the single target sputtered film with a composition of AlSc31N
confirms our ability to match the Akiyama results even for higher Sc concentrations with a film grown under production relevant conditions. To enable production with high yield the control of the film stress uniformity across the 200mm substrate is key. Any larger variation in the stress value will directly affect device properties as the electromechanical coupling coefficient kt2 of AlScxN films depend directly on the film stress. With the newly developed AlN process hardware film stress uniformity results of better ± 100MPa across a 200mm wafer can be achieved, as demonstrated in Fig.2.
Fig. 1: Measured d33 values for AlScxN with a Sc concentration between 0 at% and 39 at%. The result achieved by sputtering the 300mm AlSc30 compound target is highlighted. For comparison, the data from Akiyama [1] is shown.
Fig. 2: Stress uniformity for AlSc31N across a 200mm wafer with an edge exclusion of 7mm. Results for 3 different process settings are displayed.
Semiconductor
Substrate / Electrode
RC (FWHM)
Pt (111)
1.1º
Si (100)
1.2º
Mo (110)
1.3º
Table 1. XRD rocking curve values (FWHM) measured around the (002) diffraction peak for 1000nm thick AlSc33N films grown on different surfaces.
The XRD rocking curve values (FWHM) measured around the (002) diffraction peak are the commonly used quantity to rate the crystalline quality of AlScxN films. Table 1 summarises the rocking curve values for 1000nm thick AlSc33N films grown on bare and metallised Si substrates. Excellent values below 1.5° were achieved on well textured Pt(111) and Mo(100) electrodes as well as on bare silicon wafers. The AlSc33N films deposited either on Pt or Mo electrodes or directly on silicon show high crystalline quality in the XRD measurement. However, AFM images (Fig.3) reveal significant differences in surface morphology correlating with the different types of substrate. The appearance of elevated, cone-like grains, presumably formed by miss-oriented AlScxN crystallites which are embedded in a matrix of the preferred (002) oriented crystallites can be observed. AlSc33N films grown on Si and on Mo are affected more severely compared to AlSc33N films grown on Pt. The number of unwanted crystallites is significantly suppressed in the films grown on Pt electrodes. The appearance of these crystallites is a well-known phenomenon, associated with increasing Sc concentration. The appropriate type and condition of the substrate surface is key to mitigate the appearance of these grains. Deposition at reduced sputter pressure or the introduction of an AlN seed layers are known countermeasures to minimise their number but the deposition of Al(1-x) ScxN films with Sc concentration higher than 30% on other than Pt electrodes remains an ongoing challenge.
Fig. 3: AFM image of 1000nm thick AlSc33N films deposited on on (a) Pt (111) electrode (b) bare silicon and (c) on Mo(110) by sputtering a 300mm compound target. (a, b, c, still missing in the picture) [1] M. Akiyama, K. Kano, and A. Teshigahara, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 162107 (2009).
The road ahead Evatec is currently witnessing an increasing demand for new piezoelectric materials. AlScxN is still in pole position amongst the possible candidates and preparation for 5G mobile communication is recognised as one of the major driving forces. Even though films with scandium concentrations well below 30% will be seen in mass-production initially, Evatec’s capability in mastering the challenges of AlScxN film deposition with higher Sc concentration means we will be well placed for future demands in this industry.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | WIRELESS | INDUSTRY TRENDS
INDUSTRY TRENDS: WIRELESS A bright future of RF technologies RF1 technologies enable wireless connectivity and sensing, which are key functions in any market segment from consumer to automotive. In the mobile handset market, LTE evolution (LTE-Advanced, LTE-Pro) but also upcoming 5G which was just specified at the end of June 2018 through the 3GPP release 15 bring innovative RF technologies to the market such as carrier aggregation, MIMO, beam forming and dual connectivity in the sub 6 GHz or even millimeter-wave radio link. The mobile RF Front End market is expected to enjoy a sustainable growth with a CAGR2 of 14% reaching US$35.2 billion in 2023. This market opportunity translate into fierce competition between the current leader which are Broadcom, Skyworks, Qorvo and Murata and attract giant companies willing to expand from their core activities such as Qualcomm, Intel or HiSilicon. The RF front-end industry not only involve front-end module companies but also impact surrounding business for foundries, epi house, substrate providers, OSAT3 for packaging, assembly and test and of course equipment providers.
In the automotive market, wireless radar sensing for anti-collision systems is achieving a good market penetration along with other sensors such as imaging, ultrasonic or even LiDAR. This is driven by government policy for road safety improvement which incentivises traditional car makers to embed sensors for car environment monitoring. Another trend which favours radar implementation in the car is automated drive which will require 360° surveillance in real time. Radar is well suited for object detection in a cost effective way. It is operable in all weather conditions and has a promising technology roadmap to enable object classification and imaging. The radar market is expected to reach US$7.5 billion in 2022 based on a 25% CAGR between 2016 and 2022, at the module level. A strong ecosystem serves this market with leaders such as Bosch and Continental at the module level, supported by Infineon and NXP at the chip level. Again, witnessing a strong market dynamic, fierce competition is occurring at both module and chip level. e.g. Texas Instruments disrupting current technology with an all integrated chip solution or even a strong Chinese ecosystem building up.
Both examples illustrate the bright future for the RF industry and many more cases including telecommunication infrastructure, AR/VR, connected vehicles, Internet of Things, remote surgery are all expected to contribute greatly to the picture. 1. RF: Radio Frequency 2. CAGR : Compound Annual Growth Rate 3. OSAT : Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test
As a Technology & Market Analyst, specialised in RF devices & technologies within the Power & Wireless division at Yole Développement (Yole), Cédric Malaquin is involved in the development of technology & market reports as well as the production of custom consulting projects. Prior his mission at Yole, Cédric first served Soitec as a process integration engineer during 9 years, then as an electrical characterisation engineer during 6 years. He deeply contributed to FDSOI and RFSOI products characterization. He has also authored or coauthored three patents and five international publications in the semiconductor field.
Semiconductor
2017 – 2023 RF front-end modules market outlook Source: 5G Impact on RF Front-End and Connectivity for Cell Phones report, Yole Développement, 2018
2023
US$ 35B
2017
US$ 1B
US$ 15B
CAGR +15%
US$ 22.5B CAGR +19%
$ 463M
US$ 7B CAGR +7%
US$ 8B
CAGR +14%
US$ 5B
mm-Wave
$ 423M
$ 246M
US$ 1B
US$ 602M
US$ 3B
CAGR +15%
Total RF components & FEM/PAMiD module manufacturers Filters Antenna tuners Switches PAs LNAs mmW FEM
CAGR +16%
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | WIRELESS | SPUTTER EPITAXY
MAGNETRON SPUTTER EPITAXY OF ALUMINUM SCANDIUM NITRIDE (AlScN) THIN FILMS Dr. Agnė Žukauskaitė, group manager in the Epitaxy department at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg, Germany, is responsible for development of piezoelectric materials and shares the latest progress in sputtered AlScN thin films. Ever since the discovery of enhanced piezoelectric properties of aluminum scandium nitride (Al1-xScxN, later denoted as AlScN) in 2009, the interest in it as a next generation material for broadband RF-filters in 5G communications is still growing. In addition, it is also very attractive for other applications, where piezoelectric transducers and actuators are required, such as bio-sensing, energy harvesting, or acoustics. Here at Fraunhofer IAF, the focus is on bridging the gap between the material science and device design in order to understand how to best implement, or even to open new horizons for this exciting material. Typically, for piezoelectric resonator applications, e.g. RF filters, highly c-axis oriented AlScN layers are preferred. However, growth of AlScN on silicon – the most common substrate in RF-MEMS applications – leads to textured films, i.e., the grains are c-axis oriented out-of-plane, but randomly oriented in-plane. This gives rise to additional acoustic losses in the fabricated devices, decreasing the quality factor Q. If one can go from textured growth to epitaxial growth (clearly defined in-plane epitaxial relationship between the substrate and the film), the device performance can be further improved through superior material quality.
Magnetron sputter epitaxy Magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE) is a special type of sputtering process where – under particular conditions and provided that the substrate has a reasonably good lattice-match to the film material – it is possible to achieve epitaxial growth in a similar manner as in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In the case of group-III nitrides such as AlN or AlScN one of the most suitable substrates is sapphire, where a 30° rotation between the layer and substrate crystal lattices leads to the lowest possible latticemismatch. Recently, MSE process was successfully employed at Fraunhofer IAF on an Evatec CLUSTERLINE® RAD sputter tool
system using reactive co-sputtering from Al and Sc targets to produce 1 µm-thick, epitaxial, piezoelectric, single-phase Al1-xScxN/Al2O3 with up to x=0.4 (40%) scandium incorporation (Figure 1). The sputtered layer still has columnar microstructure typical for sputtered thin films, but at the same time each of these columnar grains has a defined crystallographic relationship with the substrate. A comparison of XRD pole figures is shown in Figure 2, where, for textured Al1-xScxN/Si films, a continuous ring is observed, while for epitaxial Al1-xScxN/Al2O3 six distinct spots appear instead. Samples showed 0002 reflection rocking curve FWHM values in the range of 0.9° in low-Sc films and up to 1.6° in high-Sc films, Figure 1. X-ray diffraction patterns for phase pure, c-axis oriented Al1-xScxN/Al2O3 thin films with different Sc concentrations denoted as x=0.06, 0.14, 0.17, 0.23, 0.32, and 0.40.
Semiconductor
63
Figure 3. First surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators fabricated based on epitaxial Al1-xScxN/Al2O3 layers at Fraunhofer IAF.
[1]: Y. Lu, M. Reusch, N. Kurz, A. Ding, T. Christoph, L. Kirste, V. Lebedev, A. Žukauskaitė, Phys. Status Solidi (2017) 1700559. [2]: Y. Lu, M. Reusch, N. Kurz, A. Ding, T. Christoph, M. Prescher, L. Kirste, O. Ambacher, and A. Žukauskaitė, APL Materials 6(7), 076105 (2018).
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, Tullastraße 72, D-79108 Freiburg Dr. Agnė Žukauskaitė agne.zukauskaite@iaf.fraunhofer.de www.iaf.fraunhofer.de
indicating that while highly c-axis oriented material was achieved, the material becomes more and more distorted, when enough Sc is replacing Al in the wurtzite crystal lattice. As a first step in AlScN growth process optimization, the misoriented grains in co-sputtered AlScN/Si layers were identified and their density reduced by adjusting the target-tosubstrate distance and Ar:N2 ratio in the process gas, as is described in more detail in [1]. The same process window was used as a starting point for MSE of Al1-xScxN/Al2O3. However, in comparison to conventional reactive sputtering, epitaxial growth of AlScN brings additional challenges, such as higher residual stress in the films that can then lead to cracks. At Fraunhofer IAF this problem is addressed in two ways. First, by lowering the growth temperature the residual stress generated due to the thermal-expansion mismatch was partially compensated. Second, to make up for the lower temperature
the total process pressure was reduced to increase the mean free path of sputtered species so that upon reaching the substrate surface they have higher kinetic energy and promote the growth of highlycrystalline material [2]. After the successful material optimization, first device performance evaluation was carried out as well. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators were fabricated using AlScN with up to 32% Sc (Figure 3) and immediately showed improved electromechanical coupling as well as better overall device performance in comparison to conventional non-epitaxial layers with the same Sc concentration.
Conclusion To conclude, while it is more challenging to find the optimum process window to achieve the MSE mode, it is already clear that epitaxially-deposited piezoelectric AlScN layers offer a huge advantage over the textured films and should be investigated further.
Figure 2. Comparison of x-ray diffraction pole figures for textured Al0.86Sc0.14N/Si (top) & epitaxial Al0.86Sc0.14N/Al2O3 (bottom) layers.
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LAYERS 4 | SEMICONDUCTOR | WIRELESS | FBAR ELECTRODES
STRESS IMPROVEMENT FOR FBAR ELECTRODES ON CLUSTERLINE® 200 II Evatec Scientist, Dr. Andrea Mazzalai, explains how know how in deposition of Molybdenum and Ruthenium electrodes with controlled stress now compliments processes for AlScN deposition to bring solutions for full thin film stack production for high performance FBARS on CLUSTERLINE® 200 II.
Within the the development of 5th generation wireless systems (5G) the quest for high performance duplexers is driving the development of the latest FBAR devices with resonant frequencies of several GHz. At this range, relatively small in-wafer deviations of the membrane bow can lead to substantial frequency shifts as well as significant variations of the coupling coefficient. For this reason, the strict requirements in terms of stress uniformity are no longer confined to the piezoelectric layer, but are becoming more and more important also for the electrodes.
The FBAR electrode material has to show a good balance between low specific resistivity and high acoustic impedance in order to minimise the resistive losses and to maximise the fraction of mechanical energy confined in the piezoelectric layer. The large majority of designs therefore employ Molybdenum (Mo); but recently Ruthenium (Ru) is also gaining more and more popularity. We have therefore concentrated our efforts on bringing our Mo and Ru process solutions towards the same outstanding stress control and uniformity levels as we achieve for Al1-xScxN. Our accumulated know-how and experience from developing the piezo-layers themselves represented a valuable base on which we could further design specific process kits for the deposition of Mo and Ru with enhanced stress uniformities on our CLUSTERLINE® 200 II. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the significant improvements achieved especially towards the edge of the wafers. With the our latest technology we are now able to offer production solutions for Mo with ±100MPa and Ru with ±150MPa stress range down to 7mm of edge exclusion. This now comes along with thickness uniformities better than 1.5% (1σ) for Mo and 1% (1σ) for Ru.
Semiconductor
Excellent stress and thickness uniformity are not the only features needed in the manufacturing of high performing FBARs: the bottom electrode also serves indeed as a template for the nucleation and growth of the fiber-textured piezoelectric layer on top. In order to achieve highest coupling coefficients and maximal yield, its grains have to grow with the narrowest alignment and the surface must be defect-free. A narrow FWHM of the bottom electrode rocking curve and a low surface roughness in as-deposited electrodes are therefore prerequisite for a good piezoelectric performance. Figure 1. Mo stress uniformity
With the dedicated process kit we can now deposit Mo electrodes that combine the aforementioned stress and thickness uniformities with rocking curve peaks as narrow as 1.6º for a thickness of 300nm and an average roughness Ra of 0.4nm when deposited onto an AlN seed layer. This is the key to excellent crystallinity of the subsequent Al1-xScxN piezoelectric layer! In combination with the excellent performance of the Al1-xScxN thin film deposition, we can now offer a complete production solution for the full film stack of high performing FBARs. I hope that this short example of our efforts in understanding and mastering the entire chain from vacuum systems to the material science represents an example of Evatec’s focus on PVD of advanced functional materials.
Figure 2. Ru stress uniformity
Figure 3. AFM scan of 300nm thick Mo bottom electrode grown on AlN seed layer.
A closer look at the edge exclusion The market is flooded by numerous values of stress uniformities these days. These indications can only be understood when quoted in conjunction with an edge exclusion value in mm. Many companies for example claim superior stress uniformities but they are often measured out to an exclusion of about 20mm. A short lesson in geometry reveals the importance of precise measurement as far out to the wafer edge as possible: on a 200mm wafer the addition to the useful surface of the annulus defined by 80mm and 93mm radii (20mm and 7mm respectively) represents an increase of the yield of 33%! Equally, the measurement method used should also be declared. This is due to the fact, that the values towards the edges are often extrapolated following fitting procedures which might differ significantly. We therefore recommend that you always check for the measurement conditions, or better compare two wafers from different vendors on the very same instrument.
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OPTOELECTRONICS Optoelectronics – Meet the Team Industry trends by Yole Développement LED or LASER – Evatec has the solution! Hot sputtered ITO – A new opportunity
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LAYERS 4 | OPTOELECTRONICS | MEET THE TEAM
OPTOELECTRONICS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES OPTOELECTRONICS LED LASER/VCSEL Micro Display
Whether its in LED, VCSEL or Micro Display, Evatec’s thin film platforms and process know-how can help manufacturers secure exciting new opportunities over the coming years. Franz Xaver and I look forward to delivering tailored production solutions that maximise your profitability.
Dr. Stefan Seifried Head of BU Optoelectronics Stefan is a chemist and materials scientist gaining his PhD in coating technology in Germany in 2002. He has 15 years experience of technical, business and company leadership in the engineering, vacuum and semiconductor industries including capital equipment for thin film processes in hard disk manufacturing.
Stefan
Optoelectronics
Franz Xaver Lenherr Product Marketing Manager Franz Xaver joined Evatec in 2018. He has 20 years experience in engineering, project and business management within vacuum processing and semiconductor fields and knowhow in a wide range of coating applications including optical disk. In 2017 he completed an executive MBA in Switzerland to complement his earlier training in electrical and mechanical engineering.
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LAYERS 4 | OPTOELECTRONICS | INDUSTRY TRENDS
INDUSTRY TRENDS: OPTOELECTRONICS We are only scratching the surface of potential of optoelectronics Over the past 20 years, the strong growth in optoelectronics has been fueled by different technologies at different times. Laser diodes for highspeed optical networks were a major growth driver before the “dot.com” implosion in 2001. PV1, image sensors and LED2 devices then became star performers through the 2000s, followed by OLED3 and Quantum Dots in the 2010s. More recently, there has been a lot of hype on Micro LED, VCSEL4 or 3D sensing / imaging technologies, and silicon photonics remains a good example of a booming trend in this domain. Optoelectronic technologies are mostly driven by integration into industrial, automotive and consumer
products (e.g.: smartphones, VR/AR5 headsets…) as enabling intelligent next-generation systems. Typical examples include VCSEL technology at the heart of Apple’s iPhone X FaceID function, matrix LED systems enabling intelligent glare-free lighting functions in recent car models, EELs6 representing key enabling technologies for LiDAR and so to autonomous driving while OLEDs7 and QDs8 are now at the heart of the display industry. We are, therefore, only scratching the potential of optoelectronic technologies and related market opportunities. Already a multi-billiondollar industry at the component level, the optoelectronic business will continue to grow strongly in the next decade as long as already established
VCSEL market forecast by segment Source: VCSELs – Technology, industry and market trends report, Yole Développement, 2018
2023 US$ 3,500M
2017 US$ 330M
US$ 165 M
CAGR: +48%
US$ 105 M
US$ 3,100 M
US$ 80 M
US$ 46 M US$ 205 M
US$ 86 M
Consumer
Datacom
Industry
Automotive
technologies (e.g. LED, PV) continue to increase their penetration rate, and disruptive technologies / systems (e.g.: 3D sensors / imagers) are developed. Although VCSELs have existed for 20+ years, mainly for short-distance data communications (e.g. datacenters), they were relatively unknown until Apple used three of them in the iPhone X to enable its 3D sensing and facial recognition functions. This move from the smartphone giant subsequently generated huge interest in the technology from other smartphone manufacturers as well as all other players across the supply chain. Less than one year after the release of Apple’s flagship, its competitors are following the trend and starting to integrate 3D sensing technologies. Xiaomi and Oppo were the quickest on the draw but other leading players like Huawei, Vivo and Samsung are also expected to integrate VCSELs into their next flagship models. For this reason, the explosive increase in demand for VCSELs, which started in 2017, will persist for the next five years, potentially multiplying the business opportunity more than tenfold: from US$330 million in 2017 to nearly US$3,500 million in 20239. At the industry supply level, VCSEL integration into smartphones increased tension throughout the supply chain - partly because Apple’s iPhone used a large portion of its suppliers’ existing capacity, and also because new business opportunities were emerging practically overnight for players at all points of the supply chain. As a result, leading VCSEL
Optoelectronics
MicroLED are Small! Source: SID 2018 Symposium Speaker: Eric Virey from Yole Développement 0.001
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1000
Pollen
Biological Contaminants
0.0001
25 million microLED chips, each the size of a bacterium, with a placement accuracy of 1 µm or less.
Mold Spores House Dust Allergenes Bacteria Cat Allergenes Viruses
Types of Dust
Heavy Dust Settled Dust Suspended Atmospheric Dust
Gas Molecules
Particulate Contaminants
Cement Dust
0.0001
Fly Ash Oil Smoke Smog Tobacco Smoke Soot Gaseous Contaminants
0.001
Micro Leds 0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1000
This technology is nevertheless progressing on all fronts and the emergence of microLED consumer displays appears increasingly realistic. There are challenging but credible cost-reduction paths for both TVs and smartphones toward levels compatible with penetration in high-end market segments, in competition with OLED. Small panels for smartwatches and microdisplays for Augmented Reality and Head Up Displays could be the first commercial applications, with smartphones and TVs to follow.
Comparison of µLED dimensions vs. atmospheric particles Background graph: Wikipedia, concept courtesy of Allos Semiconductor
manufacturers are moving from datacoms to the consumer market, and several new entrants are trying to get their piece of the cake. But VCSEL manufacturing for consumer applications is complex and there is a lengthy period of process optimisation between R&D and production. Recently, there were several M&As in this field (e.g. II-VI, ams, Osram) and Yole Développement anticipates more in the coming years as it seems to be only the beginning of the success story for the technology. In a parallel development, micro LEDs for display applications also play a significant role in the optoelectronic industry today. MicroLED displays could potentially match or even exceed OLED performance in all critical attributes such as brightness, contrast, color gamut, refresh rate, viewing angle, ruggedness and durability, lifetime, efficiency etc. Excitement about this technology grew in 2014 after Apple acquired Luxvue, the microLED display startup. Since then, many large consumer electronics and semiconductor companies such as Facebook-Oculus,
Google, Sharp-Foxconn, Samsung, LG, Intel, etc., have entered the field. More than 120 companies or research organizations have already filed about 1500 patents in more than 500 patent families. The technology is inherently complex. Just like OLED, micro LED is a selfemissive display: each subpixel is an independently controllable light source. However, unlike OLED, there are no technologies allowing the deposition of blanket LED layers over large area substrates (up to 5.5 m2 in the case of OLED Generation 8.5 fab, and soon 9.9 m2 on upcoming Generation 10.5!). LED emitters are grown by traditional semiconductor technologies on 4 to 8” wafers and the art of making a micro LED display consists of patterning and singulating tiny LED emitters (less than 10 or even 5 µm for most consumer applications) and assembling them on a backplane which incorporates the circuitry to drive individual subpixels. To put this in perspective, for a 4K display (3,840 x 2,160 resolution), this implies assembling and connecting
1. PV : Photovoltaic 2. LED : Light Emitting Diode 3. OLED: Organic LED 4. VCSEL: Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser 5. AR/VR : Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality 6. EEL : Edge Emitting Lasers 7. OLED : Organic LED 8. QD : Quantum Dot 9. Source : VCSELs - Technology, Industry and Market Trends report, Yole Développement, 2018
Since 2015, Pars Mukish has taken on responsibility for developing SSL and display activities as Business Unit Manager at Yole Développement where he is a member of the Photonics, Sensing & Display division. Previously, Pars worked for several years as Marketing Analyst and Techno-Economic Analyst at the CEA (French Research Center). Dr. Eric Virey is a Senior Market and Technology Analyst at Yole Développement, within the Photonic & Sensing & Display division. Eric contributes to the development of LED, OLED, and display activities, including a large number of market and technology reports as well as custom consulting projects. Previously Eric has held various R&D, engineering, manufacturing and business development positions with Fortune 500 Company Saint Gobain.
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LAYERS 4 | OPTOELECTRONICS | LED OR LASER
LED OR LASER – EVATEC HAS THE SOLUTION!
Optoelectronics
As the VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Self Emitting Laser) market booms due to their emerging use in 3D sensing applications for mobile phones, Evatec’s Head of BU Optoelectronics Dr. Stefan Seifried explains how Evatec can help VCSEL manufacturers ramp up production leveraging its know how from LED.
The VCSEL market will explode VCSEL technology may not be new, the first components were commercialised by Honeywell over 20 years ago in 1996, but the introduction of VCSEL technology in mobile applications in 2017 looks set to drive a 10 fold increase in demand over the next 5 or 6 years. Relative to technologies like LED, VCSEL offers coherent, symmetrical, low divergence optical beam technology (typically 15 degrees) giving it a high degree of usable optical emission as a semiconductor optical source. Just
like LEDs however It offers a high efficiency around 20% but its planar structure with vertical emission means it can be tested during wafer processing before sawing and building higher level assemblies. (see table 1 & 2) Some analysts such as Yole expect that the upcoming demand for consumer devices including front side for face recognition and rear side for 3D simulation applications for clothing / furniture plus applications like LiDAR could lead to growth of market volumes to US$ 3500 Million by 2023.
Attribute
Symbol
Units
EE Laser
LED
Electrical power
Pelec
mW
5
20
60
60
Optical power
Popt
mW
1
5
10
1
Efficiency at Popt=1mW
h
%
20
10
10
2*
Wavelength
I
nm
760 - 860
670 - 870
630 - 1300
400 - 1300
Spectral width
∆λ
nm
0.01
0.5
2
50
Spectral tuning (Temperature)
∆λ / ∆T
nm/ºC
0.06
0.06
0.3
0.3
Spectral tuning (Current)
∆λ / ∆I
mm/mA
0.25
0.09
º
<15
~ 15
15 par. 35 prpe
120
Beam angle (full width at half of maximum value)
SM VCSEL MM VCSEL
Table 1: Comparison of performance (Courtesy of Finisar)
The “ilities” of VCSEL Manufacturability Integrability
Reliability
Testability
Arrayability
Packageability
All-vertical construction enables the use of traditional semiconductor manufacturing equipment
Without the failure modes of traditional laser structures such as dark line defects and catastrophic optical damage; very long wearout life
Complete testing and burn-in in wafer form
VCSELs can be easily fabricated into one or two dimensional arrays
VCSELs allow use of traditional low cost LED packaging; chip on board technology for VCSEL-based sensors
Compatible with semiconductor manufacturing and wafer integration of the emitters with detectors and circuitry
Table 2: (Courtesy of Finisar)
Low power consumption Not strictly an “ilitiy” – extends battery life and reduces thermal design constraints in larger equipment systems
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LAYERS 4 | OPTOELECTRONICS | LED OR LASER
Using the experience from LED Evatec has over 10 years experience in supporting the worlds leading LED manufacturers with sputter and evaporation processes. On one hand we could help them increase device performance by improving light output and other LED device properties, but on the other hand we also helped them implement processes driving down costs. ITO production on our CLUSTERLINE® RAD (CLN RAD) as well as “lift off” processes on BAK evaporator family are now LED industry standard. Sharing their device requirements, the real device performance data achieved and their new ideas, they worked together with Evatec optimizing processes to create a successful LED business, irrespective if it was a more cost-driven LED commodity-product for the lighting industry or a high power LED device for an automotive application. Just like in LED, the explosion in demand for VCSEL will now set manufacturers the same challenges in driving up device performance, improving manufacturing yields, and lowering production costs.
Applying VCSEL to 3D sensing applications A time of flight (TOF) sensor in a typical mobile phone first illuminates an object in front of the phone repeatedly at a very high rate, measuring the time taken for light to reflect or scatter back to a detector. If the TOF sensor detects an object, it triggers a True Depth camera to take a picture. If that reveals a face, the phone activates its dot projector, shining a single infrared VCSEL through an optical system to create 30,000 spots while its infrared camera captures an image. It sends both regular and spottily illuminated IR face images to an application-processing unit (APU) that can recognise the owner and therefore unlock the phone.* Just like in LED technology, the VCSELs for NIR laser diodes used for mass production of 3D sensing and other applications use cost-optimised device designs. There are a wide range of VCSEL applications and designs on different substrate materials including silicon, aluminum oxide or GaN with specific power levels and ranges of wavelengths as shown below.
Typical VCSEL designs and operating wavelengths
“The VCSEL market growing by a factor 10 over the next 6 years”
AlGalnP/AlGaAs for Red wavelength (650-680nm) VCSELs GalnAsP/AlGaAs for Near-IR wavelength (780-850nm) VCSELs AlGalnAs for wavelength 850nm VCSELs GalnAs for Long-wavelength ( l .3-l.55µm) VCSELs Sb for Long-wavelength ( l.3- l.55µm) VCSELs lll-V Nitride for Visible wavelength VCSELs
Typical VCSEL structure RIE p-GaN
TiO2/SiO2 p-AlGaN
p-electrode
ITO InGaN/GaN n-electrode
p-GaN n-GaN
AlInN/GaN
GaN
* Source: SPIE Newsroom, April 2018
Optoelectronics
Evatec production solutions are ready Evatec’s equipment and process portfolio Whatever the VCSEL design, many of the thin film layers required are similar to those required for LED, and Evatec’s equipment and process portfolio for VCSEL manufacturing covers all material types dependent on the device structure. For metals
n/p contact electrodes with BAK lift-off evaporators.
For surface metals
e.g. TIW – Au sputtering in our dynamic CLUSTERLINE® RAD or static in our Semiconductor production proven CLUSTERLINE® 200 (CLN 200) depending on maximum temperature and step coverage requirements.
For TCOs
Typically ITO we can use either the damage-free ITO process on our CLUSTERLINE® RAD or the widely proven ITO process of our high-speed SOLARIS® system. For future high throughput / low damage requirements a combination of Facing Target Cathode (FTC) process for contact and fast sputter process for bulk layer is ready.
For the optical mirror layer stacks
We can deliver different options depending on the number of pairs forming the DBR stack. Above 20 pairs (e.g. NbO2 / SiO2 ) the CLUSTERLINE® RAD with high uniformity deposition of typically < 0.25% and in-situ process control features for optical thickness (GSM) and the plasma emission monitoring to control deposition rate and film stoichiometry would be beneficial, while for less complex optical interference coatings (OIC) our SOLARIS® would provide significant cost of ownership advantages thanks to higher throughput.
Other custom layers
The portfolio can be concluded with additional applications for anti-reflective and/or passivation layers using sputtering or PECVD or additional metals e.g. heat sinks.
Application
PVD Equipment
Process
Contact Metals Lift-off: n/p-contact Surface Metal TiW-Au sputter
BAK
CLUSTERLINE® RAD
CLUSTERLINE® 200
Dielectric DBR Top - DBR
CLUSTERLINE® RAD
MSP
ITO damage-free ITO ITO
CLN RAD, MSP, SOLARIS®, Top DBR TiO2 / SiO2 Ta2O5 / SiO2 NbO2 / SiO2 a-Si / SiO2 CLN RAD / SOLARIS® ITO, damage-free ITO
CLUSTERLINE® RAD
Dieletrics SiN PECVD pass SiO2 PECVD/PVD Diamond, heat sink SiN AR
SOLARIS®
BAK: Evap lift-off n-contact: Ti-Pd-Au-Ge P-contact: Ti-Pd-Ti-Au-Sn CLN 200 / CLN RAD Etch - TiW - Au seed
SOLARIS®
CLN 200 / SOLARIS® SiO2 PECVD SiN AR, Diamond CLUSTERLINE® 200
SOLARIS®
Get off to a quick start Our applications team is ready to help you with a production solution that’s tailor made for you according to substrate size, process and throughput. Our processes are available for fully automated cassette-to-cassette operation and with proven particle performance. Minimizing human interactions enables high-yield mass production of either discrete VCSELs or as part of more highly integrated devices.
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LAYERS 4 | OPTOELECTRONICS | HOT SPUTTERED ITO – A NEW OPPORTUNITY
HOT SPUTTERED ITO – A NEW PROCESS IN THE LED PORTFOLIO Evatec Product Marketing Manager Franz Xaver Lenherr introduces the new “hot turn table” available on CLUSTERLINE® RAD and the new possibilities it offers to LED manufacturers for ITO deposition. New opportunities
Take a look at the results
Although cold ITO deposition processes may be well established, there are always new applications and products in development requiring different material properties.
Figure 1 shows a range of typical hot sputtered films all deposited at the same temperature. Just like for cold processes varying other process conditions allows effective control of grain size.
Changing sputter deposition conditions for materials like ITO could bring other opportunities. Deposition temperature affects the grain shape and the combination of a temperature controlled hot ITO sputter process followed by an annealing process could enable new layer characteristics to be achieved including lower sheet resistance and higher transmission. Heating using traditional front side heating systems extends process times and reduces throughput which is problematic, but that issue can now be avoided with the new “hot turn table” available on CLUSTERLINE® RAD.
Figure 2 compares the structures achieved for a cold process with anneal and a hot process without any subsequent anneal. Like always, layer deposition conditions and properties need to be optimised for each manufacturer and device structure and considered in relation to other downstream processes required, but in some cases running a hot process could eliminate the need for a subsequent post deposition anneal.
Optoelectronics
RESULTS Grainsize variations for “HOT” sputtered films Fig. 1
After anneal: Cold sputtered
As deposited: Hot sputtered
Fig. 2
Same process conditions These pictures are the same size The red square = picture size 1µm x 1µm
5 x 5 µm
Developing a practical heating solution The new “hot turn table” available on CLUSTERLINE® RAD is designed to facilitate such processes in mass production . An individual backside heater for every chuck ensures precise, repeatable surface temperature for each single substrate for tailoring of optimised layer structure. Each unit consist of three individual heating elements, resulting in best heating uniformity over the chuck diameter of 150 mm with variation of less than 3% at a temperature of 325°C over the total surface diameter. Temperature uniformity of individual chuck at 280°C
The temperature itself can be adjusted between 100°C and 350°C max with a variation of maximum 5% over the full temperature range. Pyrometers in closed loop control measure, and adjust each individual chuck position around the turntable. Heating is confined to exactly where its needed and each chuck body also comes with integrated cooling
Concept of the hot ITO turntable with individual chuck segments and its cooling supply.
All CLUSTERLINE® RAD customers can benefit This new turn table feature is configurable for any new CLUSTERLINE® RAD order. However we can also retrofit existing systems to the same configuration. To find out more simply contact your local Evatec Sales and Service Organisation.
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PHOTONICS Photonics – Meet the Team Augmented reality – At the touch of a button! Scintillator Technology – Going digital!
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | MEET THE TEAM
Dr. Heiko Plagwitz Product Marketing Manager Heiko gained his first degree in physics in Germany in 2002 before completing a PhD in 2007 specialising in Solar Technology. He continued to work in project management roles within the solar industry before joining Oerlikon in 2011 as a senior scientist. His focus is now functional coatings including AR, DLC and antismudge layers.
Photonics
PHOTONICS A CONVERGING WORLD OF OPTICS AND SEMICONDUCTOR Dr. Volker Wuestenhagen Head of BU Photonics Volker qualified as a physicist before completing his PhD in surface science in 1992. He gained his first professional experience of thin film technology in the optical disk industry in 1993 before joining Unaxis in 2003 where he held process development, R&D and business management roles. He was responsible for Evatec’s Inline systems business prior to becoming Head of BU Photonics.
PHOTONICS Filters Functional Coatings With our long experience in both optics and semiconductor, Evatec is well placed to solve the challenges and address the increasingly demanding requirements for process control and handling set by the photonics industry. This year’s LAYERS gives you just a taste of how wide a range of applications our knowhow supports.
Volker
Dr. Clau Maissen Senior Product Marketing Manager A physicist, Clau gained his PhD in 1992. He has over 30 years experience in the field of coatings and systems holding management positions in development and manufacturing for optical and solar applications. In March 2018 he became Senior Product Marketing Manager for Evatec’s Photonics Business Unit with particular focus on high performance filter technologies.
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | AUGMENTED REALITY
AUGMENTED REALITY – AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON! The age of fully automated independent production is here using SOLARIS® inline sputter tools. Senior Product Manager Stephan Voser explains how SOLARIS® can easily handle a whole range of optical thin film processes for existing and upcoming applications such as Augmented Reality in a fully automated way at just the touch of a button.
Photonics
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | AUGMENTED REALITY
CASE STUDY
Drift Control SOLARIS® configuration
Handling sequence
Cassettes holding 6 or 8 inch substrates are loaded by the operator at the front end and the recipe is selected. The operator presses “go” and the system does the rest - loading the carriers, loading to the system, unloading and finally loading all “good” coated substrates back to the original cassette.
PC3: SiO2 Layer 2b & 6b
Quality control (particles)
PC4: Nb2O5 Layer 3
PC5: SiO2 Layer 4 & 6c
PC2: SiO2 Layer 2a & 6a
Pick from cassette
Load to carriers
Load to system and coat and unload from system PC1: Nb2O5 Layer 1 & 5
PC6: SiO2 Layer 6d
Carrier unload
Quality control (particles and optical performance)
Process setup
Back to cassette
Deposition rates:
Optimised setup, 2 passes around the system:
Nb2O5: 5.5 nm/s
Thicker SiO2 layers split > cycle times: 11s + 11.5s
SiO2: 2.3 nm/s
Throughput: 150 carriers/hr
Photonics
AR Coating – sample runs It takes just a few minutes to complete the first sample runs until the system is in a steady state and coatings are well within specification. Continuous production can then begin.
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | AUGMENTED REALITY
Keeping particles under control SOLARIS® is designed to minimise particles at every step. Substrates are brought to the system in closed cassette environments, robot loading and unloading takes place in a closed environment under HEPA Filters and the system design itself is also optimised for particle reductionSputter deposition takes place in small process chambers with water cooled flanges to give the most stable
process conditions to reduce particle risk. Deposition control without the need for uniformity shapers using active cathode magnet control is another important risk reduction measure. For processes like the AR Coatings in this case study we can achieve less than 0.15 adders/cm2 between 0.4 and 10 µm
Photonics
Making production easy Apart from process control capabilities like “Drift Control” and particle monitoring, SOLARIS® uses well proven automation technology to ensure that the line runs flexibly and independently and with full production tracking. The system can be converted quickly between different substrate sizes, e.g. 150 or 200mm or for different layer thicknesses as the need arises. The handling system is adapted from the semiconductor industry with proven handling speeds and reliability that easily satisfy the demands needed for optical substrate processing. The production history for each and every substrate is individually tracked and checked, and the data logged for QA purposes. Any “defective” substrates entering or leaving the system are automatically segregated in buffer stations according to QA needs. Cassette to cassette handling means operator interaction is limited to simple loading and unloading of cassettes to and from the system with no manual substrate handling at all.
Taking integration one step further MES integration is available for fabs also wanting to integrate SOLARIS® with upstream and downstream processes. The image below shows just how such a set up works in practice where 8 SOLARIS® are integrated into a customer’s fab for production of smart devices.
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | SCINTILLATOR TECHNOLOGY
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SCINTILLATOR TECHNOLOGY GOING DIGITAL! Evaporation solves the challenges for “thick” layer deposition to enable the latest large area digital scintillator technology for medical and industrial use. Evatec Product Manager Kurt Flisch tells us how.
FPD - A growing market in healthcare Digital X-ray detectors used in Flat Panel Detectors (FPDs) convert X-rays into electronic data that a computer can process and convert to an image quickly. These FPDs first convert X-rays into visible light through a scintillating medium and this visible light is then converted into electrical charge by a photodiode or TFT. The most common digital scintillators are based on materials like Caesium Iodide (CsI) and Thallium Iodide (TlI). FPD based systems are increasingly replacing the traditional analog and computed radiography (CR) systems used by the healthcare industry until now which have disadvantages of relatively high radiation exposure, poor image quality, long diagnosis time and the need for chemical processing. Some analysts expect that the FPD market in this sector will reach USD 1,700 Million dollars by 2021.
X-ray Object
Figure 1: Scintillator Function
Scintillator Visible light Detector Digital output Reflector Csl Scintillator
Figure 2: Structure
(source: www.abyzr.com/open_content/product/scintillator.php)
TFT panel Epoxy (glass) layer
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LAYERS 4 | PHOTONICS | SCINTILLATOR TECHNOLOGY
Controlled rates for CsI and TlI during the entire deposition of 7 hours
Layer uniformity and doping levels must both be Evaporation solves the manufacturing challenges for CsI/TlI maintained across the large active substrate areas Deposition of the layers required for the x-ray detector sets some interesting challenges to be solved The typical layers required are thalium doped CsI with typical doping rates of TlI of between 0.2% and 3.0%. A whole variety of panel sizes and shapes must be handled: square, rectangular up to a typical maximum of 17” x 17” (chest x-rays). The layer thicknesses required are much higher than in typical thin film deposition processes at 500 – 600 µm, and over 700 µm for moving image detectors. The typical substrate temperature must be kept below 150ºC during the whole deposition time of 5 or more hours. CsI and TlI exhibit unique non linear temperature gradation making control of source temperature during both ramp-up (shutter closed) and evaporation essential to maintain source stability during an extended process time. Accurate rate control of both materials during the entire evaporation process is also essential as scintillator performance is highly sensitive to small changes in TlI doping level.
but uniformity shapers should be avoided by using a planetary tooling system to keep deposition rates high and maximise material material useage from the the large barrel sources required for such thick layers. Maintaining overall process stability and keeping substrate temperatures under control for extended process times is also a must. On a practical level system uptime and throughput needs to be maximised by optimising pumping performance and simplifying shield changes and cleaning procedures.
Dedicated sources and process control are key Evatec already has 10 years of experience in delivering dedicated scintillator systems. Custom evaporation sources, in-situ control of temperature rates during the entire process, as well as real-time process supervision and data logging are just a few of the features which are essential for successful scintillator manufacture.
Photonics
Typical Evatec BAK1401 production tool for Scintillator
A growing market The high quality scintillators produced by evaporation today are mainly used in x-ray detectors for medical devices – portable or heavy-static – such as dental and mammography but there are other growth opportunities too. Analog x-ray detection can also be replaced with its digital counterpart in areas like nondestructive material inspection, human and/or luggage screening and Evatec’s BAK Evaporation system are ready.
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