01.02.2013: New air-only applications from ERS bring higher throughput to wafer thermal test
ERS electronic GmbH, market leader in the field
of thermal wafer chucks in semiconductor production, is broadening the range of
applications for its proven air-only cooling technology. New products coming
out this year from the German high-tech company will make the native advantages
of this technology available to applications beyond those that originally made
air-cooling so successful in semiconductor thermal test. The new products,
currently in the prototype stage, will address the critical issues of
semiconductor test: cost, throughput and functional integration. Depending on
the customer application, ERS sees the possibility to achieve double-digit
increases in test throughput.
The initial drivers of ERS’s air-only cooling
success seen in the ERS AC3 thermal chuck system were reliability, reduced
footprint and a lower cost of ownership. As the company responded to
customer requests for special applications over the past several years, it
realized that the inherent flexibility of air-cooling is what made many of the
special requests possible. The reason is that a thermal system based on
liquid cooling is a closed circuit: after it has delivered chilling power where
it is needed, the liquid coolant must necessarily be returned to its starting
point to be re-chilled. An air-only cooling system, however, can be
implemented as a semi-closed or even a completely open system. Exhausted
coolant eventually leaves the system as clean, dry air. "It is exactly
this flexibility that makes it possible to keep more than just the wafer at a
controlled temperature in creative ways," said Klemens Reitinger, General
Manager of ERS GmbH.
At this year’s Semicon West in San Francisco,
ERS will show a stronger, air-only chiller that won’t require additional
footprint and will offer unmatched flexibility in applying temperature control
where needed. Visitors to ERS will have the opportunity to see how this
system can control the temperature of peripheral hardware according to
individual customer requirements, increasing throughput and stabilizing the
thermal test process overall.