EV Group (EVG) has released the new SmartView® NT3 aligner on the company's industry benchmark GEMINI® FB XT integrated fusion bonding system for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) applications. The SmartView NT3 aligner provides sub-50-nm wafer-to-wafer alignment accuracy as well as higher throughput.

The new SmartView(r) NT3 aligner on EV Group's GEMINI(r) FB XT fusion bonder enables a 2-3X improvement in wafer-to-wafer alignment accuracy over EVG's previous-generation aligner. (Source: EV Group)

With the new SmartView NT3 aligner, the GEMINI FB XT provides integrated device manufacturers, foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers (OSATs) with wafer bonding performance that can meet their future 3D-IC packaging requirements. Applications enabled by the GEMINI FB XT include memory stacking, 3D systems on chip (SoC), backside illuminated CMOS image sensor stacking, and die partitioning.

Vertical stacking of semiconductor devices has become an increasingly viable approach to enabling continuous improvements in device density and performance. Wafer-to-wafer bonding is an essential process step to enable 3D stacked devices. However, tight alignment and overlay accuracy between the wafers is required to achieve good electrical contact between the interconnected devices on the bonded wafers, as well as to minimize the interconnect area at the bond interface so that more space can be made available.

The GEMINI FB XT fusion bonder with new SmartView NT3 aligner is available for customer demonstrations and testing.

Learn more about the new device here.