Japan-based Ulvac has developed a new dry etching system, NA-1500, for 600mm advanced packaging substrates.

Designed to provide a uniform descum process for a large square substrate, the new system will enable packaging manufacturers to reduce their fan-out wafer level package (FO-WLP) costs.

In recent times, packaging manufacturers have also increased their substrate size (panel level package) from 300mm to 600mm to quintuple the area ratio and reduce FO-WLP production cost.

Ulvac’s new dry etching system for 600mm substrate features an improved plasma source, which enables fast and low-temperature etching of resin layers that was impossible with the existing capacitive coupling plasma (CCP) method.

"The system can be used in surface treatment (hydrophobicity from / to hydrophilicity) and pre-treatment for the wet processes."

The company’s plasma source can be applied to fluorine gases to enable the removal of seed layer titanium (Ti) etching, which requires a wet process, without side etching.

In addition, the NA-1500 machine can conduct silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (SiN) etching.

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The new dry etching system can also provide stable transfer and processing without abnormal discharge.

According to Ulvac, its NA-1500 system can be used in Desmear applications, which remove residue (smear) in via formation with a laser drill.

Apart from resin material ashing, the system can be used in surface treatment (hydrophobicity from / to hydrophilicity) and pre-treatment for the wet processes, such as plating and others.

It can further be used for pre-treatment of underfill.