IMEC and SUSS MicroTec have announced a collaboration that will see the companies work on the development of permanent bonding, temporary bonding and debonding processes for 3D system integration and TSV manufacturing. It is hoped that the cooperative move will improve wafer bonding processes and eventually bring 3D integration technology to maturity.
IMEC will use SUSS’s XBC300 production wafer bonder platform for the development of 200mm and 300mm permanent metallic interconnect bonding, and for temporary bonding and debonding solutions for its 3D-stacked Interconnect and 3D Wafer Level Packaging technology.
"We are very pleased to co-develop with SUSS MicroTec the processes for permanent and temporary wafer bonding for our 3D technologies," said Eric Beyne, Program Director of IMEC's Advanced Packaging and Interconnect Research Centre. "In particular, the debonding and handling of very thin wafers ranging from 25 to 50µm is an especially challenging and critical process. We are convinced that the versatility of the SUSS wafer bonding and debonding tool platform will contribute to bringing 3D integration technology to maturity."