News Article
Rambus Has Licensed Its RaSer Serial Link Technology To Intel For Use In
Rambus has licensed its RaSer serial link technology to Intel for use in
Ethernet network applications. The Rambus RaSer 1-3.125Gbits/sec technology
includes hard macro physical layer interface cells that can be integrated in
ASIC or ASSP controller chips.
EMCORE has received a patent for a semiconductor device separation technique
for gallium nitride-based and other materials grown on sapphire substrates.
The laser ablation technique projects a pattern to separate the processed
wafer into its several thousand individual devices. The new method has been
successfully employed in a high-volume LED manufacturing production facility
for more than a year. The company forsees application in the production of
GaN-based blue and green LEDs and in improving GaN materials device yields.
Reuben F Richards Jr, company president and CEO, reports: "We are currently
discussing licensing the technique with a number of major LED manufacturers
who are very enthusiastic about the prospect of improving the economics of
LED production."
Traditional scribe-and-break processes don't work well on the sapphire
substrate given the material's strength and hardness. The diamond head
requires frequent replacement - a costly and time consuming activity.
Another obstacle to using scribe-and-break is the inability to cleave the
wafer on the crystal planes, which reduces the usable area of the wafer and
results in device yields that are only in the range of 70-80%.
Director of marketing Tom Ryan comments: "By achieving typical separation
yields of 99%, this new technique provides distinct advantages for LED
manufacturers."
Applied Precision has been awarded a US patent (No.6,414,477 B1) for the
technology embodied in its waferWoRx probing process analysis system. The
patent covers the system's method of quantitatively determining probe card
errors by relying on merged data sets from a probe card analysis machine and
a scrub mark analysis machine. Determining these errors provides an
indication of probe card/probe machine tolerance, enabling test floor
managers to optimise their probing processes and the fab's throughput and
yield.
for gallium nitride-based and other materials grown on sapphire substrates.
The laser ablation technique projects a pattern to separate the processed
wafer into its several thousand individual devices. The new method has been
successfully employed in a high-volume LED manufacturing production facility
for more than a year. The company forsees application in the production of
GaN-based blue and green LEDs and in improving GaN materials device yields.
Reuben F Richards Jr, company president and CEO, reports: "We are currently
discussing licensing the technique with a number of major LED manufacturers
who are very enthusiastic about the prospect of improving the economics of
LED production."
Traditional scribe-and-break processes don't work well on the sapphire
substrate given the material's strength and hardness. The diamond head
requires frequent replacement - a costly and time consuming activity.
Another obstacle to using scribe-and-break is the inability to cleave the
wafer on the crystal planes, which reduces the usable area of the wafer and
results in device yields that are only in the range of 70-80%.
Director of marketing Tom Ryan comments: "By achieving typical separation
yields of 99%, this new technique provides distinct advantages for LED
manufacturers."
Applied Precision has been awarded a US patent (No.6,414,477 B1) for the
technology embodied in its waferWoRx probing process analysis system. The
patent covers the system's method of quantitatively determining probe card
errors by relying on merged data sets from a probe card analysis machine and
a scrub mark analysis machine. Determining these errors provides an
indication of probe card/probe machine tolerance, enabling test floor
managers to optimise their probing processes and the fab's throughput and
yield.