As part of Synova’s continuous commitment to advance and expand the capabilities and performance of its water jet-guided technology, Laser MicroJet®, we are also entering manufacturing cooperations with leading technology players, in addition to our R&D collaborations.  To date, Synova is involved with the following technology influencers :

• DISCO Hi-TEC EUROPE 

Fusing best-of-breed technologies to unveil a hybrid dicing solution for advanced packaging applications

The insatiable demand for smaller, more feature-packed consumer products has posed new challenges to IC manufacturers, who now must squeeze more functionality into ever-smaller packages.  One of the major challenges facing the packaging industry in this regard is that chipmakers have introduced new wafer materials with more complex layers, making them brittle and damage-prone when undergoing traditional dicing technology.  In June 2007, Synova entered into a partnership with Munich-based DISCO HI-TEC EUROPE GmbH —a subsidiary of DISCO Corporation , the leading provider of semiconductor wafer dicing, grinding and polishing machines—aimed to address these packaging challenges manufacturers’ face.

The SYNOVA-DISCO partnership aims to join DISCO’s blade saw and Synova’s patented Laser MicroJet® technology, giving manufacturers a hybrid dicing solution for both current and next-generation ICs that cost effectively meets their stringent yield and throughput requirements.  The resulting best-of-breed solution will enable semiconductor manufacturers to meet their dual need for higher throughput and minimal damage on silicon wafers, as well as address the emerging genre of advanced material wafers of any thickness. 

Download PDF brochure of the HLS 300A - Hybrid Laser Saw

• Manz Automation

Enabling improved solar cell performance with the Laser MicroJet®

 

The photovoltaics (PV) market is rapidly evolving, and its commercial viability hinges on two main factors: efficiency and cost—which are affected not only by the manufacturing materials but also the manufacturing equipment for applications such as edge isolation.  Edge isolation, a technique used to prevent parasitic shunts between the front and back sides of the cell, prevents short circuits to improve cell efficiency.  Thus far, current technology approaches for the application include: plasma etching, conventional lasers and diamond saw blades.  Each process, however, yields a set of limitations such as heat and silicon surface damage, as well as contamination caused by processing debris, all of which reduce cell integrity.

In a move broaden Synova’s Laser MicroJet®’s advantages (e.g., gentle, cooling and self-cleaning capabilities)—proven in the integrated circuits realm to PV—the company entered a technology licensing agreement in April 2007 with Manz Automation AG, a leading systems and components supplier in the areas of robotics, image processing, laser and control technologies based in Reutlingen, Germany.

The Synova-Manz technology licensing partnership is dedicated to developing cost-effective manufacturing equipment for mono- and multi-crystalline solar cells that enables improved cell efficiency.  In September 2007, the partnership introduced the ILE 2400 —an inline laser edge isolation/cutting system—integrating Synova’s proprietary water jet-guided laser technology primarily for solar cell edge isolation with secondary applications in cutting and drilling.  The co-developed ILE 2400 provides a new alternative approach that enables manufacturers to effectively isolate the edge of PV cells to prevent short circuits as well as cut and drill PV wafers or cells without any damage.  This inline, fully automated system is set to address the industry’s need for manufacturing tools aimed at improving solar cell efficiency and, ultimately, cell yield. 

Prototype