 XPL-900 SLIM
High Rate Plasma Etcher for Wafer Damage Removal and Thinning
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Introduction
For 20 years Secon has been manufacturing dry etch equipment for the production of discrete components and integrated circuits.
These equipments are being used in different markets such as
- damage removal and passivation for diodes and rectifiers
- wafer damage removal after grinding processes
- high rate dry etching for wafer thinning and damage removal
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Application
Damage removal from mechanically ground wafers for stress relief, warpage/bow removal and edge rounding without ion bombardement.
Wafer thinning down to > 50 µm including damage removal.
Deep trench etching for die separation for thin substrates without mechanical stress and chipping for Si and III-V materials
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Features
- Soft wafer handling
- Fastest etch rate available
- Low temperature
- Good Etch uniformity
- Good Surface Quality
- Low Cost of Ownership
200mm Wafer 
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Technology
Secon developed the new high rate Slim etch technology on the basis of the Secon radical generator using a combined CDE / RIE / UV (Chemical Dry Etch / Reactive Ion Etch / Ultra Violet radiation) fluorine process with an etch rate for silicon of > 20 µm/min for the whole wafer surface and > 40 µm/min for deep trench etching on structured wafers.
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Equipment
The XPL-900 SLIM multichamber dry etcher is a modular production system for high rate dry etching. It can be equipped with up to 4 process chambers.
The basic platform consists of a load-lock-chamber with wafer handler and a control unit. It permits the connection of up to 6 chambers (pro-cess chambers, load- and unload chambers).
The control unit consists of microprocessor boards for the machine functions and a personal computer for process control, administration and the dialogue with the operator.
The process chambers are designed for up to 300 mm wafers for high rate thinning, damage removal and deep trench etching.
The gas system for each process chamber consists of three electropolished and orbitally welded stainless steel ¼“ process g
as lines, one ¼“ He gas line and an inert gas line for purging with submicron filter, MFC, and bellows sealed shut off valve.
The vacuum system has a pressure regulating system with a pendulum shut off and control valve. Pressure measurement by a capacitance pressure gauge. The recommended vacuum pump is a 1200 m³/h dry pump (e. g. Ebara AAS 200 WN).
Wafer handling Several options for handling of wafers of different thickness are available such as cassette to cassette for thick wafers or cassette to jar pack with interleaf paper for wafers to be thinned from 150 to 50 µm.
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Specifications
| Wafer Size: |
100...300 mm |
| Wafer cooling: |
electrostatic chuck, He-cooling |
| Wafer handling: |
wafer handler with electrostatic applicator endpiece |
| Microwave generator per etch module: |
2.45 GHz, 4,000W |
| RF generator per etch module: |
13.56 MHz, 0...2,000W |
| Etch rate: |
25 µm/min on a 200 mm Si wafer (SF6 and N2O) |
| Etch uniformity: |
< ± 2 % |
| Wafer temperature during etch process: |
100 - 120°C |
| Surface quality: |
adjustable by process parameters |
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Utilities per Etch Module (Process Chamber)
| Electric power: |
3x230 V, 50/60 Hz, 16 A (XPL-900) |
| 3x230 V, 50/60 Hz, 10 A (vac. pump) |
| Gases (¼“ VCR): |
SF6 |
3 1/min |
process gas, ultra pure |
| N2O |
1.5 1/min |
| N2 |
50 1/wafer |
| N2 |
40 /min |
cooling gas, no special purity |
| Cooling water |
10 1/min, ½“ |
| Compressed air |
8 bar |
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Physical Parameters
| XPL-900-1 Etch Module: |
200x75x170 cm3 (L x W x H) |
| XPL-900 System (2 etch modules): |
300x300x170 cm³ (L x W x H) |
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Footprint of XPL-900 with 2 Process Modules, in mm |
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