LineMoiré Applications

Flatness Measurement and Analysis System

Semiconductor Assembly and Test (SAT) Applications:

Advanced packaging designs are more than ever dependent upon mechanical integrity for effective level I and level II interconnect. Complex constructions of dissimilar materials alone account for significant losses due to die cracking, de-lamination, voiding, singulation and solder joint/bumping interconnect defects. Combine these with stacked package technologies and the impact can be exponential

100% Incoming Inspection of IC Substrates (LineMoiré) - Organic and ceramic substrates are critical components in BGAs and other high performance packages. A warped substrate can fracture a chip during die attach or produce a final package that fails customer specs. Shadow Moiré-based LineMoiré solutions offer the high throughput, high reliability and low cost-per-inspection necessary for 100% inspection of incoming components.

Mid-process Inspection (LineMoiré) - Carriers (e.g. Auer boats) holding multiple singulated substrates can become warped themselves; individual packages can slip "out-of-pocket". Shadow moiré inspection can identify problems before they cause yield losses, equipment jams and line stoppages.

100% Final Inspection of Packaged Components (LineMoiré) - Inspecting finished packages can screen for molding problems, blistering, delamination, die tilt, improperly sealed lids and many other production problems. Shadow moiré-based LineMoiré systems offer the high throughput, high reliability and low cost-per-inspection necessary for 100% inspection of final products.

PCB Fabrication Applications:

Key industry drivers including fine pitch interconnect devices and lead free solder temperatures are putting increased importance on substrate flatness compliance. Emerging specifications for local area (key component site) flatness at both room and elevated temperatures are today being implemented by leading OEMs to ensure higher first pass assembly yields and field reliability.

100% Final Inspection of PCBs (LineMoiré) - Inspecting finished boards can screen for both global (overall bow and twist requirements) and local (individual component site coplanarity) warpage. Shadow moiré-based LineMoiré systems offer the high throughput, high reliability and low cost-per-inspection necessary for PCBs up to panel size.

Mass Lamination Process Development (LineMoiré) - Flatness inspection after lamination can identify pattern transfer problems, speeding process development by investigating temperature, pressure and stack thickness effects.

Electronic Assembly Applications:

'Junk in equals junk out.' Substrate flatness compliance is ever more critical for successful assembly operations on both a global (whole board) and local (key component site) basis. Akrometrix' product and software offerings provide a comprehensive, quantitative means to achieve measured success on either a supplier management (sampling) or process (100%) inspection basis.

100% Incoming Inspection of PCBs (LineMoiré) - Inspecting incoming boards can screen for both global (overall bow and twist requirements) and local (individual component site coplanarity) warpage. Bad product can be identified and returned to the vendor before causing assembly yield problems. Shadow moiré-based LineMoiré solutions offer the high throughput, high reliability and low cost-per-inspection necessary for PCBs up to panel size.

100% Incoming Inspection of Packaged Components (LineMoiré) - Bad incoming components can be identified and returned to the vendor before causing assembly yield problems. Shadow moiré-based LineMoiré solutions offer the high throughput, high reliability and low cost-per-inspection necessary for 100% inspection of final products.

Adaptive Processing (LineMoiré) - Measurement of PCB flatness at the beginning of the line provides feed-forward information that can be used to adjust solder paste printing and component placement processes to increase yield and reduce rework.

Mid-Process Inspection (LineMoiré) - Double-sided reflow processes pose special problems when substrate flatness is adversely affected by the first reflow pass. Identifying and culling warpage failures before adding the typically higher value components on the top side can greatly reduce waste and rework costs.

Traceability - (LineMoiré) - Advanced software and data management tools offered by Akrometrix enable SPC monitoring, trending and traceability. On-site or remote monitoring and reporting can provide valuable insight and time savings for customer critical response requirements.

Electronic Materials and Passive Components Applications:

Materials and their unique properties are the building blocks of all components and substrates in the microelectronics industry. A fundamental understanding of their impact on finished product constructions is paramount to achieving effective sensitivity analyses on related processes and substitutions.

Heat Sinks (LineMoiré) - Heat sink flatness is critical to optimal heat transfer away from the component. 100% inspection of heat sink mating surface flatness prevents performance problems and warranty repairs due to product overheating.

Photovoltaic (PV) Wafers and Cells:

Renewable energy resource demands have had a direct impact on materials cost to produce PV wafers. In order to achieve industry cost savings goals, mechanical quality of the silicon wafer substrate will be critical to realizing yield improvements and reducing overall cost per watt requirements for wide-scale implementation.

PV Wafer Flatness (LineMoiré) - Heavily warped silicon wafers have a greater tendency to crack during processing which reduces production line throughput both by yield loss and equipment downtime while highly abrasive silicon shards are removed. Wafer sorting simplifies recycling of solar grade silicon which is in short supply.

PV Wafer Saw Marks (LineMoiré) - Steps, grooves and waviness in the silicon wafer surface due to irregular wire saw motion during cutting can lead to continuity defects in screen-printed electrodes and other process problems. Full-field shadow moiré can rapidly capture the entire surface profile and characterize saw marks by frequency, location, and depth.

PV Cell Warpage (LineMoiré) - Finished PV cells are laminated as arrays into PV modules. Identifying warped PV cells that are more likely to fracture during the module production process ultimately increases production yield and reduces module cost.