SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project proposes to develop an innovative intelligent optical sensor for semiconductor back-end processes control and inspection by using our matrix-addressable laser/detector array chip. The sensor will be incorporated into the fine pitch component placement machines, to ensure accurate component placement, and co-planarity of component leads and to inspect components immediately before placement. Identification of defective or damage lead tips that lie within the same plane will be. Additional inspection capabilities include solder bump volume and height, bump position and quality, ball height and diameter of ball grit array, ball coplanarity and foreign materials. The sensor actually is a miniature confocal scanning laser microscope without any moving parts. Since there are no moving parts or bulky optics, we are able obtain image rate at least 60 frames per second, and sensor can be made a very small dimension. This sensor will enable semiconductor packaging manufactures to increase operating efficiency, increase product yield, and add to their quality control

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to develop innovative miniature con-focal laser scanning sensors for semiconductor packaging processes by using diode laser detector array chips. There are no moving parts in this sensor for scanning, unlike other con-focal devices. This sensor with a fast imaging rate will be integrated with chip IC placement robot machines, to inspect solder bump co-planarity of Flip Chip Bonding (FCB) and the ball of Ball Grid Arrays (BGA) before packaging. BGA and FCB are used in mission critical devices in airplanes and medical devices. To ensure quality of the packaging, semiconductor-packaging companies demand lower cost, smaller, fast imaging optical sensors in the automatic optical co-planarity inspection instruments to ensure the reliability and quality of package assembly. The electronics industry's demands for increasing circuit density, higher levels of integration and improved cost/performance capabilities have led to the proliferation of the use of BGA and FCB. This will reduce chip failures and system failures. These high reliability devices may eventually save lives and improve the quality of life