The FINEPLACER® sigma purchase is the second Finetech system selected by Promex, joining a FINEPLACER® pico system purchased in 2019. The new FINEPLACER® sigma system delivers several features that will further benefit Promex customers seeking die bonding for precision bonding requirements in optical, medical, biotech, automotive, and other applications.

Combining sub-micron placement accuracy with a 450 mm x 150 mm working area and bonding forces up to 1000 N, the FINEPLACER® sigma system features a modular design for valuable flexibility. Modules can be easily combined or exchanged to pursue various projects within a single tool. Key technologies that can be performed, depending on the modules selected, include sintering, thermocompression bonding, ultrasonic bonding, eutectic soldering, adhesive bonding, and precision vacuum die bonding.

Placing small devices on large substrates is achieved via the FINEPLACER® sigma’s ultra-high-definition FPXVision™ vision alignment system. FPXVision™ allows the smallest structures to be viewed across the entire field of view, at the highest magnification, and enables pattern recognition with manual bonder alignment across a large bonding area.

“Choosing our next-generation sub-micron FINEPLACER® sigma illustrates the trust that Promex places in us and our bonding-technology expertise,” stated Neil O’Brien, General Manager of Finetech USA. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with Promex as they bring the sigma system online and are able to share the benefits with its vital customer base.”

“The FINEPLACER® sigma is a perfectly paired addition to our Finetech FINEPLACER® pico and extends our extreme placement accuracy and control to the next level,” said Chip Greely, vice president of engineering for Promex. “We’re excited about the additional capability and capacity we now have available to support our customer’s precision flip chip and placement needs.”

About Promex
Promex Industries, Inc. specializes in advanced design, packaging, and assembly services for key subsystems used in a wide range of applications, such as optical, photonics, diagnostics, life sciences, medical, and MEMS devices. The company is skilled at heterogeneous integration of tiny components with unique functionality and complex, custom, or detailed assembly requirements. Founded in 1975, Silicon Valley–based Promex provides design-for-manufacturing services coupled with materials-science expertise and broad assembly capabilities for small- to mid-volume onshore production. Services include RoHS-optimized SMT, wafer thinning, dicing, wire bonding, flip chip, and combining microelectronic and non-microelectronic components, provided in the company’s Class 100/Class 1000 cleanrooms. Promex holds a CA FDB license and is ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 9001:2015 certified and ITAR registered and follows IPC610 standards.

With the FINEPLACER® systems, Finetech set new standards in precision assembly of semiconductor products. Continuously improved and updated over the years, the placement and assembly systems today master complex micro assembly applications with a placement accuracy of up to 0.3 micrometers. Flexible expandability via function modules enables the use of a wide range of bonding technologies, and ensures that the machines can be adapted to new tasks throughout their entire service life. Quality optics developed specifically for Finetech, dispensing technology and the very stable design of the machines enable particularly accurate and reliably repeatable assembly processes at all times.

This is complemented by a second business area. Finetech's so-called hot gas repair systems are also based on the FINEPLACER® principle and are powerful solutions for the professional rework of SMD assemblies. They combine all the capabilities for the rework of modern electronics, such as extremely precise thermal management, adapted soldering tools and the integration of diverse support processes. Only in such a way can individual components, some of them being barely larger than a grain of sand, be reliably desoldered and soldered in place even on extremely densely populated circuit boards.

Innovations today for the world of tomorrow

In the segment of die bonder systems for research and development, Finetech is now the market leader and supports customers of all sizes and industries on their way from the concept to the production of innovative semiconductor products. To this end, the Berlin-based company brings people and technologies together, advises researchers, developers and production managers worldwide, and provides them with the appropriate tools to find technical solutions to the complex future issues of our time.

The main driving force for Finetech is to facilitate the development of innovative semiconductor products with integrated process and machine concepts for high-precision die attach applications. In order to support customers already in the development phase and to accompany them in the transfer of their processes to series production, Finetech has systematically expanded its portfolio of automated die bonders in recent years. Complementing the manual R&D equipment for laboratory and clean room, the semi- and fully automated production systems combine process flexibility, high accuracy and speed.

Finetech's unique selling points: a cross-system machine architecture, standardized function modules and identical operating software on manual and automatic systems. This means that product developments from the initial concept to automated series production can be implemented completely frictionless within Finetech’s technological ecosystem. Finetech calls this approach "Prototype-to-Production". The big advantage: technological hurdles and investment risks in the development of innovative semiconductor products are largely eliminated. 

In close partnership

Finetech serves companies and organizations from a wide range of industries, including data and telecommunications, industrial semiconductor, consumer electronics, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, defense & security, and energy, as well as universities and institutes. The worldwide installed base of machines includes start-up companies as well as international corporations, the R&D departments of major OEMs, publicly funded laboratories, and a variety of academic institutions.

For this, Finetech relies on a trusting and long-standing partnership with its customers - many have grown together with the Berlin-based company and have implemented countless projects on Finetech machines. 

As the customers' needs are highly individual, off-the-shelf solutions are not expedient. In Finetech’s Application Center with its state-of-the-art cleanroom technology, the feasibility of processes is evaluated on the basis of customer samples and machine configurations tailored to the customer requirements can be thoroughly tested.

Based in Berlin, at home in the world

As a regional employer, Finetech is firmly rooted in its home in Berlin-Marzahn. Since 2015, Finetech has been operating from its own state-of-the-art production and development center in the CleanTech Business Park, a location for clean technology companies promoted by the state of Berlin and, at 90 hectares, the capital's largest inner-city industrial park in the future. Thanks to fast transport routes, a well-trained workforce and intensive networking opportunities with Berlin's research landscape, Finetech finds ideal conditions here for manufacturing and distributing its high-precision placement and assembly systems and serving its global customer base.

At the company headquarters in Berlin alone, highly qualified engineers, designers, software developers, skilled workers and other specialists from more than a dozen nations are working toward the shared goal. At the same time, Finetech Berlin is part of a cooperative training network, where every year young people learn their craft in various professions.

In addition to the headquarters in Berlin, Finetech has another development center in Dresden, sales & support centers in Asia and America, and a worldwide network of representatives. This enables Finetech to provide fast on-site service and personal advice at all times. For the last 30 years and also in the future.

Historic milestones

1992 - 2001

2002 - 2011

2012 - 2022

I know that many of our employees are already actively involved in taking in refugees, collecting donations and actively supporting projects such as those for Ukrainian children from war zones.

Finetech joins this willingness to help with a donation of 50,000 EUR to the Emergency Ukraine Aid of "Aktion Deutschland hilft" (https://www.aktion-deutschland-hilft.de/de/hilfseinsaetze/nothilfe-ukraine).

The money is used by "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" for medical supplies, water, food, clothing, sleeping bags, heaters and the establishment of Wi-Fi networks, among other things. In addition, the donations are used for transports and evacuations as well as for psychological help on site and much more.

At the same time, we are all aware of how important it is to enable the newly arrived people in the country to have a perspective and livelihood. Therefore, Finetech will explicitly publish job offers on job portals that actively target qualified professionals from the crisis region.

My sincere thanks to all our employees and I hope that this war will soon come to an end.

Carlotta Baumann, CEO, Finetech

With the Covid-19 pandemic, Finetech USA understands the importance of local engineering support and having equipment onhand for our customer needs. Neil O’Brien, general manager, said, “The new cleanroom is part of our mission to provide the very best local application support, process development services, and customized training in North America. The ability to preserve valuable samples in a clean environment and quickly produce true working assemblies is a huge advantage for our customers.“

The latest generation

Finetech introduces the completely revised new generation of the well-regarded multi-purpose bonder.

The FINEPLACER® pico 2 comes with a standard placement accuracy of 3 µm, making it suitable for demanding assembly processes of miniaturized components. In addition, the die bonder offers maximum application flexibility due to its modular system architecture. In today’s packaging technology, requirements often arise in the course of development or change with new findings. The FINEPLACER® pico 2 was designed to accommodate a large number of technology and process modules as well as application-specific tools, offering maximum flexibility in the design of processes and enabling all assembly and manufacturing options to be tested on the same machine.

Depending on the configuration, the FINEPLACER® pico 2 supports all typical bonding technologies such as soldering, adhesive bonding, ultrasonic and thermocompression bonding, as well as  processes using  process and forming gas, dispensing or UV curing.

If additional tasks are added, the system can be retrofitted on site throughout the entire service life.

The FINEPLACER® pico 2 offers a spacious working area which supports 300 mm wafers and enables batch processes. An unobstructed design allows users to add third-party functionalities and customize the bonding system at any time.

Highest process reliability and easy-to-use software

In addition to flexibility, the FINEPLACER® pico 2 offers high process reliability. The structural rigidity of the design, high-resolution vision alignment system and motorized bond arm enable assembly processes to be implemented accurately and reproducibly, thus minimizing costly scrap.

The system is supported by the state-of-the-art and user-friendly IPM Command operating software, which is available for the first time on the FINEPLACER® pico platform.

IPM Command makes it very easy for the user to concentrate on the core tasks involved in application development and minimizes operating errors.

In combination with the flexibly configurable hardware, the operating software offers a unique range of intervention options for process optimization and ensures process results of the highest quality at every stage of product development.

Low-risk product development with "Prototype to Production

Like all current FINEPLACER® die bonders, the FINEPLACER® pico 2 follows Finetech's "Prototype to Production" approach of a cross-system, unified hardware and software platform. It enables R&D processes to be seamlessly transferred with all their technological diversity from development lab to production environment. This opens up adapted product development strategies with minimized financial risk, especially for users with tight budgets and uncertain development projects.

Developers can begin their projects with a comparatively low initial investment on a manual FINEPLACER® R&D bonder. In the creative phase, they benefit from the open design and freedom of a versatile and highly adaptable manual development system. Once the new product is ready for production, the R&D processes are transferred 1:1 to a FINEPLACER® production system and automated without additional development effort.

This enables flexible and low-risk product development in every respect and paves the way for the efficient, fully-automated production of innovative sensors, detectors and other semiconductor products.

Live at Productronica 2021

This new multi-purpose bonder for laboratories and research will make its world debut at Productronica 2021 in Munich, booth B2.411.

To ensure that all types of facilities, from R&D departments and production facilities at OEMs to scientific institutions and contract manufacturers, are optimally equipped for current and future tasks, the Finetech Berlin rework professionals developed the FINEPLACER® core^plus. This selective soldering station with temperature- and time-controlled automatic processes, and self-regulating adjustable touchdown force of the soldering arm, enables reproducible rework of virtually all SMD components on the market. In addition to standard components from extremely small to very large, it accommodates coils, connectors, daughterboards, underfill assemblies or passive resistors.
 

Equipped to perform the complete SMD rework cycle
The FINEPLACER® core^plus is fully equipped to perform the complete SMD rework cycle:  realignment or de-soldering of the component, residual solder removal, solder paste application and soldering of the new component.

In combination with easily configurable RGW color light, the high-resolution alignment optics provide sharp and high-contrast overlay images of chip and PCB. Thanks to 12x zoom magnification optics, the FINEPLACER® core^plus achieves a placement accuracy of 10 µm and enables reliable rework of components with an edge length of 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm.

For increased process reliability, all work steps can be monitored in-situ using a process camera that swivels 200° degrees around the solder joint. A 3x zoom magnification ensures that a particularly wide range of components can be viewed with the same configuration.  

A comprehensive array of solutions is available for the application of fresh solder (by dispenser or direct printing on the component) and for reballing BGA components.

For demanding components and special applications, Finetech develops application-specific soldering tools with vacuum support, in thermode design or with clamping or cutting functionality. The special tools allow safe handling of all types of SMD components, provide access even on densely populated boards, and effectively protect adjacent components from damage.

Hot gas technology – similar to a reflow oven
For preheating and reflow processes, the FINEPLACER® core^plus relies on efficient hot gas technology with profile-controlled bottom and top heating. The hot gas bottom heating enables homogeneous heat input onto the board, as no reflections or non-uniform surfaces interfere. This reduces board stress and protects the PCB tracks during the rework process. Using hot gas top heating and a soldering tool, the heat is directed specifically to the component in order to reflow the solder joints.

Another benefit is the optional use of nitrogen. Nitrogen creates a protective atmosphere around the solder joint and prevents the ingress of oxygen. This minimizes oxidation, optimizes the wetting behavior of the solder, and ensures long-lasting solder joints that meet the highest demands, as in aerospace or medical settings.
 

Safe user guidance for reproducible process results
The central control interface of the FINEPLACER® core^plus is the Reflow Command operating software, which clearly presents all profile parameters and guides the user safely through the rework process. A Sequence Control is used which allows mapping of the individual process sequence and supports the operator with every detail.

The user experience is rounded off by a graphical process selection. As a result, the hot gas rework station can be operated easily and intuitively after only a brief introduction and delivers reproducible process results regardless of the user's level of experience.
 

Live at Productronica 2021
Finetech will showcase the FINEPLACER® core^plus live at Productronica 2021, booth A4-181. All visitors are invited to bring their most challenging applications to see the capabilities of the rework system during a live rework demo in Munich.

Now Gunter Kürbis has passed the baton to the next generation. Carlotta Baumann is the first woman to take the position of managing director at Finetech GmbH & Co. KG. She has already been working in the same capacity for the rework and dispensing specialist MARTIN GmbH, a subsidiary of Finetech, since 2016.

For Carlotta Baumann, the move to Berlin marks a return to familiar territory. She once completed her master's degree in electrical engineering in the German capital, and Finetech is already well known to her through numerous work stays.

Carlotta Baumann: "First of all, my heartfelt thanks go to Gunter Kürbis, who significantly and with great commitment has shaped Finetech's success story. Taking over the management of Finetech now is a task that I am very much looking forward to. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary at Finetech this fiscal year and have a lot planned. Our customers can look forward to exciting new products that continue to cover the entire spectrum of applications from R&D labs to automated production environments. Finetech will continue to be their strong equipment partner on the journey from product development to industrial automated production."

Depending on specific needs, the modular FINEPLACER^® femto^blu can be individually configured and upgraded in-field to support additional applications and technologies.
A complete machine enclosure with optional HEPA filter minimizes external influences to ensure a stable process environment and protects the operator against gas, vapor and UV radiation.

The “DualCam” visual alignment system provides application-specific fields of view, digital zoom, and delivers optics shifting along the X-axis for optimal viewing of a wide spectrum of component sizes. The dual camera module ensures very high angular accuracy during alignment and almost completely eliminates coupling losses due to twisted components. Various LED lighting options ensure optimum contrast ratios at all times and support highly stable processes.

Process optimization with software power

IPM Command, the advanced FINEPLACER^® operating software, supports a consistent, ergonomic and clearly structured process development. It enables the synchronized control of all process parameters and additional process modules and provides pattern recognition for the automated alignment of substrates and components based on their structures and patterns.

IPM Command offers an unparalleled range and depth of user intervention options for process control and optimization. This allows sophisticated alignment and assembly processes of the highest quality.

Seamless transition from R&D to production

The FINEPLACER^® femto^blu follows Finetech's "Prototype to Production" approach of a hardware and software platform that is consistent across FINEPLACER^® machines of the new generation. It enables R&D processes to be seamlessly transferred in all their technological diversity from the development lab to the production environment. This opens up adapted product development strategies with minimized financial risk, especially for users with small and uncertain development projects.

They start their development projects with a comparatively low initial investment on a manual FINEPLACER^® R&D bonder. In the creative phase, they benefit from the open design and all the freedom of a versatile and highly adaptable development system. Once the new product is ready for production, the R&D processes are transferred to a FINEPLACER^® production system and automated without additional development effort. For example, this can be the FINEPLACER^® femto^blu, which enables product developers to cost-effectively enter the fully automated production of innovative photonics products.

Learn more about the FINEPLACER^® femto^blu at CIOE 2021, booth #14C61-1, and at Productronica 2021, hall B2, booth #411.

The joint project involves members from industry and science, namely Robert Bosch GmbH, Q.ant GmbH, Würth Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG as well as the universities in Stuttgart and Ulm. Other associated project partners include Daimler AG and Bosch Sensortec GmbH.

High-precision integration of micro-optical components on systems from Finetech

During the development of the vector magnetometer, for the first time all components required for the function, such as laser diode, diamond, optical filter, photodetector and a circuit for generating a microwave field, are integrated on a printed circuit board substrate using micro-optical assembly and packaging technology suitable for series production. For the product-oriented validation of the application advantage, an indoor localization system is realized, which achieves resolutions of less than 1 cm using the diamond magnetometer and thus a significantly improved measurement accuracy compared to current solutions.

For the integration of the micro-optical components, Finetech supplies placement and assembly systems with a placement accuracy of better than one micrometer to the project partners and provides application support in the context of photonic integration as well as for prototype construction and benchmarking of the sensors.

Finetech has over 25 years of experience in sub-micron bonding and strong expertise in handling opto and microelectronic components and is looking forward to contributing to the success of this challenging and forward-looking project in quantum sensing by providing its high-precision placement and assembly systems, process modules and application-specific bonding tools.

New address: 544 W Iron Avenue, Ste 102, Mesa, AZ 85210

Our international sales & service offices

Finetech – when it really matters

AEMtec was developing and manufacturing complex and valuable assemblies for wafer steppers. Intermediate testing was carried out to examine proper functioning in any sub-assembly stage. This testing showed performance levels which did not match the specifications, so that several sub-assemblies had to be reworked. Thus, AEMtec approached Finetech for their comprehensive application experience. Assembly of multi-chip modules with numerous solder pads onto ceramic components resulted in some faulty connections, due to which the whole component would not function properly.  The task was to replace individual defective chips in a high-density environment without affecting other parts.

• Two rows with 8 chips, each in the size of 5 x 15 mm2, placed with a gap of 0.5 mm
• None of the adjacent chips should be disturbed or damaged during the rework cycle
• 100% reliable yield needed

The rework cycle included chip desoldering, residual solder removal, precise placement and soldering of a new chip onto the component.

The challenging part of the task was the ceramics itself; its unusual thickness of more than 30 layers needed a lot of thermal input to desolder certain chips. However, the thermal energy had to be strictly focused on the defective areas to prevent it from spreading over the whole component area

Read the full story

Prototype-to-production assembly of array radiation detectors
John Eger, Process Engineer for Kromek, has had a nearly 20 year, long-term relationship with Finetech, installing his first 5 µm FINEPLACER® pico die bonder back in 2002.

The machine provided John the ability to prove out his concept through R&D to moderate production volume. As demand grew, the human limitations of repeatability and throughput, along with the need for higher accuracies, dictated a clear need for a new equipment solution. Finetech supported the transition to the fully-automated FINEPLACER® femto 2 bonder.

Kromek‘s volume assembly processes consist of epoxy dispense and picking and placing of multiple high density array radiation detectors with high precision. 
 

Read the full story

Thanks to its modular system architecture, the tabletop die bonder can be configured for a wide range of bonding technologies and applications. To meet new requirements, the system can be retrofitted and upgraded throughout its service life. With a FINEPLACER® pico ma die bonder you never have to settle and are well prepared for all eventualities.

Add to this the open, unobstructed design. Use all the freedom of the generous working area for precision assembly on particularly large substrates or expand the die bonding system with third-party functionalities. Your die bonder is capable of growing with your requirements and supports you in creative process design at all times.

With the virtues of a production die bonder
The FINEPLACER® pico ma combines this flexibility with the virtues of a genuine production die bonder. Despite manual process control, the FINEPLACER® pico ma die bonder stands for reproducibility and a high yield. Thanks to the high rigidity of the machine design and the high-resolution vision alignment system with fixed beam splitter, you always hit the target. In addition, all process modules and parameters such as temperature, time, force, flow and illumination are centrally controlled via the operating software. The integrated process management makes it particularly easy for you to focus on the core tasks in application development, to work in a structured manner and to minimize operating errors.

Whether in R&D or small volume production - the FINEPLACER® pico ma die bonder always gets straight to the point. Despite full access to all process parameters, the short setup and changeover times and the intuitive process creation save you valuable minutes of lab time every day, especially with frequently changing applications, and ensure high throughput. Numerous options for process traceability and documentation ensure common quality standards and support easy editing.

Higher placement accuracy on request
For working with particularly demanding product designs and assembly processes, the FINEPLACER® pico ma die bonder is also available with a placement accuracy of 3 µm instead of the usual 5 µm via the optionally available Zoom-Optics^plus.

Especially if you frequently work within very tight tolerances, the increased placement accuracy enables an extended process window and ensures more process reliability and yield. Thanks to the higher resolution, you can see alignment structures even more clearly and get more informative value in process documentation and in the evaluation of materials and surfaces. You have more leeway in process design and open up additional applications. Last but not least, you need to recalibrate the alignment accuracy of your die bonder less often and save further laboratory and development time.

Cost-performance-leader
With its economical operation, application flexibility as well as technological and functional diversity, the FINEPLACER® pico ma die bonder offers an outstanding return on investment. Thanks to its high process reproducibility in combination with the benefits of an optionally increased placement accuracy of up to 3 µm, the system can cover even demanding production tasks in addition to its traditional home in the R&D lab, as long as smaller quantities are manufactured and the switch to Finetech's fully automated solutions for high-volume production would be too early.

For a new application, key requirement was the stacking of a number of membrane chips, each several cm in size, on top of each other with very high precision. After completion of all placement and stacking steps, the post-bond accuracy of the overall process had to be less than 1 µm.

The previous system, an in-house design based on an old 3-inch mask aligner, reached its limits here due to a lack of spare parts and flexibility. For example, the lens distance could not be reduced, which limited the number of membranes which could be stacked on top of each other. The bonding force could not be controlled, which endangered the fragile membrane chips. Also, the adhesive for bonding the chips could not be applied in a defined manner and the overall process stability was not consistently given.

Therefore, IMS Chips were in the market for a new assembly system that would continue to ensure the highest assembly precision, but offer more flexibility in terms of supported substrate and component dimensions. The bonding force should be process-controlled and adjustable over a wide force range, and the system should also have the option of precisely applying adhesive with a dispenser.

Read the full story

Besides their important role in domestic and international research and education, the USN is also traditionally deeply rooted in one of the most dynamic economic regions in the country. This is especially true for the Vestfold-based Department of Microsystems at the Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences, which has long been collaborating with local industrial partners in numerous R&D projects for innovations in microtechnology.
Under the Electronic Coast® brand, the USN together with close to three dozen member companies form an independent industrial association and expertise cluster, with the goal to strengthen the value creation and innovation in electronics and ICT-based companies in Vestfold and the region and to foster the development and commercialization of technology-based ideas.

Alongside the scientific perspective, the USN’s Department of Microsystems is the technological backbone, providing its partners with access to advanced lab facilities for microsystem technologies. A key element here: FINEPLACER® placement and assembly systems by Finetech.

 
It Started with a World’s First

Mr. Hoang-Vu Nguyen, Associate Professor at the Department of Microsystems, first learned about Finetech when visiting exhibitions at several packaging conferences in Europe and the US a couple of years back. He was impressed of the FINEPLACER®’s modular flexibility and ease of use. He thought it would be the perfect fit for his home lab and recommended the system to the department.

Read the full story