EV Group (EVG) of St Florian, Austria, a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment, says it has achieved strong revenue growth and expanded its headcount in Q1/2013. The firm attributes this to continuing demand for its flexible process solutions designed to address high-volume manufacturing (HVM) needs across multiple markets, including compound semiconductors, 3D-ICs, MEMS, and power devices.
EVG is showcasing its latest technology innovations this week at SEMICON West 2013 in San Francisco. In addition to unveiling a series of new solutions, EVG also says that it continues to expand its wafer processing services and process development consultation capabilities worldwide as part of the firm's long-term growth strategy.
"2013 has been a strong year for EV Group as we continue to invest in new technologies and capabilities to support our customers' ability to ramp next-generation devices to volume production quickly and cost-effectively at high yields," said Dave Kirsch, vice president and general manager of EV Group North America. "This requires not only leading-edge process equipment but also world-class global support and process development services. EVG's local teams work hand in hand with our corporate headquarters to provide increased flexibility and capability for our customers. That includes our ability to offer small-scale and pilot-production services at our global applications labs, which is a key differentiator for us and a key value proposition for customers."
During Q1/2013, EVG achieved approximately 10% growth in sales and a more than 10% increase in staff. To support its customers' roadmaps, EVG continues to invest in research and development (approximately 20% of sales) in several key efforts, including 450-mm tool development. Among these efforts, EVG has invested in new state-of-the art cleanrooms and application labs with in-house process demo capability on fully automated systems at its corporate headquarters in Austria, as well as its regional headquarters in Japan and North America.
EVG recently unveiled several new platform developments in both fusion bonding and temporary bonding/debonding applications. At SEMICON West, the firm unveiled the latest version of its EVG40NT automated measurement system, which features improved specifications to achieve the highest wafer-to-wafer alignment accuracies needed for the production of next-generation 3-D integrated image sensors and stacked memory devices. EVG40NT is seamlessly integrated with EVG's GEMINI FB automated production fusion bonding system to enable a closed-loop control system that facilitates customers' ramp to volume production across multiple markets and applications. Last week, EVG also introduced its LowTemp debonding platform, which features three high-volume-production room-temperature debonding process types and is supported by a supply chain of seven qualified adhesive suppliers to enable greater manufacturing flexibility.
Recently, the firm introduced its EVG120 automated resist processing system, which integrates spin/spray coating and wet processing, and is suited for a wide variety of markets and applications, including high-topography coating and spray coating for MEMS, thick-film resists and bumping for advanced packaging. It is also suited for passivation, dielectrics and thick-film processing for compound semiconductor devices.
EVG presentations at SEMICON West:
Markus Wimplinger, corporate technology development and IP director of EVG, will present "High Resolution In-line Metrology Module for High-Volume Temporary Bonding Applications" at the SEMATECH Workshop on 3D Interconnect Metrology on Wednesday, July 10 from 11:20 – 11:40 am at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco. Dr. Thorsten Matthias, business development director at EV Group, will present "From Sensor Fusion to System Fusion" at the TechXPOT session "MEMS and Sensor Packaging for the Internet of Things" on Thursday, July 11 from 12:10 – 12:30 pm in the Moscone North Hall.
