The initial Micro Processing Technology,
Inc. (MPT) mission was to develop advanced computer control technology
for the semiconductor equipment industry. In fact, MPT did this
successfully for several years, selling hardware and software packages
based on National Instruments products to companies retrofit
semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In 2001, MPT began working on a
project with SurvUs Company, an enterprise supplying high- level, wafer
dicing services. The two companies saw a need for a highly automated
wafer scriber that required minimal service and engineering support. As
a result, the two companies developed the Model 24-7 High-Precision
Scribe Dicing System.After device
fabrication completion on a semiconductor wafer, engineers must cut the
wafer into individual circuits and devices. For most standard silicon
devices, engineers carry out this dicing and singulation process using
a very thin, diamond-coated saw blade. Some devices and circuits must
be diced using other methods. Engineers fabricate some of these devices
and circuits on thin material that is damaged by the saw vibrations. In
addition, engineers fabricate other devices and circuits on very
expensive starting materials, such as gallium arsenide or indium
phosphide. The saw blade creates debris that harms other circuits and
devices, such as MEMS and imaging devices. Engineers dice these and
others using scribe dicing technology. In this process, the system
draws a sharp diamond tip across the wafer surface between the circuits
and devices along a crystallographic plane direction to form a scribe
line with precise positioning and depth. The system then breaks and
cleaves the wafer along this scribe line. Read the full case study
