March Plasma Systems and Asymtek Partner for Improved Flip Chip Integrity in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Concord, CA - March Plasma Systems and Asymtek will partner at APEX 2003 in Anaheim, CA, to demonstrate their in-line capability for plasma treating flip chip assemblies prior to jetting underfill material. Featured will be the March XTRAK™ plasma treatment system in line with the Asymtek Axiom™ X-1020 system equipped with the DispenseJet® valve.

At the show, process carriers loaded with laminate package substrates will be transported into the March XTRAK plasma system from a magazine loader. The XTRAK's high-throughput plasma chamber accommodates large substrates or carriers such as Auer® boats holding multiple parts. The XTRAK can typically process a substrate or carrier in less than one minute.

Plasma modifies the surfaces on the package for improved underfill wicking speed, filet height and uniformity, and adhesion. It can both increase the surface energy of the package as well as add chemical function groups without changing the material properties of the bulk.

After plasma treatment, the process carrier is transported to the Asymtek Axiom™ X-1020 system for jetting underfill material. The X-1020 system offers precise positioning accuracy, using sealed glass linear encoders, and provides fast fluid dispensing control with the DispenseJet DJ-2100 series valve.

The DispenseJet valve is a non-contact, shot on-demand valve providing fast fluid dispensing of various fluids, including underfill. Using a patented high-speed mechanism, the jet is capable of shooting precise volumes of fluid with dot volume repeatability of ±3% on lines and patterns. Lines and complex shapes are constructed from adjacent dots. Programming these patterns are supported with an easy-to-use interface in FmNT 4.6 software. High-speed, non-contact jetting offers superior speed and quality over needle dispensing for a wide range of underfill applications. The DispenseJet valve is only available with Asymtek dispensing systems.

Asymtek and March Plasma Systems are subsidiaries of Nordson Corporation. They have common customers and serve similar markets in the electronics industry.

Celebrating 20 years of success in 2003, Asymtek supplies award-winning automated fluid dispensing systems to customers worldwide. Specializing in semiconductor, surface mount, and electronics packaging applications, they are committed to providing total dispensing solutions and local support. Find out more on their Web site at: http://www.asymtek.com.

March Plasma Systems is the leader in gas plasma technology for micro- and opto-electronics, PCB, and webbed material industries. Batch systems are available in several chamber sizes with multiple-shelf configurations to accommodate magazines, strips, circuit boards, wafer and process carriers. In-line systems can support multiple substrates or carriers per run, and are SMEMA-compatible. Visit their website at www.marchplasma.com for a comprehensive overview of their plasma treatment systems.