1 March 2012

Tokyo Institute of Technology installs EVG wafer cleaning system for advanced optical IC R&D

EV Group (EVG) of St Florian, Austria, a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system), nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, has shipped an EVG301 semi-automated single-wafer cleaning system to Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech). The EVG301 has already been installed at Tokyo Tech's Arai-Nishiyama Lab, and is being used in the R&D of advanced optical communication ICs, specifically to remove particles from the surfaces of pre-bonded III-V compound semiconductor and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers that are used in the production of optical ICs.

As network traffic continues to rise dramatically, the need for higher levels of integration in optical communication ICs - including the use of optical routers and wave division multiplexing (WDM) transceivers - is needed to keep transmission rates of each channel at manageable levels, says EVG. In response, Tokyo Tech's Arai-Nishiyama lab initiated work to develop compound semiconductor-based optical transceiver components on silicon, enabling higher levels of circuit integration. The EVG301 megasonic wafer cleaning system was accepted and installed by Tokyo Tech to help accelerate this project.

“When you build optical circuits on a silicon platform, creating high-quality luminescent components is essential, and improving wafer bond quality plays an important role in making this happen,” says Dr Nobuhiko Nishiyama, associate professor at Arai-Nishiyama Lab. “The existence of even very small particles creates voids on the wafer bonding interface, and such voids prohibit the normal performance of luminescent components,” he adds. “The EVG301 megasonic wafer cleaning system by EV Group completely removes such particles and enables perfect bonding results.”

Since today's electronics industry is built on high-speed/high-integration silicon devices, the integration of optical circuits on silicon not only improves network speed but also increases the functionality of IC devices, including membrane photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Effective stacking of III-Vs such as indium phosphide (InP) and gallium indium arsenide phosphide (GaInAsP) to create high-performance optical ICs on silicon is essential to enabling such higher integration and functionality, says EVG. Wafer cleaning technology removes voids caused by particles during the wafer bonding process.

“The EVG301 is widely used in research organizations as the de facto standard for wafer cleaning for various wafer bonding processes — and it is offered as a standard component to EVG's leading-edge, fully integrated wafer bonding systems,” notes Yuichi Otsuka, representative director of EV Group Japan KK.

See: EV Group Company Profile

Tags: EVG Tokyo Institute of Technology Wafer cleaning system

Visit: www.EVGroup.com

Visit: www.pe.titech.ac.jp/AraiLab