Kyoto, Japan – October 6, 2014 – SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd. (President: Tadahiro Suhara), a member of the SCREEN Holdings Group, has announced the upcoming release of its new 80EX Spray Coater. The system is a resist spray coater specially designed for electronic devices with 3D structures. It offers excellent coating uniformity of photoresist on MEMS* substrates, which are experiencing increasing demand due to the growing functionality of, particularly, smartphones, wearable devices and medical equipment. Sales of the system are scheduled to begin in October 2014.

In recent years, rapid progress has been made in incorporating MEMS and other electronic devices offering low power consumption, high performance and extreme compactness into smartphones, wearable devices and medical equipment. This has in turn spurred demand for MEMS and other electronic devices. However, the production of these devices has necessitated the use of increasingly complicated 3D structures.

When using conventional spin coaters in the photoresist coating process, stepped parts are not sufficiently covered with photoresist. The difficulty of achieving highly uniform coating of such devices has become a key issue for the electronics device industry and the need has grown for a high-productivity system that can provide uniform resist coating of substrate surfaces with 3D structures.

In response to these industry needs, SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions has developed the 80EX Spray Coater, a resist coating system designed specifically for electronic devices with 3D structures. Work on this system has been overseen by the company’s Frontier Project, a program started in 2010 to progressively open up new business domains within the semiconductor manufacturing equipment field.

The system uses a spray mechanism to coat photoresist and protective layers, enabling it to achieve highly uniform coverage of stepped areas, which was extremely difficult with conventional systems. As a coater/developer, the system also incorporates a proven, high-speed transfer mechanism and multiple processing units. These technologies provide high productivity and also enable the processing of thin wafers and coating of both top and bottom surfaces, making this spray coater a truly practical system.

With the launch of the 80EX Spray Coater, SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions has significantly enhanced its lineup of systems for the electronic device field. Demand for MEMS and other electronic devices is expected to continue its current growth and the system will help to further expand this business domain. SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions will also continue its efforts to meet the varied needs of semiconductor manufacturers and contribute to the expansion of the overall industry.

 
*MEMS(Microelectromechanical systems): A general term for the microelectronic machine systems and related technologies included as part of semiconductor manufacturing technologies. MEMS are used in a wide range of products, such as the optical elements of projectors, heads of inkjet printers and various types of sensors.

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