Onto Innovation Debuts Sub-surface Defect Inspection for Advanced Packaging

News

Onto Innovation Debuts Sub-surface Defect Inspection for Advanced Packaging

2024-04-23 19:32 Last Updated At：20:01

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 23, 2024--

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE: ONTO) today announced the release of a new sub-surface inspection capability for the Dragonfly ® G3 sub-micron 2D/3D inspection and metrology platform. The new capability enables whole wafer inspection for critical yield impacting defects that can lead to lost die as well as entire wafers breaking in subsequent process steps. Such defects were previously impossible to find in a production environment. In today’s world of wafer thinning and multi-layer wafer or die bonding, sub-surface defects are far more dangerous than ever before as bonded layers are now a tenth of their former thickness and far more brittle and therefore more susceptible to damage pre- or post-bonding. Sub-surface defects that occur during the bonding or thinning process such as micro-cracks can cause not only die yield issues, but wafers can be shattered resulting in the loss of hundreds of die in an instant.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240423254870/en/

Now, Onto Innovation is offering the capability to detect these yield killing defects on the well-established Dragonfly platform at production speeds. By using novel infra-red (IR) technology and specially designed algorithms, the Dragonfly platform provides customers a choice to scan the entire wafer for hidden defects rather than be limited to sampling only selected areas of the wafer. This greatly impacts final yield and cost savings through reduced scrapped wafer/die stacks.

“Customers are demanding 100% inspection capability with production-worthy throughput,” says Mayson Brooks, vice president and general manager of Onto’s inspection business. “The Dragonfly G3 system’s new high speed IR capability delivers just that, combined with the flexibility to select from multiple objective lenses allowing customers to inspect at different magnifications for different applications and devices.”

“The Dragonfly G3 system with its enhanced sub-surface defect detection builds upon the previous model’s successful adoption by HBM customers for die position metrology on stacked dies and wafers,” says Brooks.

According to TechInsights, the market for inspection products supporting wafer level packaging (WLP) is forecast to grow from $400 million in 2024 to more than $600 million by 2028. The advanced node portion of this market supporting new HBM technologies as well as advanced GPUs used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications is currently outgrowing the overall market with an annual growth rate of >19%.

For more information about the high speed IR capability on the Dragonfly G3 system, contact us or reach out to your local sales team.

About Onto Innovation Inc.

Onto Innovation is a leader in process control, combining global scale with an expanded portfolio of leading-edge technologies that include: Un-patterned wafer quality; 3D metrology spanning chip features from nanometer scale transistors to large die interconnects; macro defect inspection of wafers and packages; metal interconnect composition; factory analytics; and lithography for advanced semiconductor packaging. Our breadth of offerings across the entire semiconductor value chain combined with our connected thinking approach results in a unique perspective to help solve our customers’ most difficult yield, device performance, quality, and reliability issues. Onto Innovation strives to optimize customers’ critical path of progress by making them smarter, faster and more efficient. With headquarters and manufacturing in the U.S., Onto Innovation supports customers with a worldwide sales and service organization. Additional information can be found at www.ontoinnovation.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”) which include statements relating to Onto Innovation’s business momentum and future growth; the benefit to customers and the capabilities of Onto Innovation’s products and customer service; Onto Innovation’s ability to both deliver products and services consistent with our customers’ demands and expectations and strengthen its market position, Onto Innovation’s beliefs about market opportunities as well as other matters that are not purely historical data. Onto Innovation wishes to take advantage of the “safe harbor” provided for by the Act and cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of various factors, including risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Onto Innovation’s control. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the Company’s ability to leverage its resources to improve its position in its core markets; its ability to weather difficult economic environments; its ability to open new market opportunities and target high-margin markets; the strength/weakness of the back-end and/or front-end semiconductor market segments; fluctuations in customer capital spending; the Company’s ability to effectively manage its supply chain and adequately source components from suppliers to meet customer demand; the effects of political, economic, legal, and regulatory changes or conflicts on the Company's global operations; its ability to adequately protect its intellectual property rights and maintain data security; the effects of natural disasters or public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on the global economy and on the Company’s customers, suppliers, employees, and business; its ability to effectively maneuver global trade issues and changes in trade and export regulations and license policies; the Company’s ability to maintain relationships with its customers and manage appropriate levels of inventory to meet customer demands; and the Company’s ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies. Additional information and considerations regarding the risks faced by Onto Innovation are available in Onto Innovation’s Form 10-K report for the year ended December 30, 2023, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As the forward-looking statements are based on Onto Innovation’s current expectations, the Company cannot guarantee any related future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Onto Innovation does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release, except as required by law.

Source: Onto Innovation Inc.

ONTO-IP

Texas Supreme Court halts execution of man in shaken baby case after lawmakers' last-minute appeal

2024-10-18 11:45 Last Updated At：11:51

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court halted Thursday night’s scheduled execution of a man who would have become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

The late-night ruling to spare for now the life of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in 2002, capped a flurry of last-ditch legal challenges and weeks of public pressure from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who say he is innocent and was convicted based on flawed evidence.

For hours on Thursday night, Roberson had remained in a prison holding cell a few feet from America's busiest death chamber at the Walls Unit in Hunstville.

"He praised God and thanked supporters,” said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez, who spoke with Roberson after the court stayed his execution.

Although Texas' highest court normally does not weigh in on criminal cases, how it got involved in Roberson's case in the final hours underlined the extraordinary maneuvers used by a bipartisan coalition of state House lawmakers who have come to his defense.

Blocked by courts and Texas' parole board in their efforts to spare Roberson's life, legislators on Wednesday took a different route: issuing a subpoena for Roberson to testify before a House committee next week, days after he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Less than two hours before Roberson's execution, a judge in Austin granted the lawmakers an order upholding the subpoena, putting the execution on pause. An appeals court then briefly reversed that decision but was overruled by the high court's order.

“We're deeply grateful to the Texas Supreme Court for respecting the role of the Texas legislature in such consequential matters," Democratic Rep. Joe Moody and Republican Rep. Jeff Leach wrote in a joint statement.

Roberson, 57, was convicted of killing of his daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. His lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia.

Gov. Greg Abbott had authority to delay Roberson’s punishment for 30 days. Abbott has halted only one imminent execution in nearly a decade as governor and has not spoken publicly about the case.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt the execution, although Justice Sonia Sotomayor — in a 10-page statement about the case — urged Abbott to grant a 30-day delay.

Roberson’s lawyers had waited to see if Abbott would grant Roberson a one-time 30-day reprieve. It would have been the only action Abbott could take in the case as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Wednesday denied Roberson’s clemency petition.

The board voted unanimously, 6-0, to not recommend that Roberson’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison or that his execution be delayed. All board members are appointed by the governor. The parole board has recommended clemency in a death row case only six times since the state resumed executions in 1982.

The one time Abbott halted an imminent execution was when he spared the life of Thomas Whitaker in 2018.

The Texas committee on Wednesday held an all-day meeting on Roberson's case. In a surprise move at the end of the hearing, the committee issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify next week.

During its meeting in Austin, the committee heard testimony about Roberson’s case and whether a 2013 law created to allow people in prison to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence was ignored in Roberson’s case.

Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, told the committee a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson’s attorneys presented their new evidence to a judge, who rejected their claims.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, a murder took place here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost 3-year-old daughter,” Mitchell said.

Most of the members of the committee are part of a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers, including at least 30 Republicans, who had asked the parole board and Abbott to stop the execution.

Roberson’s case has renewed debate over shaken baby syndrome, known in the medical community as abusive head trauma.

His lawyers as well as the Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others including bestselling author John Grisham say his conviction was based on faulty and now outdated scientific evidence. The diagnosis refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is hurt through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.

Roberson’s supporters don’t deny head and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died from complications related to severe pneumonia.

Roberson’s attorneys say his daughter had fallen out of bed in Roberson’s home after being seriously ill for a week.

Roberson’s lawyers also suggested his autism, then undiagnosed at the time of his daughter’s death, was used against him as authorities became suspicious of him because of his lack of emotion over her death. Autism affects how people communicate and interact with others.

Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70.