(EV Group: St. Florian, Austria) -- EV Group, serving advanced and future semiconductor designs and chip integration schemes, has unveiled its EVG120 automated resist processing system—a major update to one of the company’s leading coater/developer platforms.

Incorporating a new compact architecture, breakthrough capabilities, and design enhancements leveraged from the widely adopted EVG150 system, the new EVG120 delivers significantly higher throughput, greater flexibility, and improved process control compared to the previous generation. It does this in a smaller footprint optimized for customers with a high mix of products and resist processes that demand maximum flexibility.

Ideal for advanced packaging, MEMS, image sensors, photonics, power devices, wafer probe cards, and other fast-growing application areas, the EVG120 supports spin-coating, spray-coating, and developing of photoresist materials used in photolithography. It accommodates a wide range of substrate types and sizes (from 2 in. up to 200 mm), and supports a variety of resist materials, including thin, thick, positive tone and negative tone, dielectric materials such as PI and PBO, as well as black/color/IR resists for specialty applications.

New platform, expanded capabilities

The EVG120 has been redesigned around a compact 200 mm platform that integrates up to two wet processing modules and 14 bake/chill plates—a 40% increase in capacity over the previous-generation platform. The system’s footprint has also been reduced by more than 20%, while design improvements enable easier access for tool maintenance and flexible modular configuration.

The system introduces multiple new capabilities, including:
• Wafer edge exposure (WEE)—enables selective edge exposure for improved edge accuracy and uniformity
• In-situ resist thickness measurement—enables real-time process monitoring for improved yield and process control (measurement range: 50 nm to 50 micron)
• Enhanced high-viscosity dispense system—high-pressure dispensing with closed-loop feedback provides precision coating performance on thick photoresists
• Support for SMIF loadports—enables cleaner and more efficient material handling
• Standby mode—reduces energy consumption during idle periods; supports SEMI E167 compliance

These additions build on EVG’s proven coating technologies, such as CoverSpin bowl design, which provides superior uniformity and reduces material consumption; and OmniSpray conformal spray-coating technology, which provides optimal coating of surfaces with severe topographies and fragile substrates.

Thomas Glinsner, corporate technology director at EV Group, says, “The next-generation EVG120 platform leverages EV Group’s decades of experience in photoresist and lithography processing to support the rapidly diversifying needs of our customers, from R&D through volume production. With new capabilities such as in-situ metrology and wafer edge exposure, as well as features inherited from our EVG150 platform, the EVG120 delivers an unmatched combination of coating and developing performance, throughput, flexibility, and cost of ownership in a compact, production-ready platform.”

Product availability

EVG is now accepting orders for the EVG120 system. Demonstrations are available at EVG’s corporate headquarters. Click here for more information.

The EVG120 automated resist processing system from EV Group provides significantly higher throughput, greater flexibility, and improved process control compared to the previous generation, all in an ultracompact platform. Credit: EV Group