VARIOSCALE : VarioEdit

VarioEdit is a fully automated tool for

• Laser Assisted Chemical Etching
• Laser Chemcial Vapor Deposition
• Laser Assisted Dielectric Deposition

VarioEdit uses laser assisted chemical processes to etch silicon, deposit metal and form an insulator. The etch process can rapidly micromachine the silicon substrate of packaged integrated circuits - a process that greatly simplifies subsequent circuit edits with a focused ion beam (FIB)

The deposition process can rapidly make pads and long interconnect lines ideal for testing internal circuit nodes. An insulator can be used to electrically isolate edits from the silicon substrate.

Both the etch and deposition processes use focused laser beam energy to thermally activate a highly localized gas-phase chemical reaction. When silicon is etched, material is removed in the gas phase resulting in a smooth, flat, clean surface.

Deposition techniques involve decomposition of an organometallic at the sample surface that results in high conductivity chemical vapor deposited (CVD) metal.

VarioEdit includes a process unit and a computer workstation. The process unit has its own control computer that communicates with the workstation via USB connections and can be operated remotely. A dry pump/effluent recovery system may also be supplied as part of the installation, as needed.

The workstation operates under Windows XP - VarioEdit typically is connected to the customer's internal network. Specialized software is also included to allow secure, remote access for Varioscales service and Optical profilometer data showing etch surface flatness on VarioEdit etched trenches on a flip chip support.