EV Group (EVG), a leading supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it is partnering with DELO, a leading manufacturer of industrial high-tech adhesives, in the area of wafer-level optics (WLO). Both companies, well-known for their leading roles in optical sensor manufacturing, are combining efforts to enable novel optical devices and applications, such as biometric authentication and facial recognition, for the industrial, automotive and consumer electronics markets utilizing EVG’s leading lens molding and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) process equipment and DELO’s advanced adhesives and resist materials.
The partnership, which is being carried out within EVG’s NILPhotonics® Competence Center at its headquarters in St. Florian, Austria as well as at DELO’s headquarters in Windach, Germany, will contribute to improving and speeding up material development cycles. EVG’s NILPhotonics Competence Center provides an open access innovation incubator for customers and partners across the NIL supply chain to collaborate to shorten development cycles and time to market for innovative devices and applications. Infrastructure includes state-of-the-art cleanrooms and equipment supporting key NIL manufacturing steps such as step-and-repeat mastering, lens molding and EVG’s SmartNIL® technology, as well as wafer bonding and required metrology. This provides a unique offering to easily access the latest technologies and materials for WLO development, prototyping and manufacturing.
Company executives will be available to discuss this latest joint-development effort at SEMICON Europa, taking place this week at the Messe Munich in Munich, Germany from November 12-15.
Supply Chain Collaborations Driving Adoption of Wafer-level Optics
Advanced adhesives and resists play a pivotal role in enabling wafer-level production of next-generation optical sensors for mass markets. The development of advanced optical materials requires extensive characterization of chemical, mechanical and optical properties as well as proven scalability for high-volume manufacturing (HVM). Particular know-how of material requirements for automated molding and demolding processes as well as excellent material compatibility of working NIL stamps and resists are important as they enable optimal WLO performance at the smallest form factors using proven HVM processes.
