Phone: 561-842-4441 1100 Technology Place, Suite 104 - West Palm Beach, FL 33407 Fax: 561-842-2677
General Description
• Made from an ultra-pure Polystyrene (PS) material
• Embossed to reduce vacuum with smooth wafer surfaces
• Available in diameters from 25 mm to 300 mm
• Available in thickness from 0.25 mm to 0.80 mm
The Problem
• Thin wafers are difficult to ship and easy to break
• Backgrinding wafers down to less than 100 um is becoming common place;
damage to these wafers is very expensive due to their high value
• Thin wafer shipping problems are pervasive with many materials including Si, GaAs and many other
III-V and II-VI materials
• Polished surfaces and EPI layers may add stress to thin wafers making them more brittle
The Wafer Stiffener Solution
• Used in several ways to add rigidity to thin wafers
– 1 stiffener against the backside of a polished wafer in a
single wafer shipper
– 1 stiffener on both sides of a wafer in single wafer shipper
• Now used by many customers for 2+ years with good results
– Long track record of success with wafers as thin as 75 um
– Used in volume with wafers as large as 300 mm in diameter
• Ultra-pure PS is non-reactive with many surfaces