Advanced automated packaging and testing equipment to allow high volume manufacturing Torsten Vahrenkamp Torsten.Vahrenkamp@ficontec.com Silicon Photonics Session www.ficontec.com
Our mission / what we do We are a machines manufacturer for medium and high volume micro-assembly and test of photonic devices Our machines are the embodiment of a customer process needs Customized machines tailored to customers requirements based on a modular platform 130 employees mainly engineers with photonics and machine engineering background > 400 machines shipped to the biggest photonic companies world wide with support teams in China, US, Thailand and Taiwan 2
Front-end / back-end Advances of Si photonics front-end at wafer level have reduced costs and offer a variety of photonics elements (modulator, switches, coupling gratings, etc.) Complex photonics circuits can be designed and optimized with dedicated design library tools But the less noble back-end / packaging is still an expensive and complex problem to solve Mass production demands better PROCESS AUTOMATION for back-end Many concepts can be adopted from other fields of industrial automation and scaled down to the needs of silicon photonics packaging
PIC packaging: a cost issue From the previous photonics bubble (1999-2003) a lot has happened at wafer level, but not much on packaging Exploiting CMOS fab processes for SiP PICs is very cost effective But packaging / micro-assembly can beas much as 80% of the total costand is hampering a potentially huge market Conventional IC packaging cost is 10-12 % The fix is AUTOMATION CW IR Laser source with collimating optics and mirrors, approx 1.5 x 2 x 2,5 mm Chip with Mach-Zender modulators and grating optical couplers, wafer optical circuitry based on CMOS process 12 I/O fibers, 12 fibers spaced 250 µm apart
Automated micro-assembly and testing, 1 Automated assembly starts with pick & place and requires passive & active alignment with sub-micron accuracy, bonding, testing, From simple TOSA-ROSA assembly to very complex applications with active/passive alignment of > 30 elements for complex fully integrated transceivers From multi-fibers pig-tailing to alignment of free space micro-optics Testing (in-line) is part of the assembly process as reworking is almost impossible in most applications An optical receiver from the mid nineties
Automated micro-assembly and testing, 2 A more complex assembly of a PICs device The chip is being held on a vacuum chuck and is contacted by electrical probes (left) The fiber-array block is held on a 6-DOF mechanics (right) An epoxy dispensing cartridge an needle are also shown (top) A photonics chip being coupled to a fibre-array block
Automated micro-assembly and testing, 3 Increasing complexity: a free space optics complex transceiver is being assembled The individual lenses are 0,5 x 0,5 mm Two simultaneous active alignments are performed by the left and right gripper The actual optical beam is monitored by a BCT device (Beam Characterization Tool) 0,5 x 0,5[mm] lens Passive & active alignment, bonding, electrical probing,
An example of a complex multi-element assembly Actual device not shown (under NDA) Complex assembly with > 30 different elements Typoptical element accuracy better than +/-1 µm Fiber pigtailing alignment down to 0.1 µm Both active and passive alignment (3 2 video-clip)
The Key Elements toadvanced Automated Packaging and Test Equipment 9
Modular enclosures and modules, optical grade granite base, high precision motion,(like LEGO) 3 Axis Gantry Z-Head Tool Holder 6-Axis Alignement System Trays Damping Unit Granite Base 10
System platforms in different form factors 300 500 1000 2000 11
Machine vision Visible and IR cameras Sensorsize / resolution constantly increasing while cost decreases Plenty of available libraries Modular/ scriptable sw Calibrationof image space & motion space required 12
Pick, Place and Feeding From wafers, Gel Packs, Waffle Packs, Auger boats, ad-hoc trays,.. From very large to very small components 13
Micro handling tools and fixtures Vacuum tools Piezo micro grippers Force controlled actuators Single devices as small as 170 x 170 µm Vacuum tools with gripper Vacuum Tool for Chip Size down to 170µm x 170µm Micro Gripper with 400µm x 200µm lens Vacuum Tool with Electrical Probe 14
Bonding: from epoxy to laser Die bonding Flip chip bonding Optical element bonding Epoxy accurate / meter micro-dispensing and positioning UV flashing and thermal curing Laser welding / laser assisted soldering 3D Model of a Coaxial Laser Welder Epoxy bonding and UV flash curing 15
Modular application specific sw Easy to use operator interface User defined sequencing Multi-level operator permission / access Open user interface Process specific tuning and parameters editing Process yield / results & SQL database interfacing 16
AL 2000 based active LD to PLC assembly (7 46 )
Wafer-level assembly and testing Wafer-level assembly needs are increasing Wafer-level simultaneous optical and electrical probing need to be developed further Wafer level optics attach with active alignment and electrical probing @ ficontec 18
Future Developments Higher Degree of Automation required Full integration of test processes and even BurnIn carrier loading Much higher throughput(hunderds of components per hour) InLineSystem capabilitytocombineseveralevenverydifferent process steps Fiber preparation like fiber strip and cleave in the machine(no handling of delecate fiber by operators) Passive fiber attach or super fast active alignment More flexible machines which allow different form factor of devices Control of the machine by factory management systems 19
InLine and/or Modul Approach Automatical Handover Optic Assembly System Support Assembly System Automatic Handover Standard Interfaces? e.g. Fiber Preparation Device Feeling by operator or tray loader Control Final Test Modularity of a production line (Example)
Conclusive remarks What are the real production volumes? Photonics packaging lacks standards The technology bits are all available today Design and processes needs to target automation from the the very begining Automation is the key With the increase of manufacturing volumes and the decrease of PICs cost SPEED will be the major challenge in machine design The challenge can not be taken by the equipment vendors alone 21
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!! For further info please contact: Torsten Vahrenkamp: Torsten.Vahrenkamp@ficontec.com ficontec Service GmbH Rehland 8 28832 Achim / Germany www.ficontec.com