01 Aug 05Cascade Microtech's groundbreaking eVue™ Digital Imaging System achieves dramatic productivity gains for wafer navigation and testing

New system combines microscopy, digital imaging and prober control software to save hours each day

Beaverton, Ore.—August 1, 2005—Smaller integrated circuit dimensions, new materials and larger wafers all contribute to the challenges faced by semiconductor manufacturers in the design, production and testing of today’s leading-edge chips.  To address those challenges, Cascade Microtech (NASDAQ: CSCD), a leader in advanced electrical metrology systems and production probe cards, today announced the eVue™ digital imaging system to enable dramatic productivity gains in semiconductor wafer navigation and testing. Designed primarily for engineers doing process development or device characterization and modeling, using the eVue digital imaging system can easily save two to three hours a day that is currently wasted on inefficient semiconductor navigation and test data collection issues.

Optimized for on-wafer test with Cascade Microtech’s wafer probing stations, eVue^TM  allows users to navigate, observe, and measure leading-edge devices much quicker and more effectively than with a conventional microscope. It combines new wafer probe navigation tools and advanced video processing with next-generation digital microscope technology developed by Umech Technologies, a partner of Cascade Microtech.

“The eVue digital imaging system radically improves upon today’s methods of wafer navigation, test set-up, and probe contact accuracy forengineering measurements,” said John Pence, vice president and general manager, Engineering Products Division, Cascade Microtech. “With its one-of-a-kind integration of microscopy, digital imaging, and software, eVue is the first system to allow semiconductor R&D engineers to quickly set up, navigate, and profile wafers in one complete system.”

Beyond traditional microscopes

The eVue^TM  digital imaging system integrates many advanced optical, electronic and software technologies that are far more advanced than those of a traditional microscope or video camera.  At the core of the system is a multi-CCD microscope with high definition digital video and wide field/high magnification capabilities.  Three discrete optical paths, each with individual high-resolution CCD cameras, can be utilized to provide a state-of-the-art “multi-perspective” view of the device under test, radically improving navigation speed and accuracy. 

eVue’s wide “field of view” optics, in conjunction with its high definition video, allow engineers to see an extended view of the wafer when navigating, and see both ends of a probe card needle array when aligning small probe tips to test pads.

Automatically optimized system

The eVue^TM  intelligent objective lens mount stores critical lens-microscope performance information together with the objective lens. When a lens is changed for different test configuration, eVue reads the new lens data and is automatically configured and optimized. With this feature, wafer navigation, probe positioning accuracy, and “on-screen” measuring tape functions are all automatically optimized.

Pro Package software introduces new capabilities

The Pro Package version of eVue^TM  includes comprehensive software that adds powerful automation and productivity capabilities to a Cascade probe station. The toolkit has three software operation modes: Multi-Cam, Multi-View, and Multi-Z.  Multi-Cam mode offers one, two, or three simultaneous live video views, and each at a different perspective of the same device under test, so probe navigation and tracking is easier. Viewing can be optimized with picture-in-picture or side-by-side display layouts. Multi-View mode enables fast probe-card alignment and multiple test device viewing by utilizing the capability to see multiple digital views, each at different wafer locations and magnifications.  Finally, Multi-Z mode provides microscope auto-focus, optical height sensing and wafer profiling. Engineers can easily create wafer profile maps for multiple test temperatures, and recall them at each temperature to ensure precise probe touchdown and accurate data collection. Wafer Z-height can also be measured in real-time during “thermal soak time,” eliminating wasted time.