In the semiconductor industry, where the horizontal division between design and manufacture has advanced, new products are put to production in a short period of time. The reduction of the tact time of each process is required, and measuring process is no exception. 

Mitutoyo Corporation has released Quick Vision Pro, the fifth-generation non-contact vision measuring system. Equipped with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, it meets needs for high-speed measurement. 

The vision measuring system consists of an image sensor, a microscope unit, and a lighting unit.  An image enlarged by an optical lens is shot by an image sensor, and edges of the object to be measured are detected by software, thereby enabling non-contact dimensional measurement. 

Accurate Measurement

Strobe LED lighting with quick response suppresses the standstill time, thereby reducing the process time from the incorporation of image to measurement by about 40 percent from the existing model. 

Gas discharge shower heads that are used for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to deposit a thin film by flowing material gas and etching in semiconductor manufacturing have several tens of thousands of holes in a wafer size (about 30cm).  The size of the holes is a micrometer unit. The vision measuring system can measure the diameter and position accuracy of the holes. Moreover, it can also inspect appearance, such as mixing of foreign matters, chipping, and scratches. With an optional nonstop continuous measurement function, it reduces measuring time by 80 percent.

In terms of the measurement of components used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, aside from shower heads, the vision measuring system is used also for the measurement of electrostatic chucks that fix the wafer at the time of polishing and dicing. 

Main customers of image measuring equipment are manufacturers of the back-end processes.  Fan out panel level packages (FO-PLPs) are created by arranging many chips on a large panel larger than the wafer size.  The vision measuring system is used to determine position coordinate and inclination of chips on the panel. 

Quick Vision Pro comes with a rich lineup of lenses. The largest objective lens has a 25x magnification.  Combined with the built-in imaging lens, it has a maximum of 150x optical magnification. Monitor magnification is 4,300x.  It can measure home electric appliances, machined parts, and press-molded articles using low magnifications and electronic components, semiconductor components and other fine objects using high magnifications. The tacking auto focus function tracks the object to be measured through automatic measurement by a laser even if works deform.  In the measurement of connector terminals, previously it was necessary to focus each terminal. However, with the tracking function, Quick Vision Pro can instantly focus even if works move. 

The Quick vision Pro was released in May. At present, devices and semiconductor manufacturers, and equipment manufacturers are testing the actual system at Mitutoyo’s showroom.