Chucks & Precision Components

The electrostatic chucks (ESCs) and vacuum chucks we design and manufacture are used in many sectors within the semiconductor industry. Their function is to pick up a wafer, hold it, align it, maintain a standard temperature and release the wafer after the processing step without damaging it or contaminating it in a major way.

Our portfolio also includes highest precision components, such as high precise mirror blocks and metrology frames with mirrors and measurement surfaces. Our customer-specific light-weight structures with high stiffness and the best flatness allow us to optimize functionality for dynamic processes in the production of semiconductors.

You can find specifications about the chuck solutions developed in Berlin under Chuck Design.

Our key components

Electrostatic Chucks

We provide electrostatic chucks for wafers up to 450 mm in diameter with customer-specific designs made from various materials. The ESCs use an electrostatic field under vacuum conditions in order to constrain electrically conductive substrates (e. g. silicon wafers) as well as glass. You can find more information about our development expertise in the chuck design section.

Specifications & Properties

Size/geometry	up to 450 mm (18 inches)
Materials	Metals (aluminium with coating), ceramics (SiC, SiSiC, AlN, Si₃N_4,Al₂O_3,cordierite), glass and ceramics (borosilicate, quartz glass, ULE®, Zerodur®)
Design	Customer-specific (e. g. light-weight structure, interior cooling channels, heating filaments...)
Electrode design	Monopolar, bipolar, customer-specific structures (e. g. finger structure)
Surface structuring	Customer-specific pin & seal designs (optimized flatness/contact surface upon request)
Flatness	Global flatness: up to 100 nm PV (D=298 mm) Local flatness: up to 10 nm (20x20 mm²)
Warped wafer chucking	Absorption of warped wafers and flatten warped wafers
Shape control	Targeted adjustment of wafer chuck shapes possible
Clamping/declamping time	up to 0.1 s (depends on clamping length, dielectric, temperature)
Clamping pressure	Typically up to 500 mbar
Operational temperature	-30 ^◦C to 600 ^◦C (depends on material)
Surface roughness	up to Ra < 1 nm (depends on material)
Tempering/coating	Layers for wear protection and/or surface discharge (TiN, CrN, Al2O3, ...) and/or customer-specific coating design

Testing & qualification

Geometric testing	Interferometer (measurements in stack with substrate) and coordinate measuring machines
Electric testing	Capacitiy and high-voltage resistance tests
Functional testing	Stack measurements, backside gas leakage, resistance tests, residual gas analysis (RGA)
Computer analysis	FEA (e. g. modal analysis)

For additional information on the technical details and specifications, please refer to our data sheet

Electrostatic Chuck.

Our electrostatic chucks are used in the following areas:

Lithography (EUV, DUV, VIS)
Inspection (e-beam)
Metrology
3-D-packaging
Coating (OLED)
Bonding technologies
Display manufacture
Wafer handling
High temperature applications up to 600 ^◦C

Vacuum Chucks

We design and manufacture vacuum chucks (up to 450 mm) from various materials like ceramics and glass ceramics for whatever specific application you have. Our vacuum chucks are employed under atmospheric conditions and stand out due to their application-optimized flatness (up to < 100 nm), high holding force, high temperature stability and high stiffness.

Specifications & Properties

Size/geometry	up to 450 mm (18 inch)
Materials	Metals (aluminium with coating), ceramics (SiC, SiSiC, AlN, Si₃N_4,Al₂O_3,cordierite), glass and glass ceramics (borosilicate glass, quartz glass, ULE®, Zerodur®)
Design	Customer-specific (e. g. light-weight structure, interior cooling channels, heating filament...)
Vacuum design	Multiple and separated vacuum segments available
Surface structuring	Customer-specific pin & seal designs (optimized flatness/contact surface upon request)
Flatness	Global flatness: up to 100 nm PV (D=298 mm) Local flatness: up to 10 nm (20x20 mm²)
Warped wafer chucking	Absorption of warped wafers and flatten warped wafers
Shape control	Targeted adjustment of wafer chuck shapes possible
Clamping pressure	up to 1 bar
Operational temperature	-30 ^◦C to 600 ^◦C (depends on material)
Surface roughness	up to Ra <1 nm (depends on material)
Tempering/coating	Layers for wear protection particle reduction (TiN, CrN, DLC, SiC) and/or customer-specific layer designs

Testing & qualification

Geometric testing	Interferometer (measurements in stack with substrate) and coordinate measuring machines
Functional testing	Stack measurements, resistance tests, leakage tests, residual gas analysis (RGA)
Computer analysis	FEA (e. g. modal analysis)

We can also integrate cooling and heating functions as well as light-weight structures upon request.

Our vacuum chucks are used in the following areas:

Lithography
Inspection
Metrology
Bonding technologies
Wafer handling

Precision Components

Berliner Glas produces structural precision components with CNC techniques and offers many different options to shape glass, glass ceramics and ceramics. These structural precision components provide excellent stiffness, the best flatness and individual light-weight structures.

This process allows us to create, with the highest degree of accuracy, contours made up of lines, curves or other arbitrary shapes that run together. This opens new pathways in functional design. We are also able to conduct the high precise installation work for fixtures on these structural components using our expansive experience and expertise in installation and tool design.

Gewichtsreduzierung durch Leichtgewichtsstrukturen Berliner Glas

Weight reduction via light-weight structures

Mirror and measurement surfaces

High precise mirror blocks and metrology frames with mirror and measurement surfaces allow us to precisely determine the position of components.

Light-weight designs provide considerably better performance in dynamic processes.

Specifications

Size/geometry	Max. 2,100x1,800x1,200 mm
Materials	Glass ceramics (e. g. Zerodur), cordierite. SiSiC, borosilicate glass, quartz glass
Flatness	Global flatness: up to 200 nm PV (800x800 mm) Local flatness: up to 2 µrad (26x32 mm²)
Reflectivity of the mirror layers	Up to >95 %
Squareness of the mirror surfaces	Up to 5 µrad
Design	Light-weight, installation of fixtures (adhesive, optical contact bonding, anodic bonding)