[labnetwork] Backside Alignment Microscopes

[Matthias Pleil]

Hello,
You may be able to get assistance from Kyle Willis - he is our go-to for our MA6/BA6 aligner.

https://www.wecpro.com/


Kind Regards,

Matthias Pleil, Ph.D.
Director Manufacturing Engineering Program
UNM MTTC Cleanroom Manager
Research Professor & Lecturer Mech. Eng - UNM
Office: (505)272-7157



________________________________
From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> on behalf of Owain Clark <odc1n08 at soton.ac.uk>
Sent: Monday, July 6, 2026 6:00 AM
To: Jeff McKay <jeffmckay at g.ucla.edu>; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Backside Alignment Microscopes


  [EXTERNAL]

No IR cameras on ours unfortunately Jeff, good luck!



From: Jeff McKay <jeffmckay at g.ucla.edu>
Sent: 03 July 2026 20:02
To: Owain Clark <odc1n08 at soton.ac.uk>; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Backside Alignment Microscopes



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@Kyle - Thanks for suggestion, but we are looking into more benchtop microscope tools



@Demis - For MA6 verification we have installed a halogen bulb on the bottomside and IR camera installed on topside for verification alignment. It is crude and built into the MA6 system and we are not able to pull images directly from it (cell phone images of the monitor....), we do use splitview and backside/frontside objectives during exposure though.



@Owain - Thanks, we have contacted our Nikon vendor and have encountered some slowness in getting the ball rolling.... Are you able to share any specific model#s for IR cameras and lamps that are attached to your scope?



Thank you all,

Jeff





On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 9:31 AM Owain Clark <odc1n08 at soton.ac.uk<mailto:odc1n08 at soton.ac.uk>> wrote:

Hi Jeff, we have been having some success with Nikon microscopes and automated stages (Marzhauser) then scripting NIS-Elements to acquire data. I expect automated data extraction would be possible from line slice intensity plots. Currently the users have managed to develop automated die grid inspection macros based on some example macros given by Nikon, anyone with a basic level of coding can get stuck in, API is C style syntax. I just made sure I had bullet proof hardware interlocks to prevent lens collisions in place first as it turned out joystick control of Z bypasses software soft limits, obvious in hindsight as it talks direct to motor controller.



Another nice part of the s/w is that the image stitching (mosaics) works quite well, so if you need high dpi resolution on larger images it’s an easy way – all callable from macros also. Or put a DS10 camera on and enjoy up to 24MP images per FoV.



I’m quite happy with this system, people are using it increasingly for automated in line quality steps throughout processing, our enterprise teams like it for the customers that demand quality inspections of every step.



O.



From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Jeff McKay
Sent: 02 July 2026 22:17
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: [labnetwork] Backside Alignment Microscopes



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Hello All,



We currently use Karl Suss MA6 for lithography on the backside of 4" InP wafers. It is critical that we have good back to front side alignment, and right now we can only use the MA6 to verify alignment.



Unfortunately there is no scale/camera options for outputting to get quantative data from our alignment.



We are looking for a bench top tool/microscope that would allow us to check alignment after development so that we are getting higher resolution and more quantative results. Does anyone have any recommendations?



Thanks,

Jeff McKay



Process Engineer

Global Communications Semiconductor

Torrance, CA
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