Solstice selected for unique hardware that will enable handling and plating of glass substrates and interposers
Solstice S8 Single-Wafer System from ClassOne Technology
KALISPELL, Mont., Sept. 11, 2024 – ClassOne Technology, a leading global provider of advanced electroplating and wet processing tools for microelectronics manufacturing, today announced it has received an order from new customer Samtec for a Solstice® S8 single-wafer processing system. Samtec will use the eight-chamber Solstice to process its Glass Core Technology family of products that includes glass interposers, smart glass substrates and microstructured glass substrates. ClassOne expects to deliver the system by end of year.
Glass substrates offer high structural integrity, resistance to vibration and temperature, environmental ruggedness, and low electrical loss, making them ideal for next-generation microelectronics demands. Samtec’s proprietary Glass Core Technology process leverages the performance benefits of glass to enable performance optimized, ultra-miniaturized substrates for next-generation designs. The company’s through-glass-via (TGV)-enabled glass substrates permit the integration of glass and metal into a single wafer, while interposers promote more efficient package interconnects and manufacturing cycle times.
Proprietary hardware within the Solstice system’s plating rotors and reactors will enable Samtec to optimize handling and plating of its glass products in a high-volume manufacturing environment. To enable simultaneous plating using different metals, the Solstice S8 will be configured with multiple reactors including GoldPro, CopperMax, and Gen 4 ECD. In addition to plating, the system will be implemented for surface preparation processes such as metal wet etch, redistribution layers (RDL) on glass, and metal lift-off.
“We investigated a number of options for plating and wet processing of our glass products. ClassOne was the only company capable of meeting our needs,” said Jeremy Wooldridge, vice president, advanced technology, Samtec. “The flexible Solstice platform’s ability to house multiple processes in one system and unique hardware design makes it ideally suited to accommodate our glass substrates’ requirements.”
Byron Exarcos, CEO, ClassOne Technology, stated, “The semiconductor industry is racing toward viable solutions for high-volume manufacture of glass substrates. We’re excited to have our Solstice S8 system play a role in implementing production-level plating of the TGVs that enable Samtec’s unique Glass Core Technology portfolio.”
