Saint-Egrève, France – Vi TECHNOLOGY introduces the REVEAL Imager Series, at SEMICON West 2010 from July 13th to 15th, Booth 5377 - North Hall – San Francisco Moscone Center. Along with the product an automatic JEDEC Tray loader compatible with both REVEAL Imager and REVEAL MEMS Series will be demonstrated

The REVEAL Imager Series is an Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system for the semiconductor industry which drastically decreases assembly costs and improves the quality levels of image sensors and camera modules manufacturing assembly in Back End Of the Line environments. This versatile AOI provides best automated inspection capabilities for foreign materials and process defects thereby selecting only the know-good-dies and exact positioning of the sensor to significantly improve the lens-attach process yields. With a high flexibility and best automated inspection capabilities at production speed, the REVEAL Imager Series is a major contributor to assembly costs savings and provides a competitive edge to customers;

Designed with a robust and field-proven granite-based gantry for absolute stability, REVEAL Imager Series features high-accuracy axes. The Vi TECHNOLOGY® REVEAL product line high-end optical acquisition system with a sub-micron pixel size. It accurately detects any foreign material sized above 1-2μm, and checks for process defects such as striations, stain, or watermarks, etc... This AOI solution ensures a perfect cleanliness of the Image sensor before its assembly with the lens module and detects these defects on naked sensors or glass-capped TSV sensors. The inspection can be made at the pixel level or at the top or bottom sides of the capping glass material for maximum quality. At the same time, it can measure and forward-feed the exact sensor and pixel array positioning (array center X, Y; sensor rotation and tilt) to the lens attach system, to perfectly align the sensor and lens module optical axes. This feature set is a significant contributor to the lens-attach process yield improvement.

The REVEAL Imager Series optimizes the costs related to assembled materials (modules) and process steps (lens attach, final test, quality control…) by applying them to “known-good-dies” only. The automated optical inspection accuracy and repeatability levels allow an efficient replacement and improvement over manual inspection.

"The Camera modules packaging industry is currently under very high cost pressure. Components – sensors and lenses - become more and more complex and expensive, and every additional yield point significantly decreases skyrocketing scrap costs. To sustain the high-volume production of such high-end sensors, new ways of performing optical inspection become mandatory", said Jean-Yves Gomez, CEO of Vi TECHNOLOGY.

"By combining high inspection accuracy for micron-level defect detection and high production throughput, Vi TECHNOLOGY®'s REVEAL Imager Series provide a flexible and breakthrough solution to this packaging processes. The first on-site trials have demonstrated the capability and the huge cost savings generated by this inspection process. With a Return on Investment that can be as fast as one to three months, there is no wonder this product has already received such a great welcome in the industry", he added.

The REVEAL Imager system is a turnkey solution allowing either a standalone or an integrated in-line use with customized handling equipment. It can therefore be adapted to any products type and size as well as any carriers' kind such as stiffeners, PCBs or strips… Proposed with a factory-backed extended portfolio of warranty, support and services contracts, the REVEAL Imager AOI Series is a best-in-class solution that drastically decreases camera modules assembly costs and improves the production quality.

Vi TECHNOLOGY® REVEAL Imager new product is the first addition to the field-proven REVEAL Series AOI already available for MEMS. It brings an unmatched benefit in terms of assembly cost savings.