YIELD Engineering Systems Inc.

YES high temperature cure ovens are designed to provide a controlled ramp curing process for temperatures up to 450ºC in an oxygen-free environment. In addition, YES ovens provide a cleaner process in a controlled environment, so you’ll get higher yields. Our ovens offer a unique cooling package to reduce your process time and utilize laminar flow technology, so wafers in our ovens stay clean. (Automatic systems - see below)

Yield Engineering System’s YES 450PB Series

Critical steps in any cure process include complete removal of residual solvents, uniform temperature distribution, pressure control, ability to maintain dry inert atmosphere, and control of heating and cooling rates. Our systems achieve this plus particle reduction in most applications.

Yield Engineering System’s YES 450PB Series product line incorporates input from major semiconductor process engineers and manufacturers. As a result, these high temperature vacuum cure ovens offer vertical laminar flow paired with a unique cooling package.
The vertical laminar flow carries particulates away so they won’t deposit onto wafers. Directing the airflow so it streams from the top of the system and out the bottom ensures there’s no air turbulence, allowing particle reduction in most applications. The YES 450PB Series cooling package only uses air, no water. The cooling package allows for faster cooling times as well as temperature uniformity control throughout the process. The design allows the process engineer total control of ramp down rates within the tool’s specifications.

MODEL 6-2P-CP

MODEL 8-2P-CP

MODEL 12-2P-CP

Clean Room Compatibility

Class 10

Wafer Size

Up to 150mm

Up to 200mm

Up to 300mm

Capacity

Up to 50 Wafers/Batch

Operation Temperature

Ambient to 450°C

N₂ Flow Rate

1 SCFM

Interior Chamber Dimensions

10.8" ID X 22.0" D

14.4" ID (Barrel) x 26.2" D

21.0" ID X 26.0" D

Chamber Process Area

6.4"W X 7.3"H X 14.0"D

9.4"W x 18.1"D x 9.8"H

14.8"W X 22.3"D X 14.2"H

Overall System Dimen.

23.7"W X 40.5"D X 27.3"H

27.2"W x 43.2"D x 30.8"H

33.8"W X 48.9"D X 37.4"H

Control Console Dimen.

23.4"W X 37.8"D X 9.3H

Chamber Material

316L Stainless Steel

Process Gas Inputs

1 Standard, up to 3 Optional

Mass Flow Controllers

Optional, up to 3 for Gas Mixing

Laminar Flow Filter

100 Micron Mott Plate Filter

Cleanliness

Particle Reduction in Most Applications

No. of Recipes

8 Temperature Profiles

No. of Steps for ea. Recipe

16 Program Steps

Uniformity of Temperature

±3.5°C During Dwell after Stabilization Period

±3.5°C During Dwell after Stabilization Period

±5°C During Dwell after Stabilization Period

Max. Heat-Up Rate

16°C/min

12°C/min

8°C/min

Max. Cool-Down Rate

16°C/min

7°C/min

4°C/min

Oxygen Concentration

10ppm Over Background

The YES-PBV300 system is the latest addition to our line of high temperature vacuum cure ovens. YES-PBV300 incorporates the unique cooling system and laminar flow technology of the YES-450PB Series, as well as offers optional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma.

YES-PBV300 system

Combining CVD and/or plasma cleaning reduces steps and keeps your process clean. Wafers remain in the oven without exposure to atmosphere. YES-PBV300 is intended for applications that require accurate ramping temperature control with extremely low oxygen process concentrations, low particle addition, and/or controlled

Automatic loading of product wafers into the YES-PBV300 takes place in an Integral Environmental Front End Module (EFEM). The EFEM can accept either a 300mm FOUP or a 200mm cassette in a FOUP adapter. With the appropriate optional features, the EFEM can accept automated FOUP loading from an automated material handling system.

YIELD ENGINEERING SYSTEMS INC.

The YES 450PB Polyimide Bake Ovens are the result of many years experience in the design and manufacture of low particle ovens. YES offers a series of high temperature ovens to suit a wide range of process requirements such as polyimide bake, SOG, flat panel production, etc. Operating at temperatures up to 450 degree C, the systems come with a simple guarantee:

WAFERS OUT WILL BE CLEANER THEN WAFERS IN! EVERY TIME!

During operation, nitrogen, which is preheated to the selected operating temperature, passes in laminar flow from the roof of each individual chamber down over the cassettes of wafers and out through each chamber base. Substrates located in this preheated gas flow are "washed" clean of particles as the cycle proceeds. These particles are removed by exhaust during each evacuation cycle. Eight separate recipes with up to 16 ramps and dwells in each recipe. All systems now come standard with CTC controller and front panel color touchscreen.
The CTC with color touchscreen interface is very operator friendly and offers true multitasking in a reliable solid state system. Also, a wide range of standard plug-in Analog or Digital Modules are commercially available to extend the application of this control system.

450PB-8-2P-CP

450PB8-2P-FR
(Click on picture for more information)

450PBX4-300
(Click on picture for more information)

YES-450PBX2-300/450PBX4-300
A Fully Automated Vacuum Cure Oven System. 50 wafers each oven/ 200 or 300 mm. Proven superior laminar flow process. 300 mm and 200 mm compatible (can be simultaneous). Wafer mapping capability. Air cooled chamber – increased throughput. Multiple ramp capability.

The YES-450PBX2 Series Systems have been designed with the superiority of the YES process for the baking/curing of polyimide and BCB.  There is no other system that can give you the uniformity, cleanliness, repeatability, flexibility, low cost of ownership and peace of mind that comes with a YES tool.  The YES-450PBX2 series is no exception to the rule of high standards that we hold our equipment to.  You won’t find a better tool for the price on the market today.

A number of our customers are using  YES/Glen Plasma Units for Polymide descumming and stripping and we were surprised to hear that not all of our polyimide oven customers know of our polyimide plasma units. Also not all of our polyimide plasma customers know of our polyimide bake units. Our plasma customers tell us the polyimide descum, strip units namely the CV 106 for up to 150 mm wafer sizes and the CV108 for up to 200 mm wafer sizes have the following advantages over our competitors.

YES offers a complete range of high temperature Stainless-Steel-Cassettes for 3 to 12 inch wafers.
Compared to their quartz counterparts, stainless steel cassettes generate less particles, are less fragile and retain higher rigidity at elevated temperatures. 
Special manufacturing procedures prevent the formation of particle sinks and since stainless steel is a good electrical conductor, stainless steel cassettes are less prone to electrostatic charge build-up and attendant particle accumulation.

YIELD ENGINEERING SYSTEMS INC.

The YES-PBX4-300 fully automated system gives you the same proven process that the YES-450PB series manual systems have for many years.  Our systems are very effective tools for polyimide, BCB, and Copper Anneal processes. Advantages of our systems are low oxygen concentration, efficient contamination control with particle removal, effective control of process effluent condensation, low electrostatic charge buildup, and short process duration due to rapid removal of oxygen at the start of the cure process and forced convection chamber cooling at the end.  Now these same features and more can be found in our fully automated YES-PBX4-300 system.

   YES-PBX4-300

The YES-PBX4-300 comes standard with two YES-PB12-2X oven modules. If only one oven is required (with 2 FOUP un-loaders and one oven module) then the system becomes the YES-PBX2-300.  For those who want to define their process and later move to automation, the manual oven module (YES-PB12-2X) can be purchased separate and then later be upgraded to our fully automated system.

The YES-PB12-2X design allows for system temperature uniformity of better than +/-3.5°C during process. This includes our patented laminar flow of preheated nitrogen, as well as door thermal baffles to reduce load front-end temperature drop during both dwell and ramp. Cooling air distribution is adjustable to control cooling temperature uniformity.

   YES-PBX4-300

The chamber is welded 316L stainless steel with our newest door seal closure design with pump-out zone.  Special thermal baffles make temperature uniformity even better than our previous model systems.  The product zone within the chamber contains a product temperature control thermocouple, a sensing port for the chamber pressure, and fixturing to retain the product cassette in the correct orientation for robotic pick up. Gas flow in the product zone is vertical laminar flow downward during process. Wafers are processed in the product zone in a near-vertical orientation to gain maximum benefit of the vertical laminar flow process.

The system features six electrical band heaters with a combined heating power of 12,000 Watts for heating the process chamber. Like all of our systems the process gas is pre-heated before entering the chamber. Our new cooling package cools the chamber using forced air convection with cooling air which is pulled by suction directly from the outside of the chamber. This all occurs in an outer-chamber (no air or turbulence is introduced to the inner process chamber) which is surrounded by an insulated inner cabinet structure.

All process gas piping is welded, 316 stainless steel construction with VCR connections. MFC flow control is available as an option.

Process vacuum piping is 316L stainless steel inside the chamber. The vacuum diffuser is removable for cleaning or other maintenance. An exhaust cooler/effluent trap is located adjacent to the chamber. Exhaust piping from the chamber has a low point trap to inhibit liquid effluent from flowing back into the chamber. A bellows line attached to the trap is cooled by forced-air convection. Both the exhaust cooling bellows line and the effluent trap are easily removable for cleaning.

YES-PBX4-300 Information