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Application of Piezoelectric Ceramics in Precision Manufacturing and Semiconductor Industry
2025-06-06
With its high-precision displacement control, high-frequency vibration response, and non-electromagnetic interference characteristics, piezoelectric ceramic series products have become key technical components in the precision manufacturing and semiconductor industries, and are widely used in nanoscale processing, wafer processing, packaging inspection and other scenarios. The following is a detailed analysis of its core application scenarios and technical advantages:
1. Precision Positioning and Nanometer Processing
1. Piezoelectric nano-positioning platform
Application scenarios: lithography objective focusing, electron beam exposure system, atomic force microscope (AFM) scanning, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device assembly.
Technical advantages:
Sub-nanometer precision: through the reverse piezoelectric effect to achieve the direct conversion of electrical signals to mechanical displacement, closed-loop control of the displacement resolution of 0.1nm to 1nm, positioning accuracy of 5nm, to meet the semiconductor device line width (such as 3nm process) alignment requirements.
Fast dynamic response: response time <1ms, real-time compensation of mechanical thermal deformation (such as lithography machine due to laser heat nano-scale displacement).
Non-magnetic interference: Pure ceramic materials are non-magnetic, avoiding interference with the electron beam path, suitable for magnetically sensitive environments (such as electron microscopy, ion beam etching).
Typical products: multilayer stacked piezoelectric ceramic actuator (such as the P-840 series of German PI company), through the charge drive to achieve nano-scale expansion and contraction, with capacitive displacement sensor to form a closed-loop control.
2. Piezoelectric Actuator Micromanipulator
Application scenarios: semiconductor wafer defect repair (e. g. FIB focused ion beam repair), quantum chip single-electron device assembly, biochip cell capture.
Core function: Multi-degree-of-freedom movement: combined with a flexible hinge mechanism to achieve XYZ three-axis or six-degree-of-freedom (XYZ θ x θ y θ z) micro-operation, the stroke range is from tens of microns to millimeters.
Force control accuracy: linear output thrust through the inverse piezoelectric effect of piezoelectric ceramics, force resolution up to μN(yùn) level, to avoid damage to fragile semiconductor components (such as quantum dots, nanowires).
2. Semiconductor Wafer Processing and Inspection
1. Piezoelectric ultrasonic wafer cleaning
Application scenarios: pre-lithography wafer particle removal (<1μm contamination), pre-package pad cleaning, MEMS device deep hole cleaning.
Technical Breakthrough:
Megahertz-level high-frequency cleaning: 1~30MHz high-frequency piezoelectric transducer is used to excite nanoscale cavitation bubbles, effectively remove photoresist residues and metal ion contaminants, and avoid damage to fragile structures (such as FinFET fin transistors) by traditional megasonic waves (MHz-level).
Non-contact cleaning: Through air-coupled ultrasound (the distance between the transducer and the wafer is 5~10mm), the risk of liquid residue of traditional liquid immersion cleaning is avoided, and it is suitable for gap cleaning of 3D NAND stacked wafers.
Contrast advantage:
Indicators Traditional ultrasonic cleaning Piezoelectric high frequency ultrasonic cleaning
Particle removal size ≥ 1μm 0.1 ~ 0.5μm
High risk of wafer damage (immersion shock) Low (non-contact/low amplitude)
Medium cleaning efficiency (cavitation density increased by 3 times)
2. Piezo wafer inspection
Application scenarios: vibration suppression of wafer surface defect optical inspection (AOI), on-line monitoring of film stress, ultrasonic scanning of bonding quality.
Key technology: active vibration isolation: embedded in the lithography lens system piezoelectric ceramic actuator, through real-time anti-phase vibration compensation (such as thousands of secondary response per second), the environmental vibration (such as plant floor vibration) is suppressed to <1nm peak value, to ensure the detection image clarity.
Ultrasonic Lamb wave detection: The piezoelectric transducer is used to excite Lamb waves in the wafer, and the stress distribution and delamination defects of thin films (such as SiO, SiN) are analyzed by echo spectrum, and the detection depth can reach 10 ~ 50μm.
Special Processing Technology in 3. Precision Manufacturing
1. Piezoelectric ultrasonic vibration cutting
Application scenarios: micro-milling of lead frames (copper alloy) for semiconductor packaging, micro-hole machining of ceramic substrates (diameter <100 μm), and aspheric grinding of optical glass.
Technical principle: in the traditional tool (such as diamond milling cutter) integrated piezoelectric ceramic vibrator, apply 20~100kHz high frequency vibration, make the tool and the workpiece produce pulse contact, reduce the cutting force of 30% ~ 50%, inhibit work hardening and thermal deformation.
Typical case: in 5G RF chip package, a 0.3mm thick titanium alloy shield is machined by piezoelectric vibration milling, with surface roughness Ra<0.2 μm, and the machining efficiency is increased by 2 times.
2. Piezoelectric jet dispensing and solder printing
Application scenarios: Flip Chip flip-chip soldering flux jetting (dot diameter <50μm), Mini LED chip mass transfer drop distribution, advanced package underfill (Underfill).
Core device: piezoelectric ceramic nozzle: through the rapid deformation of the piezoelectric stack (response time <50μs), the fluid in the extrusion cavity realizes picoliter (pL) level micro-injection, and the repetition accuracy is less than or equal to 2%.
Comparative advantages: the minimum dot diameter of traditional pneumatic dispensing is> 100 μm, while piezoelectric ejection can realize 20μm droplets, which is suitable for precision coating of high density interconnection (HDI) in 3D packaging.
4. Semiconductor Packaging and Bonding Technology
1. Piezoelectric driven thermo-ultrasonic bonding
Application scenarios: Gold/copper wire bonding (Wire Bonding), flip chip bonding (Flip Chip), through silicon via (TSV) bonding.
Technological innovation: The bonding head integrates a piezoelectric ceramic exciter, which is heated (150-400 ℃) while applying ultrasonic vibration (60-120kHz). Through the synergistic effect of mechanical energy and thermal energy, the pressure required for bonding is reduced by 30%, and the chip pad (Al/SiN layer) is prevented from cracking due to overpressure.
Typical parameters: For gold wire bonding with a diameter of 1μm, piezoelectric ultrasound can shorten the welding time from 50ms to 10ms, and the drawing force of the solder joint can be increased by 20%.
2. Piezoelectric ceramic pick-and-place system
Application Scenarios: Pick-up and Place in semiconductor packaging, especially for ultra-thin wafers (<50 μm thick) and heterogeneous integrated chips such as SoC sensor stacks.
Technical advantages: non-contact pickup: local negative pressure (vacuum degree -20 ~-50kPa) is generated by air flotation nozzle driven by piezoelectric ceramic, avoiding traditional true
