C2MI Selects Akrion Systems' Advanced Wet Stations for 3D MEMS Fab

ALLENTOWN, Pa. and BROMONT, Quebec, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Akrion Systems LLC ("Akrion Systems") and the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI) announced today that C2MI will purchase three GAMA automated wet process systems for the development and manufacture of advanced devices at C2MI's state-of-the-art MEMS facility in Bromont Technoparc, Quebec, Canada.

The GAMA systems will be used for all of the wet processing requirements of the Centre.  The systems will include Akrion Systems' proprietary technologies for drying MEMS wafers with deep feature sizes and for controlling silicon etch kinetics.

Michael Ioannou, president and CEO of Akrion Systems, stated, "Akrion Systems has long been a leader in providing wet process solutions for challenging MEMS applications.  Being chosen to be a part of this program is confirmation of the value placed on our experience and the technologies we have developed.  We are excited about this opportunity to extend our capabilities at this leading edge fab and we look forward to a long, successful collaboration with C2MI."

Luc Ouellet, vice president of technology development of Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor, stated, "The various MEMS and 3D wafer-level integration strategies employing Through-Silicon Via, TSV, the various wafer bonding preparation steps required by these strategies and the various bulk micromachining processes are in need of the specialized techniques specified by the C2MI for the three immersion wet processors. These three highly automated tools provide SMIF-based dry-in and dry-out interfaces to operators, thus reducing the risks to humans, ensure a technically sound solution to basic physical limitations of high aspect ratio TSV, allow various environmentally friendly process schemes and reduce the overall operation costs with responsible chemicals and de-ionized water utilization. We are also very pleased with the automated chemical delivery, real-time composition analysis and real time micro-contamination monitoring provided by the various integrated sub-systems of these three GAMA wet processors. Akrion Systems is certainly a major partner of the C2MI."

Akrion Systems provides advanced surface preparation process solutions and systems, including single-wafer and batch-immersion cleaning tools for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. Akrion Systems' customers produce a diverse range of products, including solar cells, integrated circuits for DRAM, Flash, Logic and MEMS as well as new and reclaimed semiconductor wafers, flat panel displays, and photomasks. Company headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania includes a class-1 clean room for process development and an ISO 9001:2000 compliant production facility. For further information, please visit the Akrion Systems web site: http://www.akrionsystems.com.

About C2MI

The MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI) is an original partnership between Universite de Sherbrooke, Teledyne DALSA Inc. and IBM Canada Ltd, Bromont Plant. The C2MI will be an international pioneer in packaging the next generation of microchips. Together, these founding partners have created an ecosystem which will facilitate recruiting other industrial and academic partners. The initial investment (building and research equipment) of $218.45 million is supported by Industry Canada, ministere du Developpement economique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation, the town of Bromont, the founding partners and equipment suppliers. Visit www.c2mi.ca to learn more.

SOURCE Akrion Systems; C2MI