An automated meniscus coating system for polymer deposition on large-area MCM-D and MCM-L substrates

Material deposition techniques can be a significant contributor to the overall electronics manufacturing costs. The present study evaluates meniscus coating as a low-cost tool for large-area polymer deposition. Meniscus coating has the following advantages over conventional spin coating: (1) minimal material waste; (2) higher throughput; (3) higher planarity; (4) minimal defect density; (5) thickness uniformity over a large area. Each of these factors help reduce the overall manufacturing costs. The objective of this effort is to develop, install, and qualify an automated, low-cost, high-throughput polymer deposition method for large area MCM-D and MCM-L substrates. A variety of polymer photoresists, dielectrics, and composites are used for thick film coating on 12 in PWB and glass substrates. For each material, the deposition process is optimized to the desired film thickness. In this paper, we report materials and process optimization for 12 in×12 in substrates that is scalable to 24 in×24 in substrates. For higher throughput and lower manufacturing cost, an automated coating workcell is designed. The proposed workcell includes a robotic material handling and convection drying of coated films with automated loading/unloading capability. Design and fabrication of the integrated workcell are also addressed