News Article
Customised handlers for semiconductor and LED customers
Owens Design says its customised automated solutions enable low risk and lost cost entry into new market applications
The firm says it has delivered multiple customised film frame automated handling solutions to customers in the semiconductor and LED industries.
The large variety of film frames and film frame cassettes has created a need for customisable solutions for a variety of process tool applications. By working with its customers in a collaborative design and build approach, Owens Design has developed an automated film frame handling solution that can easily be customised to address a variety of non-standard form factors.
Until recently, the loading and unloading of film frames into a process tool has been mostly a manual operation. Today's semiconductor manufacturers, however, need to automate the process to address the timing needs of back end of line (BEOL) inspection and test applications. At the same time, LED manufacturers need an automated solution to enable greater volume production to support the increasing demand for LEDs in a variety of markets.
"LED usage is becoming widespread in an ever-growing number of applications, including aviation and automotive lighting, household appliances, remote controls for electronic systems and traffic signals," says John Apgar, president of Owens Design. "The LED market, however, is extremely price-sensitive, so LED manufacturers are looking for ways to increase productivity, while lowering manufacturing costs. Our customisable automated film frame handler solution provides a low-risk approach to meeting both these needs."
Owens Design offers semiconductor, solar and LED capital equipment manufacturers a proven methodology to reduce tool development costs, minimise technical risk, and speed their time to market. By working closely with an established design and manufacturing company such as Owens Design, a capital equipment company can focus its internal efforts on its core technology. In turn, the design and manufacturing services company can focus on integrating this new core technology into a system level platform that has been optimised to meet the equipment manufacturer's performance specifications.
"Developing an easily customisable handling solution for our customers required expertise in film frame extraction, alignment and transport, expertise that Owens Design has developed over many years of successfully delivering a wide range of automation solutions to our customers," said Jack Yao, Director of Business Development for Owens Design.
"Our collaborative design and manufacturing approach has a proven record of delivering the kind of low-risk, low-cost, and rapid time-to-market solutions our customers have come to rely on. Automating film frame handling with a customised solution helps our customers leverage existing tool sets and enter new markets, while also enabling their customers to reduce manufacturing costs and increase volume production."
