3D Systems Corporation

As the speed and complexity of the smart devices and computers we use have continued to grow exponentially, so has the complexity of the microchips that enable them. This has placed increased pressure on semiconductor OEMs to deliver higher performance and reliability in their equipment. Although rising demand for microchips has made it necessary for semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers to expand production, building, shipping, installing, and commissioning new manufacturing lines capable of meeting modern precision requirements is technically challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. These lines are also often dependent on slow and inefficient supply chains, making them vulnerable to unanticipated issues that can extend product development cycles and result in lead times as long as six to nine months for additional tooling.

It’s well known that the effectiveness of semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be impacted by disturbances at the nanometer scale and by temperature fluctuations in the millikelvin (mK) range. However, the constraints of traditional manufacturing techniques, such as casting or precision machining, make it difficult to design and produce functionally ideal parts with enough accuracy and durability to optimize performance. This can result in equipment with excess weight or volume that makes it prone to vibrations, leakage, pressure drops or other failures. Semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers incorporating metal additive manufacturing (AM) into their manufacturing processes can improve imaging performance, yield, quality, accuracy, productivity and reliability.

"Additive manufacturing has proven to be particularly useful in applications in the semiconductor industry, where capital equipment manufacturers are under pressure to not only improve precision but also deliver faster time to market, continually lower costs, and minimize supply chain disruption"

While the potential for this technology is far-reaching, let’s focus on the advantages of using metal AM in three categories of applications: fluid flow optimization, thermal management and structural components optimization.

Fig 1: Optimized showerhead monolithic design for even material deposition and increased reliability

When building high-performing semiconductor manufacturing equipment, it’s standard practice to try to create manifolds, mixers and feeders with channels designed for optimal fluid and gas flow. However, designing these components using traditional manufacturing techniques often results in large, heavy parts with sharp corners, discontinuity between assembled components, and stagnant flow zones that can produce turbulence, pressure drops and other disturbances. Traditional manufacturing also requires that these components go through a complex assembly process, which can create connection points vulnerable to failure. In contrast to these limitations, additive manufacturing allows manifolds, mixers, and feeders that give you the smoothest, easiest pathway for gas and fluids while maintaining a low volume by using the minimum amount of material.

 The rapid design and iteration enabled through metal AM lets you create complex, organically shaped channels that decrease turbulence and pressure fluctuations while also allowing you to consolidate the designs into a single part. This improves supplier yield and reliability, reduces labor and inspection costs, and makes it easier to achieve ideal function.

Enhancing Thermal Management

Efficient thermal management is necessary to reduce subtle temperature fluctuations, which can have adverse consequences such as distorting wafers or disrupting the thermal scale of encoders, negatively impacting throughput and accuracy and reducing overall yield. Yet achieving this using traditional manufacturing methods typically requires extensive CNC machining of cooling channels on multiple components and vacuum brazing them together. This time-consuming, cumbersome and often costly process can result in extended project timelines and increased labor costs. The addition of more joining surfaces and seams can also impact part performance, reliability and longevity. 

Fig 2: Reduced vibration and inertia and improved yield with lighter, consolidated flexures optimized for ideal kinematics

However, using additive manufacturing, it’s possible to create unique designs capable of optimizing cooling channels, surface patterns, and wall thicknesses to more efficiently dissipate heat, enhance system throughput and accuracy, and improve overall performance. By replacing multipart assemblies with monolithic AM-designed parts, you can increase durability, improve yield, and benefit from a variety of stiff and conductive metal alloys—all while reducing labor time and costs.

Fig 3: Improved heat transfer efficiency in wafer tables for greater semiconductor manufacturing equipment throughput and accuracy by integrating optimized cooling channels and surface patterns.

Optimizing Structural Components

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment relies on moveable structural components like brackets, mounts, and flexures that must be able to withstand rapid accelerations while maintaining positional accuracy. Equipment produced using traditional methods, such as casting and milling, can be heavy and contain excess material that impedes movement. At the same time, they can also have limited design flexibility, increasing cost and lead times. Additive manufacturing overcomes these challenges by making it possible to rapidly design and iterate lightweight, topology-optimized components using a suite of high-strength metal alloys. These designs can precisely meet the advanced performance requirements of semiconductor capital equipment, reduce inertia, increase the strength-to-weight ratio, and improve manufacturing speed and uptime. The ability to replace multipart assemblies with monolithic parts further improves yield while reducing costs.

Fig 4: Increased manifold fluid flow performance with component consolidation while reducing spatial requirements.

The Opportunities are Limitless

Additive manufacturing has proven to be particularly useful in applications in the semiconductor industry, where capital equipment manufacturers are under pressure not only to improve precision but also to deliver faster time to market, continually lower costs, and minimize supply chain disruption. Embracing this technology not only empowers the semiconductor industry to meet evolving demands with unparalleled agility but also to push the boundaries of performance and innovation.