ST Installed 300mm TSV Pilot Line

Yahoo: EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer-bonding and lithography equipment for the advanced semiconductor and packaging, MEMS, SOI and emerging nanotechnology markets, announced it has received a major multi-million-euro order from STMicroelectronics for its 300-mm bonding, alignment and photoresist processing tools. EVG's fully automated tools are successfully installed at ST's 300-mm through-silicon-via (TSV) pilot line in Crolles, France and used in the manufacture of CMOS image sensors.

Industry experts have anticipated that the first products that feature TSV technology are expected to hit the market in 2008 and will include image sensors, similar to what ST is developing with the help of EVG's 300-mm solutions. According to Gareth Bignell, Program Manager, 300mm Equipment Selection, STMicroelectronics, "ST is committed to accelerating the manufacturing of 3D TSV-based devices into high volume."

Update: EETimes also published a brief article on this.