CEA-Leti moves toward 3D chip production in Europe

Electronics Weekly has an interesting story about a pile of EV Group (EVG) equipment going in to a 300mm line at CEA-Leti.

 "CEA-Leti is moving toward pilot production of 3D semiconductor structures on 300mm wafers at its research centre in Grenoble, France.

CEA-Leti has installed fabrication tools supplied by EV Group in its first 300mm cleanroom dedicated to R&D and prototyping for 3D-integration applications."

According to the story,

"The ultimate goal is the transfer of the processes to industrial partners' high-volume manufacturing environments."

While their focus appears to be on TSV, rather than true monolithic 3D, it's nice to see another announcement that shows how widespread work on 3D semiconductors has become.

This press release over on ElectroIQ also covers the same announcement.  Apparently the equipment will be used both to demonstrate technical capabilities and to do pilot production:

"CEA-Leti (Grenoble, France), has installed multiple EVG tools in its industry-first 300-mm cleanroom dedicated to R&D and prototyping for 3D integration applications. While Leti's facility is focused on R&D and prototyping, EVG's equipment will be leveraged with an eye toward widespread adoption of 3D technology for high-volume applications."

"...the institute's 3D offerings include TSVs along with advanced capabilities in alignment, bonding, thinning and interconnects."

All capabilities that are required for establishing the infrastructure of a healthy 3D "ecosystem."

- Post by Dean Stevens, Monolithic 3D Evangelist