Aptek Industries, Inc.

We have been processing silicon wafers for over a quarter of a century. Over the years, the segment of our customer base focusing on Solar Applications has grown significantly. This has been encouraged by Federal and State tax rebate programs. In fact, $15 Billion has been dedicated to solar and wind turbine energy over the next five years. Aptek is in the process of designing our own solar installation to reduce our electrical bills. With our expertise in this market, both processing silicon solar materials and solar installations, now might be the time for you to contact Aptek with your solar project requirements. Let us help you with the design and build of your “Green Energy” systems.

SemiCon West was held in San Francisco in July. One market that received heavy press was the growing Solar application market.  Aptek’s proprietary process offers many advantages for Solar manufacturers, including our ability to process large or square media, high volume/fast turn processing with cost-effective pricing.

Stay tuned here for more information over the next few weeks.

All of our new business cards will have this on them. Aptek Industries is the industry expert in thin wafer applications, including MEMS and photosensor applications. Call to discuss your process applications with us today.

Aptek Industries primary goal is to provide Excellent Customer Service. Whatever it takes, Aptek Industries will work with you to support your demanding processing time requirements.

We offer several levels of Premium Services to help our customers meet their processing goals. Our standard turn time for Backgrind is 1-2 business days and 3-5 business days for Grind&Polish operations. For both process areas, we offer “Quick Turn” in one business day for a 50% premium and “Same Day” turn for a 100% premium. We will even work evenings, weekends and holidays with a standard overtime charge. Just give us a call or email us for quotes or to discuss your requirements.

Aptek Industries Inc. offers a die thinning service for customers who have already diced their wafers or require Die Singulation [trenches have been cut on the frontside of the wafer and backside thinning releases the die]. Aptek’s patented hot wax mounting method provides the flexibility to mount, thin and clean the die to your exacting specifications. Aptek routinely thins die down to 25-30um with excellent yields. Please call us to discuss your custom requirements.

The Aptek proprietary process allows wafers to be polished down to 30 microns with very little residual stress. Smart Card and other applications demand this low stress and final thickness. All other wafer packaging applications benefit from the lower residual stress, and result in higher yields at wafer saw and assembly processes.

Dramatically Increased Yields

Changing to Aptek wafers, one customers yield at the saw operation increased from approximately 30% to 90% and the die yield after being mounted went from approximately 30% to 80%. In real numbers, this means that using our exclusive, patented low stress grinding and polishing process, the final yield for 1000 incoming dice would have increased from 90 salable Smart Cards up to approximately 600 salable Smart Cards. A BETTER THAN 600% YIELD INCREASE!

Measurable Reduction in Stress

The graphs shown below are actual reproductions of wafer stress analysis read on a Tencor FLX Laser System. The first two charts, (Process X and Process Y) are for two standard Grind and Polish technologies; they clearly indicate that only approximately 30% of the wafer is stress relatively free. The third graph of the Aptek processed wafer indicates at least 80% good die. The scale for stress for the Aptek wafer is at least one order of magnitude lower than for the other two wafers. In addition, the resultant relative smoothness of the sawed die edge of the Aptek wafers is less than 2 microns peak-to-peak versus 4+ microns peak-to-peak for other methods. Substantial Cost Savings Aptek’s superior technology results in much higher die yields per wafer. Also, Aptek per-wafer costs continue to be 30 to 50% lower than our competition. The higher yields and lower prices result in dramatic cost savings for our customers!

Process X

Process Y

Process Z

Aptek Industries Inc. is happy to announce the introduction of a new service for 300mm wafers. We now offer a 4000 grit grind process for 300 mm wafers. We are successfully thinning 12″ wafers down to 10 mils (250 microns) with this process. Since the service is primarily a grind process, we can thin the wafers at considerably less cost than a true polish price while offering many of the advantages of a polished wafer.

This new process will be attractive to companies requiring thinner wafers which are employed in a stressful environment such as Smart Card applications. One customer experienced yield increases of over 50% during initial assembly testing and very satisfactory increases after the assembled parts were deployed in the field.

Aptek Industries Inc. has been in the wafer thinning (Grind and Grind and Polish) business for over 21 years. We are the company that originated the picture of a hand flexing a thinned wafer. We started employing the picture years ago not only to dramatically demonstrate the thinness specifications, but also to show the reduced stress in the wafer which provided better dicing characteristics and improved survivability of parts after assembly. Over the last 21 years the company has introduced technology and procedures that have contributed to increased yields, improved wafer survivability and allowed the company to thin smaller diameter, high quality silicon wafers to the range of 25-30 microns. Aptek currently thins 300 millimeter wafers with the grind and polish process to 120 microns with excellent results using our proprietary production process.

Call Aptek Industries, Inc. now for additional information; our Engineering staff will be happy to answer all questions and schedule qualification tests.

Aptek Industries has been in business for over 22 years, covering a wide range of customer processes and materials. We will be posting these FAQ’s and our responses in this area of our website over the next few months. Please feel free to send us any topic you would like to see addressed.