Case Studies Category: Semiconductor

Introduction Onto Innovation, a leading provider of semiconductor process and inspection technologies, was looking to reduce lead times, lower costs, and improve system performance for their cleanroom-integrated chip-making machines. Traditionally, Onto sourced their equipment’s environmental control units (ECUs) from a Japanese vendor, which introduced challenges in shipping time, cost, and integration flexibility. Seeking to localize […]

Introduction A leading provider of engineering solutions to manufacture microchips needed to address equipment components that were about to reach the end of their life. Rather than replacing the fleet of chip manufacturing machines, the company pursued a more cost-effective solution of upgrading the outdated critical machine components. One of the critical components that needed […]

Introduction A leading provider of engineering solutions used to produce new chips and advanced display equipment, made a strategic decision to overhaul its suite of mask lithography tools. The wholesale upgrade would include replacing all electronics, lasers, and environmental control units (ECU). The company approached Air Innovations for a custom ECU that could meet stringent […]

The Challenge: Air Innovations partnered with a semiconductor tool firm to design and build an environmental control unit with once-thru steady-state air to maintain conditions within a semiconductor lithography tool. Inlet air was to be taken from the existing class 1000 controlled environment. The unit needed to conform to a precise footprint: 26” x 30”. […]

The Challenge: Custom ECU for Semiconductor Application One of the biggest challenges in using lithography in high-volume semiconductor fabrication is photomask defectivity. A global supplier to the semiconductor and photomask making industries asked Air Innovations to create an environmental control unit (ECU) that could service — on demand — any of its nanomachining mask repair […]