µsprint on the Road to Success in Production

Taking stock after one year: successfully integrated and internationally in demand

One year after the takeover from Siemens, the µsprint technology (formerly SISCAN) is fully integrated at NanoFocus AG. Business with the ultrafast 3D-inline-inspection system has been so profitable that the acquisition costs are already amortized. The equipment order of an Asian international innovation leader of semiconductor components shows that the non-contact µsprint inspection systems are superior in this promising market to conventional techniques. NanoFocus has already developed the first business solutions and made improvements in terms of resolution and speed. The µsprint sensors are perfectly equipped to comply with future advances in the semiconductor industry, medical technology and the solar industry.


Integration successfully completed
Next to the µsurf- and µscan-technologies, µsprint is the third and more manufacturing support related product line of NanoFocus. The new technology has been successfully integrated in all levels of the company. Both in terms of space and personnel, the developer and manufacturer of industrial measuring technology has expanded capacities in R&D, production, consultation and service. In order to provide service to existing customers, particularly in the Southern German region, NanoFocus has opened an additional representative office with service and consultation staff in the Munich Technology Center.

For NanoFocus, the acquisition and integration of the µsprint series, which is based on confocal technology, means a major step into the direction ofproduction and inline-control, an emerging trend in measuring technology. With the costs for the acquisition already recovered, partner management for µsprint is now being intensified. Cooperation agreements in the medical technology sector have already been signed, and further negotiations of possible collaborations are taking place with partners that are each technologically leading in their particular niche markets. Additionally, the first business solutions, µsprint solar (solar industry) and µsprint semicon (semiconductors), have been developed in cooperation with key customers.

Focus on semiconductors, medical technology and solar industry
The µsprint technology meets great international interest. It has proven to be an optimal solution for the inspection of micro weld joints, edge inspection on osolar or semiconductor wafers, or bump inspection in the electronics sector. An equipment order from a renowned Asian electronics company for their production shows that the product µsprint is the first choice of manufacturers in the booming semiconductor market because of its high resolution and speed.

In the electronics sector, with ever more complex multimedia pplications, the packaging density of electronic components is rapidly increasing through so-called flip-chip assembly or 3D-packaging. The superiority of the µsprint technology compared to classical measuring methods like photogrammetry, fringe projection or triangulation is most evident here. NanoFocus offers an excellent product for future applications in the semiconductor sector which are bound to become more challenging.

20-step-roadmap for further development of µsprint sensors
On the basis of a target-actual list NanoFocus has developed a 20-steproadmap, in cooperation with key customers, for the further development of the µsprint technology. Behind every advance stands a specific customer need with corresponding sales potential. “We are making significant further developments of the µsprint sensors today, in order to account for the needs of our customers and their markets in the future,” explains Jürgen Valentin, Chief Technological Officer and management board spokesman. “In particular the increases of resolution and speed are crucial points in further expanding our technological leadership in growing future markets like semiconductors, the solar industry, and medical technology.”