TeraView partners with HELIOS on THz semiconductor package failure analysis

March 15, 2011

Cambridge, England--TeraView and HELIOS are partnering to improve semiconductor package failure analysis using terahertz technology.

Gail Overton

Cambridge, England--TeraView, provider of terahertz solutions and technology, is collaborating with the Hyperspectral Engine Lab for Integrated Optical Systems (HELIOS) in a Third Frontier supported project based within the Electrical Engineering Department of Ohio State University (Columbus, OH). Headed by professor J. Volakis, HELIOS aims help turn technology into commercial solutions—in this case, to improve semiconductor package failure analysis using terahertz technology.

As part of the collaboration TeraView has provided one of its Electro Optical Terahertz Pulsed Reflectometry (EOTPR) systems. These units were originally developed with Intel and are used for isolating faults in advanced 3D semiconductor packages. This is the first time the technology has been made available outside of Intel and it is hoped to use the unit to expose the technology to a wider North American semiconductor audience. The EOTPR system provides an alternative use of terahertz signals. Electrical pulses containing frequency components in the terahertz region are generated and able to propagate through interconnects in semiconductor packages allowing greatly improved fault isolation.

"This is a great opportunity for TeraView." Said Don Arnone, Teraview's CEO. "Many semiconductor companies are reluctant to send their new developments overseas. With the unit at HELIOS customers can quickly run samples and see firsthand how this technology can isolate faults days quicker than current technologies. Over time we clearly believe that this will lead to more business for TeraView in North America and to support this we are looking to set up our US office within the region."

Beyond EOTPR both parties are looking for further areas to collaborate. Areas such as pharmaceuticals, terahertz imaging for security, and medical applications are under consideration.

A spin out from Toshiba and Cambridge University in 2001 and employing 25 staff, Teraview has been developing terahertz technology across a number of areas that include; medical imaging, electronics, defense and security, non-destructive testing, and pharmaceuticals.

SOURCE: TeraView; www.teraview.com/terahertz/news/terahertz-news/HELIOS.html

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.