Orbot to enter optical photomask inspection field

Electronic News, May 11, 1992

WOBURN, MASS. -- Orbot Inc., an Israel-based producer of printed circuit board inspection systems, will formally announce its venture into the optical photomask inspection market at next month's Semicon/West trade show.

The move marks the beginning of a broader shift into the IC production equipment arena by Orbot, which also plans to start selling wafer inspection equipment in the next year or so. The company has sold PCB inspection systems since 1985.

"We believe there's a combination here," said Aaron Mankovski, president of Orbot's U.S. operation. "The technology is changing rapidly, and that drives a need that we can supply better than anyone else. In inspection, we have a lot of knowledge--it's our main business."

Photomasks carry the master image of IC patterns, which are transferred to silicon wafers in a microlithographic process. Inspection takes place after the masks are produced, to ensure that the patterns are free from defects. KLA Instruments Corp., San Jose, Calif., has traditionally held the lion's share of this small but strategically critical market.

Orbot's RT-810 photomask inspection system has been in beta test since last year at mask shops owned by Hewlett-Packard and Photronics Inc., according to Mr. Mankovski. HP recently gave final approval for purchase of its machine, and Orbot "is receiving very positive signals from Photronics," Mr. Mankovski said. Another beta-test machine is slated to ship to Toppan in Japan; shipments of production machines are to begin by the end of the year.

The RT-810 is specified to detect defects down to 0.35 micron, using as a reference the digital data that drives mask production. A less-expensive version, the RT-802, will have capability down to 0.5 micron. Three different processes are applied to the optical image of the photomask, said Mr. Mankovski, and a wide variety of statistical reports on defect type and density can be generated for use in process control. The systems have different inspection rates, depending on the size of defect being sought: a "fast" speed of 0.06 minutes per square centimeter for defects down to 1.2 micron and a "fine" speed of 0.5 minutes per square centimeter at full sensitivity.

Other features include the ability for operators to begin verifying defects in one mask area while the next area is being scanned, and a point-and-click user interface to the Sparcstation host computer. Pricing will range from $1.2 million to $1.4 million. Customer service will be provided through Orbot's existing network of 15 U.S. locations.

Although capital expenditures in the mask-making industry have slowed to a trickle during the current downturn, Mr. Mankovski predicted that this will be an auspicious time to enter the market. "People have purchased very little equipment in the last year or year and a half," he said.

Orbot's planned entry into the wafer inspection market will also put it on a collision course with KLA, although there are other suppliers as well. Mr. Mankovski said beta-test agreements for Orbot wafer inspection systems, for systems ready by summer, have been signed, but declined to say with whom.

Although KLA declines to comment, reports circulating in the industry indicate that KLA will unveil its new-generation machine at Semicon/West, sparking a possible market showdown.

Michael McCarver, vice president and general manager of KLA's Reticle and Photomask Inspection division, said that KLA has a new-generation system that has already been accepted by several beta testers, and added, "We have designed the systems and base technology required to handle mask makers and users needs well into the next century. There is a world of difference between PCB inspection and mask inspection, and it's not easy to travel in either direction." KLA left the PCB inspection business last year.