Apparatus and method for manufacturing an integrated circuit
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsWillem-Jan A. De Wijs, Marcus Johannes Van De Sande
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Abstract
An apparatus for manufacturing an integrated circuit having a thick film metal layer includes an applicator for applying a layer of metal paste onto a heat-conducting substrate. The metal paste includes metal particles of a predetermined size. An RF generator selectively inductively couples RF energy into the metal paste. The predetermined size of the metal particles of the metal paste corresponds to a coupling frequency of the RF energy for heating the metal particles. In this way, the metal particles of the metal paste are heated with only a small fraction of the power of conventional processes, and without the need to pre-sinter the metal paste.
Claims14
An apparatus manufacturing an integrated circuit having a thick film metal layer comprising:
- an applicator configured to apply a metal paste on a heat-conducting substrate, the metal paste having metal particles of only a single predetermined size without including further particles having a size different from the single predetermined size;
- and
- a radio frequency (RF) generator for selectively inductively coupling RF energy into the metal paste, wherein the metal particles of the predetermined size are selectively inductively couplable with the RF energy, the predetermined size of the metal particles corresponding to a coupling frequency of the RF energy, for heating the metal particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.