ficonTEC and HTSI scale CPO wafer testing

ficonTEC and Hermes Testing Solutions Inc. are establishing a Taiwanese engineering and manufacturing partnership around wafer-level testing for co-packaged optics, initially focusing on ficonTEC’s INS-2 double-sided electro-optical test platform.

The companies will combine ficonTEC’s photonic assembly and test automation technology with HTSI’s semiconductor equipment manufacturing, integration and local service capability. The arrangement covers equipment delivery, design reviews, system integration, installation, qualification, service and continuing engineering support in Taiwan.

INS-2 addresses a manufacturing problem created when photonic and electronic interfaces have to be tested on the same wafer. The system is designed for 300mm silicon photonics wafers and provides electrical probing from above while giving optical test hardware precision access from below.

The architecture uses a customised slotted wafer chuck, precision wafer positioning, a six-axis optical alignment engine, automated handling, machine vision, probe inspection and probe cleaning. ficonTEC also describes INS-2 as ATE-agnostic, allowing the optical equipment to operate with established automated semiconductor test systems instead of imposing a closed electrical test architecture.

Co-packaged optics moves optical engines closer to switching or processing silicon to reduce the electrical distance travelled by high-speed data. The package may contain electronic and photonic dies, optical coupling structures and dense electrical interfaces, creating test requirements that are different from those of conventional electronic devices.

Optical coupling adds positional tolerances that electrical probing alone does not encounter. A fibre, grating coupler or other optical interface can require alignment across several axes before useful measurements can be taken, while the electrical side still needs repeatable contact with the wafer. Production equipment has to perform both operations without turning each device into a laboratory alignment exercise.

The Taiwan programme therefore extends beyond supplying individual machines. ficonTEC and HTSI plan to monitor manufacturing measures including units per hour, equipment availability and process stability as deployments progress through qualification and production ramp. Customer feedback will also be fed into continuing INS-2 development.

Stefano Concezzi, CMO and Corporate Vice President of ficonTEC Service GmbH, said the move from CPO development into industrial manufacturing requires manufacturing capacity alongside device innovation. HTSI contributes more than two decades of semiconductor test experience, including equipment integration, process development, technical support, relocation and customisation.

Taiwan provides a concentrated semiconductor manufacturing base around foundry, packaging and test operations, making local engineering support particularly relevant for emerging CPO production lines. Faster access to service and process engineering can become important during qualification, when alignment routines, handling sequences and interfaces with existing ATE may still be changing.

Wafer-level test can identify defective devices before they pass into more expensive packaging steps, but the economic benefit depends on test throughput and repeatability. Highly accurate optical alignment offers little production advantage if cycle time or equipment availability prevents the test cell from matching the output of the surrounding line.

Equipment developers across the CPO sector are consequently moving beyond proof-of-concept photonic assembly towards repeatable manufacturing processes. IN Electronics has also covered EV Group’s expansion of its CPO manufacturing process stack, illustrating the wider work under way around bonding, thin-wafer handling and other process steps that sit alongside electro-optical testing.

ficonTEC and HTSI have not disclosed a customer deployment, installed-system quantity or production start date. The current step establishes a local route for building, installing and supporting INS-2 in Taiwan, while creating a joint engineering structure for improving the platform as customer requirements become clearer.

The production challenge is now centred on repeatability rather than demonstrating that silicon photonics can be tested. INS-2 combines electrical and optical access on a 300mm platform; the partnership with HTSI is intended to turn that architecture into equipment that can be installed, serviced and continuously improved inside semiconductor manufacturing operations.