scia Systems Presents Innovations in Semiconductor Failure Analysis and Thin-film Processing at SEMICON West 2025

At SEMICON West 2025, scia Systems is introducing new capabilities supporting high-precision, high-throughput semiconductor device manufacturing and failure analysis (FA) on its industry-leading scia Mill series of ion beam etching (IBE) systems.

Supporting wafer substrates up to 300 mm in diameter, the scia Mill series is optimized for whole-wafer delayering in FA workflows. The platform complements existing FA approaches, such as mechanical preparation, wet chemical etching, dry plasma etching, and focused ion beam (FIB) processing, each of which comes with trade-offs and is not a one-size-fits-all solution. IBE provides greater precision than mechanical prep, faster results than FIB, and compatibility across all materials. It can process semiconductors, metals, ceramics, and multilayer devices, all without causing structural damage to the material, which is a critical factor in applications where preserving device integrity is paramount.

In advanced packaging, multilayer devices with numerous ultra-thin layers must be delayered accurately. The scia Mill series combines IBE with secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) endpoint detection to deliver precise control down to sub-nanometer layers. This is especially important for heterogeneous integration devices and components such as chiplets and photonic ICs (PICs), as well as large-area devices such as AI processors.

Also at SEMICON West, scia Systems executives will highlight new developments and recent customer installations demonstrating growing global momentum for its thin-film processing solutions across key applications, including optics and photonics, advanced semiconductor packaging, and MEMS and sensors.

To learn more, visit scia Systems at SEMICON West, October 7-9, at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, booth 1261-07 (German Pavilion, Floorplan here).