Discover the SPOT ON™ Advantage

SPOT ON™ increases performance by delivering a dynamic beam focus capability to high-production Flex PCB manufacturing. This capability enables beam location and control through automated z-mapping and dynamic z-control. With the SPOT ON™ feature, the CapStone™ system maps inconsistencies in height between the chuck, overlay, and panel. Once mapped, the system automatically adjusts the beam spot to deliver quality vias without waste.

The newly released SPOT ON™ feature delivers increased uptime and maximizes yields to the industry's highest-performing Flex PCB laser drill system.

MKS Continues to Increase Performance for CapStone™ Flex PCB Drill System

San Diego, CA. – January 24, 2023 – MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI), a global provider of technologies that enable advanced processes and improve productivity, today at IPC|APEX 2023, announced the launch of SPOT ON™, an optional feature upgrade available for the CapStone™ laser via drilling system. SPOT ON™ increases system uptime through early warning of spot quality deviation and increases the CapStone™'s yield performance by reducing leading causes of via quality degradation.

"High-end Flex PCB manufacturers are experiencing increased pressure to meet yield requirements," said John Williams, VP and General Manager of MKS Equipment and Solutions Business. "Adding SPOT ON™ to CapStone™ enables our partners to drill the highest quality blind vias within increasingly tight margins. In our initial evaluations at high volume production partners, we have seen SPOT ON™ deliver increased yield on top of the already high CapStone™ laser drill performance."

Increase Performance for CapStone™ Flex PCB Drill System

Increase via drilling operational performance with CapStone’s SPOT ONTM feature upgrade:

  • Higher Yield by reducing common via quality issues
  • Reduced fleet and lot variability
  • Reduced downtime with spot quality measurement for improved service planning

Beam Location and Control

Automatically measure and validate spot size and focus during production.

Panel Z Mapping

Quickly and accurately measure surface height variations across the processing surface due to chuck, overlay and the material before processing.

Realtime Z Control

The system will automatically compensate for z-height fluctuations during production.

Extending the CapStone's Yield Perfromance

FOCUS CALIBRATION AND ACCURACY:

  • Automatic Calibration
  • Optical method
  • Accurate to ~10um
  • Assure Process Window is centered due to continual updating of focus calibration.

SPOT SIZE AND QUALITY:

  • Verified on a user defined basis
  • Data collected into easy-to-read SPC charts showing trends over time.

HEIGHT FLUCTUATION CONTROL:

  • System measures and retains height map on a per job basis
  • System auto-compensates during processing to maintain ideal focus position to within <30um across the work surface.