SEMCNS aiming to win approval from Samsung for ceramic STF

Fab equipment maker SEMCNS is aiming to win approval from Samsung for its ceramic space transformer (STF) used in CMOS image sensor (CIS) probe cards during testing.

The company is quality testing the equipment to secure the approval by the first half of the year, sources said.

Probe cards are used to connect the chip to the tester. The probe tip on the card sends electric signals to the wafer and the returning signal is analyzed to see if there is any defects.

STF is used to narrow the alignment of the pads where the wafers are tested. It supports the MEMS pin and is used to send the electric signal to the testing machine.

SEMCNS had mostly supplied ceramic STF for the probe cards used to test memory chips such as NAND flash and DRAM.

Those aimed at NAND flash accounted for 96% of its revenue during the first quarter while those for DRAM made up 3%.

SEMCNS is aiming to reduce its reliance on the memory sector by developing ceramic STF for the logic space as well.

The company began the development of ceramic STF for CIS probe cards in 2020. It received approval for the probe cards used by SK Hynix last year.

SEMCNS had already supplied its ceramic STF prototype to the probe card supplier of Samsung and is awaiting final approval from the South Korean tech giant, the sources said.