The PAS 5500: a machine with a history
Before EUV, before immersion, and even before our TWINSCAN systems, there was the PAS.
In 1991, seven years after the company was founded, we launched the PAS 5500, which turned out to be our breakthrough platform. This system was able to dramatically reduce manufacturing times for our customers, and its modular design enabled them to produce multiple generations of advanced chips using the same system.
The PAS 5500 is a versatile machine that can be adapted for many new markets and special applications. For example, by adding front-to-backside alignment, the system can be optimized for MEMS chips such as accelerators (the chips that can tell which way is ‘up’). The system can also be adapted for ‘through-silicon via’ (TSV) applications, radio frequency chips, thin-film heads for hard disk drives, or bowed wafer handling for LED applications. Enhancements to throughput and overlay can also reduce costs in high-volume manufacturing.