When semiconductor inspection reaches sub-micron scale, illumination stops being a background component. It becomes part of the measurement system.

That was the challenge facing Camtek, a leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer, as advanced packaging technologies placed greater demands on automated optical inspection. Detecting smaller defects at production speed required bright, stable and consistent illumination, with the same performance maintained across multiple tools.

Following a structured technical evaluation, Camtek selected CoolLED to develop and qualify a multi-wavelength LED illumination platform for its inspection architecture. The project quickly became a close co-development programme, with CoolLED scientists and engineers working alongside Camtek to address optical performance, integration, thermal management, system control and long-term reliability.

The result was unusually fast. From the start of development to equipment operating in-fab took just nine months.

The real test, however, came after qualification. Systems using the CoolLED platform are now operating across multiple customer sites, providing field evidence for recipe-lock stability, consistent performance between tools and Camtek's Copy Exact! deployment requirements.

Production use has also shown higher inspection throughput while maintaining sub-micron resolution across multi-layer RDL inspection at full production speed.

For CoolLED, the collaboration is an important example of what OEM illumination development looks like when the light source is treated as part of the finished instrument from the outset. It is also the start of an ongoing relationship, with CoolLED now established as Camtek's preferred illumination partner as future inspection architectures continue to develop.