Maglev Technology Gains Ground in Hybrid Bonding Equipment

What happened

Magnetic levitation (maglev) stage technology, previously used in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment and other systems, is increasingly being adopted in hybrid bonding equipment for advanced packaging; the source's stated cause is that as the spacing between chip interconnections shrinks, back-end semiconductor processes require the same ultra-precision control technology used in front-end manufacturing. German precision motion-control company PI demonstrated a six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) maglev stage at SEMICON West 2026 in San Francisco. The device is intended for die-to-wafer (D2W) hybrid bonding, and the technology is being considered for next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacking. Cliff Jolliffe, head of maglev innovation technology at PI, said the goal is to integrate the technology into customer equipment within about two years, and that demand for wafer-to-wafer (W2W) hybrid bonding is also expected to increase. PI's system can apply more than 100 newtons (N) of bonding force, distinguish force changes at the millinewton (mN) level, and has a primary-axis travel range of 400 millimeters (mm), covering a 300mm wafer from one edge to the other. Switzerland's ETEL is developing HEXAMAG, a maglev-based motion platform targeting hybrid bonding, with commercialization planned for the second half of 2027; Dutch company Prodrive is developing a hybrid bonder with Hanwha Semitech based on its maglev stage drive and control technology. These commercialization timelines remain plans, not achieved results.

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Source and time

Source: The Elec · 11/2/2026 · View original source